I love learning foreign languages. In fact, I love it so much that I like to learn a new language every two years, currently working on my eighth one. When people find that out about me, they always ask me, 'How do you do that? What's your secret?' And to be honest, for many years, my answer would be, 'I don't know. I simply love learning languages.' But people were never happy with that answer. They wanted to know why they are spending years trying to learn even one language, never achieving fluency, and here I come, learning one language after another. They wanted to know the secret of polyglots, people who speak a lot of languages. And that made me wonder, too, how do actually other polyglots do it? What do we have in common? And what is it that enables us to learn languages so much faster than other people? I decided to meet other people like me and find that out.

我喜歡學(xué)外語(yǔ)。 實(shí)際上，這種癡迷讓我 每?jī)赡昃拖雽W(xué)一門新的外語(yǔ)， 現(xiàn)在我正在學(xué)第八門外語(yǔ)。 當(dāng)人們得知此事后，總是問(wèn)我， “你怎么做到的？你的秘訣是什么？” 說(shuō)實(shí)話，這么多年來(lái)， 我的回答總是， “我不知道啊。我只是喜歡學(xué)語(yǔ)言?！?但是人們從來(lái)都不會(huì)對(duì) 這個(gè)回答感到滿意。 他們想知道為何他們花了多年 試著學(xué)習(xí)哪怕只有一門語(yǔ)言， 卻從未達(dá)到流利的程度， 而我卻能夠?qū)W了一門再學(xué)一門。 他們想知道多語(yǔ)言者， 即說(shuō)多種語(yǔ)言的人的秘密。 我也對(duì)此感到好奇， 其他的多語(yǔ)言者到底是怎么做的？ 我們有什么共同點(diǎn)嗎？ 是什么讓我們 較之他人能夠更快的學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言？ 我決定見(jiàn)見(jiàn)其他像我一樣的人， 并試著找尋背后的答案。

The best place to meet a lot of polyglots is an event where hundreds of language lovers meet in one place to practice their languages. There are several such polyglot events organized all around the world, and so I decided to go there and ask polyglots about the methods that they use.

能夠遇到很多多語(yǔ)言者的最佳地點(diǎn) 是聚集了數(shù)百名多語(yǔ)言者的地方， 他們?cè)谀抢镞M(jìn)行練習(xí)。 世界各地有許多類似的多語(yǔ)言者活動(dòng)， 所以我決定去看看， 打聽(tīng)一下他們各自使用的方法。

And so I met Benny from Ireland, who told me that his method is to start speaking from day one. He learns a few phrases from a travel phrasebook and goes to meet native speakers and starts having conversations with them right away. He doesn't mind making even 200 mistakes a day, because that's how he learns, based on the feedback. And the best thing is, he doesn't even need to travel a lot today, because you can easily have conversations with native speakers from the comfort of your living room, using websites.

我遇到了來(lái)自愛(ài)爾蘭的本尼， 他告訴我他用的方法是 從第一天就開始說(shuō)出口。 他從一本旅游指南上學(xué)了一些詞組， 然后就去見(jiàn)母語(yǔ)者， 立馬和他們展開對(duì)話。 他不介意一天犯 200 個(gè)錯(cuò)誤， 因?yàn)檫@就是他 基于反饋的學(xué)習(xí)方式。 最棒的一點(diǎn)是， 如今他甚至不需要出游， 因?yàn)槟阒恍枰粼趷芤獾姆块g中， 就能在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上和母語(yǔ)者進(jìn)行交談。

I also met Lucas from Brazil who had a really interesting method to learn Russian. He simply added a hundred random Russian speakers on Skype as friends, and then he opened a chat window with one of them and wrote 'Hi' in Russian. And the person replied, 'Hi, how are you?' Lucas copied this and put it into a text window with another person, and the person replied, 'I'm fine, thank you, and how are you?' Lucas copied this back to the first person, and in this way, he had two strangers have a conversation with each other without knowing about it. And soon he would start typing himself, because he had so many of these conversations that he figured out how the Russian conversation usually starts. What an ingenious method, right?

