Les SECRETS d'un POLYGLOTTE | Conseils et Méthode pour Apprendre le Français Facilement

Hello everyone, welcome to this somewhat special video, since as you saw in the title, today I'm sharing with you the interview I had the chance to do with Steve Kaufmann. Steve, who is one of the most famous polyglots and who also has a YouTube channel that I put here and that I highly recommend. In this interview, I asked him all your questions.

Steve will share valuable tips. We discussed a lot of topics together. For example, what is a polyglot?

How do you become a polyglot? Do you necessarily need a teacher to learn a language? How to start learning a language?

Where do we start? What is Steve's learning methodology? But also, in what language does a polyglot dream?

How not to forget the languages ​​we speak? Are there languages ​​that are easier to learn than others? We discussed all these topics with Steve.

I'll leave you right away with the interview. Hello to you Steve. I believe you are in Vancouver, if I'm not mistaken, is that right?

Yes, hello Nelly, yes I'm in Vancouver. I'm in Paris, it's evening, Friday evening: it's almost time to go have an aperitif but I'm delighted with this little moment you're giving me. Thank you So today, it's not me who's going to ask you questions, but I asked my subscribers, the subscribers of the "French with Nelly" channel, to ask you the questions they would have want to ask you.

Would that be okay with you? Absolutely. Can you start by introducing yourself, Steve, please tell me what you do for a living, who are you?

I live in Vancouver, but in the 1960s I was a student at Sciences Po in Paris. During my professional career, I was a diplomat for seven years, and then I worked in the timber industry. But the last twenty years, I have been very interested in all things language learning.

So I learned a lot of languages ​​the last years. I started a language learning website with my son called "LingQ". I have a YouTube channel, and that's it, and that's kind of become my third career.

I got a question from Jessica for you. She asks you what it means for you to know a language. When can you say "I master this language"?

There is a difference between knowing and mastering. I don't think I think in terms of mastering any language. I discover languages ​​and I enjoy learning languages, discovering new languages, new cultures.

I have languages ​​that I speak quite well, like French, Japanese, even Mandarin , Spanish. I have languages ​​that I speak less well. I have languages ​​that I learned before I went to the country and that I spoke when I was in the country, and now for me it would be difficult to speak in these languages, but they are still acquired things.

These are things that I have in my head, in my memory, and that I can refresh if I need to. So to know, one can know a language a little or a lot, but to master, I believe, is an illusion. Interesting.

And what triggers your desire to learn a language? Is it a trip, for example, you go to a country and you say to yourself "I want to start taking this language"? Is it because you find her pretty?

What motivates you? There are different motivations. And when I was 17, I fell in love with the French we had at school, which I didn't like as a subject at school, but I had a teacher who made French civilization very interesting to me.

So afterwards, I went to France to study, etc. Chinese, Mandarin, well, the government, I was a diplomat, they decided that we had to develop personnel who could speak Chinese, so they sent me there. At the beginning, I was not so passionate, but as I discovered the language, the whole culture became more and more interesting for me.

Lately, I said to myself: I don't know the Middle East well, so I want to learn Arabic, Persian and Turkish. I had a trip in mind, two or three times to the Czech Republic, Romania and Greece, so I said to myself: you have to learn those languages. It can be many things, but it always starts with curiosity, I believe.

Curiosity, I imagine so, is the key to language learning. This is what creates motivation, the desire to learn. And Jessica also asks where you start learning a language.

Do you start with, I don't know, phonetics? Do you start with grammar? No, not so much phonetics.

Finally, you should know that in each language, there are different writing systems. You have to get a general idea of ​​how his letters are pronounced, but I don't really study phonetics. Because ultimately, you have to listen a lot, to confirm the relationship between writing and pronunciation.

So it's kind of the same for grammar. I have a kind of general insight into how it works in this language, but I am aware of the fact that it takes a lot of listening and reading and a lot of experience with the language before grammar rules, or even declination tables, etc. , get into our heads.

So I don't try too hard to master, again the word "master", master the grammar first, and rather, I come back to the grammar several times, so during the learning period , which is mainly based on listening and reading, and possibly speaking. Let's say I'm a beginner in French and I want to learn this language. What would you advise me?

To start with what? Buy a book? What should I do?

Yeah, it's always a good thing to buy a book, a small book for that matter, not too thick, because it's good to have a book in your hand. Here, I like it. I always buy a simple book, an introduction to any language.

But me, what I've been doing lately, with Persian and Arabic, which are like more difficult languages ​​because the writing system is more difficult for us Westerners, who are used to reading Latin alphabet. For example on our LingQ site we have what we call mini-stories, that is to say, these are small stories where there are a lot of repetitions. And I think that in the beginning you need a lot of rehearsals.

