These people know five languages: advice from polyglots on how to master a foreign speech

Improve your English for work, learn French from scratch to communicate while traveling, or master Chinese as a new hobby - all this is possible if you have a goal and choose the right learning methods. Edition The Village asked people who are fluent in four or five foreign languages ​​and a few more at a basic level to share effective language learning techniques and useful life hacks.

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Ekaterina Pustovit - financial crime expert

Fluent in four foreign languages: English, Polish, French and Turkish; at a basic level knows eleven more, including Spanish, Hebrew and Finnish.

“The first language I started writing in was English. When I was 5 years old, my parents and I moved to Israel, where I studied English. Therefore, the first language I started writing in was English,” says Ekaterina. “When I returned to Ukraine at the age of nine, I corrected the teacher’s mistakes, for which I constantly received low grades. In addition, my parents and I lived in the USA (for about four years) and in Finland. During this time, I improved my English and learned a little Finnish. However, the second one was much more difficult, because at school we were taught perfect Finnish, which the locals don’t really use.”

She began to study Turkish at the university. The reason for this was academic interest and a boyfriend from Turkey.

“And now I live in Poland and over the past four years I have learned Polish perfectly thanks to courses, as well as independent work,” notes the polyglot. “I’m currently getting my doctorate at Lancaster University and have come to the point where I don’t know which language is easier for me to communicate in.” In England they think I'm English. When I communicate in Polish, I do it not with a Ukrainian accent, but with an English one. I speak eleven languages ​​at A2 level. This is the basic level that helps me communicate with foreigners on everyday topics.”

Good job and decent income

“At work, I get paid extra for knowing foreign languages, so in the crime department where I work, I have the highest income,” says Ekaterina.

Before learning any foreign language, in her opinion, you need to:

Set specific goals

“For example, I want to learn French, because it is one of the languages ​​of the European Parliament. I also want to work for a year in Belgium, where this language is very much appreciated. Without a goal, there will be no motivation to move on.

You should not immediately sign up for many language courses, as there is a chance of getting confused and not studying any of them. Better to focus on one or two languages.”

Be disciplined and systematic

“It is very important not to take long breaks in learning the language and study systematically. The best is one hour a day three times a week. And on other days, set aside fifteen minutes to read, listen to podcasts, or watch the news.

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However, it is not necessary to set yourself the goal of passing the A1 level in a week, and getting A2 next Tuesday. Because in fact there is no exact distribution into levels, and such goals can only confuse. According to Ekaterina, it is realistic to learn a language in a year, and in a month you can master only basic knowledge.”

Don't Focus on the Rules

“Often there are more exceptions than the rules themselves. For example, an unreadable letter h in English. You can remember the rules before which letters h will be read, but before which - not. However, this is an ineffective method as there are many exceptions that are not subject to this rule. Therefore, you need to focus on speaking in order to remember the pronunciation of words.”

Tips for learning languages

“When I studied foreign languages, I identified methods that help me maintain a high level of knowledge. Here is some of them.

Chat with native speakers

The best way out of the situation is to communicate with native speakers. For this, there are various applications in which you can select languages.

American stand-up comedians joke that the Slavs are rude. In fact, this is not the case, we just learned the language incorrectly.

In addition, you should choose a native speaker tutor who does not speak your first language from the start. Our brain copies the teacher, so if he speaks with a terrible accent, then we will also speak the same way.

Read books in the original language

Reading makes a person think in the language in which the book is written, so it helps not to forget the language and to keep oneself in good shape.

First of all, you need to choose a book of the level that you want to study. You can borrow books that you have already read in your native language to make it easier to understand the topic.

When reading, it is important to highlight incomprehensible words and phrases and immediately look for their meaning. However, you do not need to translate everything into your native language, because each language is special, and the translation does not always show the true meaning of the word.

Watch films and TV shows in a foreign language

The main mistake when watching movies is to watch them with subtitles in your native language. It is much better to include subtitles in a foreign language. Also choose films and TV series of your level, and also pay attention to American and British English.

Learn synonyms and phraseological units

Phraseologisms help to diversify our speech. Each language has its own unique phrases that cannot be literally translated, so you should always pay attention to phraseological units.

Think in a foreign language

For us, the word "generous" means that a person can spend his money on others. And in the UK the word generous("generous") indicates that a person, in addition to money, can give you his time. Therefore, in order not to lose the additional meaning of the word, you need to think not in your own language, but in a foreign one.

Listen to podcasts

There are many podcasts for different levels of language proficiency.