我還遇到了來(lái)自巴西的盧卡斯， 他學(xué)習(xí)俄語(yǔ)的方法很有意思。 他就在 隨機(jī)添加了 上百個(gè)說(shuō)俄語(yǔ)的人， 然后打開其中一個(gè)人的聊天框， 用俄語(yǔ)寫下“嗨”。 然后對(duì)方回復(fù)，“嗨，你好嗎？” 盧卡斯了復(fù)制這段話， 再把它發(fā)給另一個(gè)人， 然后另一個(gè)人回復(fù)， “我很好，謝謝，你怎么樣？” 盧卡斯又把這段話復(fù)制發(fā)給第一個(gè)人， 這樣，他就讓兩個(gè)陌生人 在完全不知情的情況下 展開了交談。 過(guò)不了多久，他就可以自己打字了， 因?yàn)樗戳四敲炊嗟膶?duì)話， 已經(jīng)知道俄語(yǔ)的交流 大概是怎么開始的了。 很聰明的辦法，是吧？

And then I met polyglots who always start by imitating sounds of the language, and others who always learn the 500 most frequent words of the language, and yet others who always start by reading about the grammar. If I asked a hundred different polyglots, I heard a hundred different approaches to learning languages. Everybody seems to have a unique way they learn a language, and yet we all come to the same result of speaking several languages fluently.

此外，我還遇到了總是從 模仿聲音開始學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言的多語(yǔ)言者， 從學(xué)習(xí) 500 個(gè)最常用詞 開始的多語(yǔ)言者， 以及總是從學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)法開始的多語(yǔ)言者。 如果我去詢問(wèn)一百個(gè)多語(yǔ)言者， 我會(huì)聽(tīng)到關(guān)于學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言方式的 一百種不同的答案。 每個(gè)人似乎都對(duì)學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言 有著獨(dú)門秘笈， 但是我們最終都能 流利的說(shuō)多種語(yǔ)言。

And as I was listening to these polyglots telling me about their methods, it suddenly dawned on me: the one thing we all have in common is that we simply found ways to enjoy the language-learning process. All of these polyglots were talking about language learning as if it was great fun. You should have seen their faces when they were showing me their colorful grammar charts and their carefully handmade flash cards, and their statistics about learning vocabulary using apps, or even how they love to cook based on recipes in a foreign language. All of them use different methods, but they always make sure it's something that they personally enjoy.

當(dāng)我傾聽(tīng)著這些多語(yǔ)言者 講述他們學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言方法的時(shí)候， 我突然意識(shí)到： 我們有一個(gè)共同點(diǎn)， 那就是我們找到了享受 學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言這一過(guò)程的方法。 所有這些多語(yǔ)言者 在談?wù)撜Z(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)的時(shí)候， 都表現(xiàn)得像那是一種趣事。 你們應(yīng)該看看當(dāng)他們 向我展示他們多彩的語(yǔ)法表， 專心制作的語(yǔ)言卡片， 他們語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)軟件上的統(tǒng)計(jì)量， 甚至他們是如何愛(ài)上用外文菜譜 燒菜時(shí)，臉上自豪的神情。 每個(gè)人都用著不同的方法， 但是他們做到了 讓這件事情變成一種享受。

I realized that this is actually how I learn languages myself. When I was learning Spanish, I was bored with the text in the textbook. I mean, who wants to read about Jose asking about the directions to the train station. Right? I wanted to read 'Harry Potter' instead, because that was my favorite book as a child, and I have read it many times. So I got the Spanish translation of 'Harry Potter' and started reading, and sure enough, I didn't understand almost anything at the beginning, but I kept on reading because I loved the book, and by the end of the book, I was able to follow it almost without any problems. And the same thing happened when I was learning German. I decided to watch 'Friends,' my favorite sitcom, in German, and again, at the beginning it was all just gibberish. I didn't know where one word finished and another one started, but I kept on watching every day because it's 'Friends.' I can watch it in any language. I love it so much. And after the second or third season, seriously, the dialogue started to make sense.