For example, in each of these stories, the same words are repeated, but perhaps at different times or with different people, in question, in negative or in positive. That is to say, basically, it is the same words that repeat themselves. And these stories, I'm going to read them, especially at the beginning, a lot of times, and I'm going to listen to them many, many times, in the car, because at the beginning you need a lot of repetitions.

And after that, we can start tackling more interesting content. But at the beginning, it's mostly repetition, you have to get used to the language. I want to ask you another related question.

Do you recommend being accompanied by a teacher systematically when learning a language? Are you self-taught, do you learn alone, or are you accompanied by teachers? It is always an advantage to have a teacher, especially if this teacher does not try to impose.

The teacher is someone who helps you, he is not the source of all language knowledge. There are times teachers who tell you: "Today, we are going to do the colors, we are going to do. .

. ", he will decide what you are going to learn today. Ultimately, it is rather the learner who must decide what interests him.

But the problem with a teacher is that, first of all, the teacher is in control and then, secondly, it costs more. I don't believe that is necessary. One can, through listening, repeat listening and reading, and by accumulating vocabulary and experience, let's say, have more experience with the language.

Arrive at a given moment, you want to speak with someone, and this someone can be a teacher, but there already, you have a certain level of understanding and you still have words . Because, starting from scratch, the work that has to be done, that's what I said there, is repetition. obviously, a teacher, that.

. . that incites us, that stimulates us, that encourages us.

So it's not bad, it's just, you have to look at the cost and benefit relationship a bit. And I see that, it is better to wait a bit, to try for yourself. But it also depends on his level of motivation.

If you're not very motivated, then you still need a teacher. Thank you for your reply. A question from Leo: Do ​​you think there is a way to obtain a pronunciation similar to that of a native?

The native is the model, and this native may be a Scotsman, an Australian, a Marseillais, a Quebecer, according to, let's say, the pronunciation that seems most useful to the learner, Brazilian or Portuguese, well, n anything. So that's the model. But it's very difficult to come up with a pronunciation that would be native-like, that is, speak exactly like a native.

It's not realistic. There are successful people, but very few of them. So, it is enough to have a pronunciation that makes the listener comfortable, that we understand well what the learner is saying.

Okay, how do you improve your pronunciation? Again, you have to listen a lot. We can practice.

One can, for example, take short sentences, listen to the sentence, and then pronounce the sentence while reading, emphasizing the intonation. Because if we arrive with the intonation, for example, the intonation in English is not the same as in French. In French, it's a little more monotonous, whereas in English, there are different intonations.

And intonation is a bit the basis of pronunciation. If we have the intonation, the vowels, etc. , will follow.

There are still certain sounds, for example, in French, the "u", you have to practice the " u", you have to practice the "r", finally, the "re", the '"on", "an "etc, things that there, you have to try to practice these sounds, because it doesn't exist, for example, if you're an English speaker, it doesn't exist in English. So there, you have to make a kind of special effort, but above all practice therefore, the pronunciation of sentences, emphasizing the intonation, and listening a lot. Listen, repeat, and then also interact, perhaps as much as possible, with French speakers if you want to learn French.

-Ah yes, if we have the opportunity to be with French speakers, because there, it's a bit, how shall I say, infectious, there, we listen, and there, especially if we are with people from Marseilles, or Parisians, or Quebecers, we will gradually begin to imitate their accent. I have many students who are very complexed by their accent when they speak French, as if it were a shame, and that speaking like a native was the absolute goal. And I think you are proof that you can have a little accent that you can hear, but which is absolutely not bothersome, and speak excellent French and be understood very well.

So that's a good example, I think. I've worked with a lot of businessmen in my life who weren't native English speakers, and if you use the language well, if you know how to express yourself, if you have words, a vocabulary , that's a lot more impressive than someone who seems to have a good accent but speaks badly. And that, I had experience, and even people who have a fairly strong accent, as is often the case with the French, but who speak well, who use words, who speak with precision, accent does not interfere, not at all.

And you have to think that the people you talk to, they are interested in understanding us, they are interested in communicating with us, they are not interested in judging us. And it's the same when I'm with non-English speakers, what interests me is what that person has to say. But if the pronunciation is so bad that I don't understand, then that's embarrassing.

But this is rarely the case. If the pronunciation does not prevent understanding, in the end, there are not so many problems, And what is your relationship to errors, since when you learn a language and you speak, you inevitably make mistakes. And there too, there are many students who are very, very afraid of making mistakes, so they prefer not to speak.

What do you think ? Avoid perfectionism. We don't master the languages ​​we learn, we use them, and the learning process necessarily goes through mistakes, even repeated mistakes, because I know I'm going to make the same mistakes, even if I'm corrected , I keep making the same mistakes until certain times when automatically, naturally, I start to avoid those mistakes.