Improve your pronunciation

To improve your pronunciation, you need to read aloud. It will be more productive if at the same time listen to its audio version and repeat incomprehensible words. This is how the brain perceives information both audibly and visually.

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Sometimes it is useful to record yourself on a tape recorder. Because it may seem that you have a perfect pronunciation, but in fact it is not.

Anna Kulchinskaya - translator and linguist

Fluent in five foreign languages: English, Spanish, French, German and Polish; knows three more at a basic level: Italian, Portuguese and Romanian.

“My parents work as English teachers, so they instilled in me a love of languages ​​even as a child. Already at the age of three I could speak a little English, and at school I began to be interested in foreign culture because I wanted to receive information from primary sources, says Anna. — From the seventh grade I studied Spanish and Polish, because I tried to understand why bullfighting was so important for the Spaniards, and what kind of relations there were between Ukraine and Poland. And I learned French because it is one of the main languages ​​of the UN.”

The environment did not understand why I was learning so many languages. However, knowing them helps me to go through international volunteering and go to study abroad. I was able to visit Poland several times under the Erasmus+ program and take part in cultural exchanges. Last year I was a simultaneous translator from English at the embassy.”

Language learning tips

Learn a language comprehensively

“It’s a big mistake to study only grammar or vocabulary. There is no point in knowing a lot of words but not being able to form a sentence. And it’s also pointless to study a bunch of grammatical structures if a person doesn’t know the words.”

You don't have to learn everything from a book

“Everything has to be very balanced, and you shouldn't favor one aspect of the language. It is very important to have a confident command of grammar at the A2 level and to start studying the present, past and future tenses, and then build on the need. If a person just needs to go on vacation and order cocktails, then you should not study, for example, Future in the Past or other difficult times. It’s better to focus on specific vocabulary and a few grammatical structures.”

Start individually, continue in a group, finish on your own

“A very good method of learning a language is to start individually, continue in a group and finish on your own. When a person is just learning a foreign language, he needs individual lessons so that the teacher can develop a special study plan and help with basic grammar. A person with level C1 needs to learn languages ​​on his own and make a lot of effort, because tutors and courses will not be as effective as before.”

Put up stickers

“This makes it easier to remember how to say “spoon”, “cup” and other words used in a foreign language. You can make sentences with new words - this helps to remember them in the early stages. And then, so that the learned expressions do not lie in the passive vocabulary, you should begin to use them during speech.

It is very important to find your own norm of words that you are able to study per day. To do this, you can increase the number of words daily - and this way you will feel your maximum.”

Don't push yourself

“If you understand that a certain technique does not suit you, do not be upset. It takes time to figure out your preferences. Before learning languages, you need to understand which group they belong to, how many tenses there are, and why certain constructions exist. So we will know why to study, for example, articles in German or why there are seventeen tenses in Spanish.

Subscribe to foreign accounts and YouTube channels

This helps to stay in good shape and learn new words daily. YouTube videos help improve listening skills much better than academic resources that sound too perfect.”

Watch memes and read non-fiction

“Scientific articles, research and non-fiction literature help to enrich the vocabulary. What's more, funny quizzes and memes in the language you're learning will be far more useful than any fiction. Because memes usually write about current events in easy language.

Keep a personal diary

"A personal diary helps to use words and grammatical constructions in writing."

Talk to yourself

You should always practice your speaking skills. You can talk to yourself or translate advertisements aloud. It is also worth going to language clubs and chatting with native speakers.”

Elena Yuvkovetskaya – accountant

Knows four foreign languages: English, Polish, German, Italian.

“I started learning English while still at school, and then improved it with tutors. I became interested in Polish when I found out that I have relatives in Poland and can make a “Pole’s Card” in order to live in this country. So, having studied this language in courses, I was able to move to Poland,” said Elena. “A few years later I had the opportunity to go to study in Germany, where I improved my English and learned German in intensive courses.”

Later, Elena returned to Poland, where she met her Italian husband, through whom she also learned his language.

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Language learning tips

Watch foreign TV and news

So you can hear the real language and understand what is usually talked about in a particular country.

Listen to podcasts

They tell interesting stories, explain grammar well and train conversational speech on various topics.

Don't be afraid to speak

There is no need to be afraid to say a word incorrectly: everyone makes mistakes, and foreigners are very positive about this, because you are just learning.

Test different methods and choose your own

To consolidate grammar, you can write a lot to get your hand in hand. You can create your own texts on a specific topic and enter the learned grammatical constructions into the sentence.

It is important not to stop and keep working, because languages ​​help you expand your worldview and help you get a better job. In addition, Elena advises to travel, because in other countries where no one speaks your native language, it is much easier to practice speaking skills.

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