我意識(shí)到，這實(shí)際上也是 我學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言的方式。 當(dāng)我學(xué)習(xí)西班牙語(yǔ)時(shí)， 我對(duì)書本上的文章沒(méi)什么興趣。 我想說(shuō)，誰(shuí)想學(xué)胡賽 是怎么問(wèn)去火車站的路的啊。對(duì)吧？ 相反，我想讀《哈利·波特》， 因?yàn)檫@是我孩童時(shí)期最喜歡的書， 而且我已經(jīng)閱讀了很多遍。 所以我買了本西語(yǔ)版的 《哈利·波特》開始閱讀， 毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，最開始我?guī)缀跏裁炊伎床欢?但是我堅(jiān)持讀了下來(lái)， 因?yàn)槲蚁矚g這本書， 直到讀完此書，我基本可以 不費(fèi)力的跟上故事情節(jié)。 同樣的事情也發(fā)生在我學(xué)德語(yǔ)的時(shí)候。 我決定看我最喜歡的電視劇 《老友記》的德語(yǔ)版本， 同樣的，最開始我基本上聽(tīng)不懂。 我不知道一個(gè)單詞在何處結(jié)束， 另一個(gè)單詞在何處開始， 但是我堅(jiān)持每天觀看， 因?yàn)檫@是《老友記》。 我可以看不同的語(yǔ)言版本。 我太喜歡這部劇了。 在看完兩季或三季之后， 說(shuō)真的，我能漸漸聽(tīng)明白對(duì)話了。

I only realized this after meeting other polyglots. We are no geniuses and we have no shortcut to learning languages. We simply found ways how to enjoy the process, how to turn language learning from a boring school subject into a pleasant activity which you don't mind doing every day. If you don't like writing words down on paper, you can always type them in an app. If you don't like listening to boring textbook material, find interesting content on YouTube or in podcasts for any language. If you're a more introverted person and you can't imagine speaking to native speakers right away, you can apply the method of selftalk. You can talk to yourself in the comfort of your room, describing your plans for the weekend, how your day has been, or even take a random picture from your phone and describe the picture to your imaginary friend. This is how polyglots learn languages, and the best news is, it's available to anyone who is willing to take the learning into their own hands.

在我遇到了其他多語(yǔ)言者之后， 我才明白這一點(diǎn)。 我們不是天才， 我們也沒(méi)有學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言的捷徑。 我們只是找到了 享受這一過(guò)程的方式， 以及如何將語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)從 一項(xiàng)枯燥的學(xué)校課程 轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橐豁?xiàng)你不介意 每天都做的有趣活動(dòng)。 如果你不喜歡在紙上寫單詞， 那你可以在軟件里面打單詞。 如果你不喜歡聽(tīng)無(wú)聊的課程材料， 你總是可以在 YouTube 上或 播客里找到任何一種語(yǔ)言的有趣內(nèi)容。 如果你是個(gè)內(nèi)向的人， 不愿意馬上就和母語(yǔ)者交談， 你總可以和自己練習(xí)對(duì)話。 你可以在自己的房間里， 對(duì)自己說(shuō)話， 描述你的周末計(jì)劃， 一天過(guò)得怎么樣， 甚至是從你的手機(jī)里 隨便選一張照片， 然后把它描述給你想象中的朋友。 這就是多語(yǔ)言者學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言的方式， 而好消息是，這種方法對(duì)每個(gè) 想要自主學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言的人 來(lái)說(shuō)，都是可行的。

So meeting other polyglots helped me realize that it is really crucial to find enjoyment in the process of learning languages。

所以，遇到其他的 多語(yǔ)言者讓我意識(shí)到 在學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言的過(guò)程中， 找到樂(lè)趣是十分重要的。