If you don't want to make mistakes, if you're afraid, it's better to stay in your mother tongue, there you have less chance of making mistakes. But when you learn and use foreign languages, you're going to make mistakes, and that's okay. Most of the time, there we eventually self-correct, but we must continue to make mistakes.

It is the same with regard, for example, to forgetting. I forgot certain words, I forget, finally, certain structures in the language, not serious, it is obvious, it is inevitable. You have to keep forgetting and keep making mistakes, and little by little it will get better with time and with a good attitude.

By not trying to run away from them, but on the contrary to accept making mistakes. Since speaking a foreign language also means taking a risk, the risk of making a mistake. And then, it does not matter, nobody dies of it, I believe.

We find ourselves more or less intelligent in our own language, and we don't like this feeling of being less intelligent, or intelligent, by speaking another language. Being vulnerable too, being like a child, a little frustrated not being able to express yourself, yeah, that's right. Jesus asks you: how do you avoid forgetting the languages ​​and how do you maintain all these languages ​​that you have learned on a daily basis?

I don't make a special effort, I lose a little when I start again, I lost a little, but very quickly it makes up for it. So I don't care about trying to maintain my languages. There are languages ​​that I speak more often, there are others that I speak less often.

When I have to speak them, very quickly I will catch up with the level I had before, and even possibly exceed that level, so it's not a problem. I know very well that now if someone wanted to speak to me in Greek or Romanian, I would have many, many difficulties. But if I know that tomorrow I will be with Greeks, I will spend a day catching up, refreshing my Greek.

Well, I speak less well than before, but still, I'll get there. Because making mistakes does n't bother me. And how do you do to refresh, precisely, a language?

For example, if you have 24 hours to get back to Greek, what are you going to do? What resources are you going to use? Read and listen a lot especially I still come back to our 60 mini-stories, the little stories, LingQ, because there are all the high-frequency verbs, that is to say the most common, are there.

They are in different forms, they are repeated very often. These are stories that I have listened to a lot, I know them in all languages. I used them because they are the same stories in every language.

which I therefore use to start in a language, and I often go there to refresh myself, it's stories with a lot of repetition. Are some languages ​​easier to learn than others, Steve, and what are they? - Of course !

First, the writing, yes, I will read in Arabic and Persian, it is very difficult, not to mention Chinese, although I speak, I read Chinese better, because I have studied Chinese a lot . But then, writing, the Latin system, is much easier: similarity of vocabulary. So Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, French, there are a lot of words in common.

Even English-French, there are still 50% of the words that we can recognize more or less. The more a language is similar to a language you already know, the easier that language will be to learn. And precisely, the risk when you speak several languages ​​is to start mixing them up, especially those that are similar.

How to avoid confusing two languages ​​of the same linguistic group? For example, French and Portuguese. French-Portuguese is less difficult.

Spanish and Portuguese are very difficult, because I speak Spanish much better than Portuguese. So, it is very possible, speaking Portuguese which is a weak language, that I speak badly and that I use Italian or Spanish words. But if the goal is to communicate, that does not prevent communication.

So, I understand what the other is saying, I speak by mixing words of Spanish, Italian, and we communicate. French, since I lived three years in France, it happens less often, because French is one of my strongest languages. So, less risk of confusing But Spanish and Portuguese, I will mix other words.

But that's okay. I'm not a perfectionist. The brain is not segmented.

There is not one language per game, no. Sometimes everything gets mixed up, it's true. - The brain, the brain learns slowly, but sometimes you can't control what the brain does.

Speaking, wanting to say a word, I don't know, of Korean, there is a word of Japanese that will come out. Even when I want to speak, if I make an effort, the brain will look for a word among another language in which I am weak that I had tried the day before learning, to find words that are not the ones I wanted to find. the brain learns in a certain order.

We control what the brain does, but the brain still has its will. I have a question that comes to me when I listen to you. You have certainly heard of Esperanto, this common language.

Do you speak it and what do you think of this language? I don't want to speak ill of Esperanto and those who are passionate about Esperanto, but I'm not interested. Persian, Arabic.

. . there's so much history, thousands of years of history.

For example, even French is not thousands of years old, but there is still a rich culture, a history. This is the case with all languages ​​which have a country, which have their music, which have their cuisine, which have their tradition. Inevitably, Esperanto is a bit artificial, so I understand the motivation of those who want to learn it.

And besides, for people who have never learned another language, since Esperanto, it seems, is easy, if you learn Esperanto, you have this feeling of success, of success. Well, I was able to learn another language, and that can encourage people to go further, and to learn other languages. So there is that utility, but personally, I'm not very interested in it.

What language does a polyglot like you dream in? Most of the time, I imagine in English. But if there are Japanese or I don't know, French, or Chinese characters in my dreams, they will speak their language.

Okay, because you know that myth that when you master a language, you start dreaming in that language. So I was curious to know. Let's say, if I was in a period of concentration where I learned a language, I don't know me, Persian, and that I reached a certain level in this language, it is possible that after all these efforts that the night I can dream in Persian, it is possible.

- I have one or two more questions to ask you. Mia, who asks you, do you use music to learn, and movies and books? Books, I know you use them.

- So the music, not so much. Although there are people who use music Yes it's a good thing because there are words that are repeated, Often in songs it's still a limited vocabulary, but in my case , no, I do not use. But I know there are a lot of people who like to use it.

When it comes to movies, I believe that at different stages in learning a language, movies can be very helpful. At first, it's stimulating, because there, we are squarely in this other culture, surrounded by people who talk to each other, and then we start to taste, to feel a little what this culture is. But we don't understand anything, except by reading the subtitles, we can understand.

I have to say that it's more of a stimulus that I use films, because I want to learn words. And in the films, first of all, it's less dense, from a vocabulary point of view, because between the noise of a car, a window breaking, there are all sorts of things that happen. Finally, the density of dialogue is still limited.

I prefer to listen, because there, I only have words. So there is no image, I have to be able to connect these words to a meaning, a content, a meaning. And after listening I read the words I don't know, I look them up in a dictionary.

But I think you have to have a certain level, especially series on Netflix, it's very good, because you meet the same characters every night. There, it becomes a bit of a new family, in Turkish, in Polish, whatever. And there are still quite good series on Netflix.

So, it's a bit of a reward for having put all this effort into learning the language, and it allows us to make progress. It's like finding new friends in that language. - You know, the subscribers who watch us are learning French.

Could you share a film or a book that helped you in your learning and that you could recommend? When I was learning French, when I became passionate about French, I remember watching "Jules et Jim". It was a New Wave movie at the time.

I really like audio books, I really like 19th century books. Balzac, for example. But I think listening to an audiobook is a fantastic experience, especially if you can find the text digitally.

Because there a digital or electronic book, we can import it on LingQ and look up all the words, phrases and expressions that I don't know. But above all, the fact of listening to it too. I remember, I was never able to read Proust.

I found it boring. But when you listen to an audio book, it's different. I believe this should have been written for audiobooks Because we have time, we listen and it becomes a bit like music.

I listened to a lot of audio books in French and I really liked it. Not just to improve my French, but because it's a pleasant experience. Do you listen and read at the same time?

it depends on the language but in principle not. If I'm a beginner or even intermediate, yes, on LingQ I'm going to listen and read at the same time. But most of the time either I read and look up words in the online dictionary.

Then after that, I listen. Depending on my listening level, there will still be a lot of sections that I won't understand. This stimulates my curiosity to then want to read what I could not understand.

Reading is not easy. I have many students who are quickly demotivated, especially when the books are too big. In general, we lose motivation around the tenth page, yes.

most of the time If I'm learning languages, I'm not reading a paper book. There, I read on iPad, I read through LingQ, I look up words, phrases, etc. , and I listen.

And at some point, I get to a level where I can read a traditional book. And it is always for me an important moment in learning this language. But if there are 5, 10, 15% of unknown words, then it's not pleasant to read books without the help of an online dictionary.

Because looking in a traditional dictionary is a waste of time, because you forget right away. That's why, for example, on LingQ, the word at the beginning that we don't know is underlined in blue, and afterwards, the fact that we have encountered it, the fact of looking for it, it turns yellow . But over time, eventually, it turns white.

But it takes time. You have to meet the same words 5, 10, it depends on the words, but often before it becomes part of your vocabulary, your passive vocabulary, even, not even active, even just passive. Yeah, active vocabulary and passive vocabulary are different things, yes.

Even us native French speakers don't even use 50% of the words we know. We know a lot more than we use. I'm coming to the end of my questions, Steve.

Thank you very much, it was very enriching. Thank you very much and good luck and good courage to you, to your listeners who are learning French . A language that gave me a lot.

thank you for your motivating words. And it's true that I always tell them, you have the courage to learn this language too, because it's not easy. Sometimes we are demotivated, but we have to hold on.

Here, Steve is an example, look. Thanks Steve. I wish you a nice day.

THANKS. I hope you enjoyed our discussion as much as I did. Feel free to ask Steve your questions in the comments.

I really look forward to reading your reactions. Check out Steve's work, subscribe to the "French with Nelly" channel, like this video. Thanks again to Steve for giving me some of his time to share all these tips with us.

See you soon in a next video. Take good care of yourself. Hi.