M'encanta aprendre idiomes. De fet, m'agrada tant que cada dos anys aprenc un idioma nou. Ja vaig pel vuitè. Quan ho explico a la gent, sempre em pregunten: "Com ho fas? Quin és el secret?" I, sincerament, durant molts anys la resposta era: "No ho sé. M'agrada aprendre idiomes." Però mai els agradava la resposta, volien saber per què ells necessiten anys per aprendre un sol idioma, sense fluïdesa, i, en canvi, jo aprenc un idioma rere l'altre. Volien saber el secret dels poliglots, aquells que parlen molts idiomes. Llavors em vaig preguntar com ho fan els altres poliglots. Què tenim en comú? I què és el que ens permet aprendre idiomes més ràpid que la resta de la gent? Vaig decidir conèixer altra gent com jo i descobrir-ho.
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.
El millor lloc per conèixer poliglots és en esdeveniments on els amants de les llengües es reuneixen per practicar-les. Hi ha molts esdeveniments poliglots per tot el món. Vaig decidir anar a un i preguntar als poliglots quins mètodes utilitzen.
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.
Vaig conèixer el Benny, d'Irlanda, que em va dir que el seu mètode és començar a parlar des del primer dia. Aprèn unes quantes frases d'un manual de conversa, va a conèixer parlants nadius i comença a conversar amb ells. Li és igual cometre 200 errors al dia, perquè aprèn gràcies al feedback. El millor és que, avui dia, no cal viatjar gaire, perquè pots conversar amb nadius des del menjador, a través de pàgines web.
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.
També vaig conèixer el Lucas, de Brasil, que té un mètode molt interessant per aprendre rus. Va afegir cent parlants de rus, desconeguts, a Skype, va obrir una conversa amb un i va escriure "Hola" en rus. La persona va respondre: "Hola, què tal?" El Lucas ho va copiar i ho va enganxar en una altra conversa i la persona va respondre: "Molt bé, gràcies. I tu?" El Lucas ho va copiar a la primera persona i, d'aquesta manera, tenia dos desconeguts conversant entre ells sense saber-ho.
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.
(Riures)
(Laughter)
Aviat va començar a escriure-ho ell, perquè havia tingut tantes converses així que ja sabia com començar una conversa. Enginyós, oi?
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?
També vaig conèixer poliglots que comencen imitant sons de la llengua, d'altres que aprenen les 500 paraules més comunes de l'idioma i d'altres que comencen a llegir sobre la gramàtica. Si preguntés a cent poliglots diferents, em dirien cent maneres diferents d'aprendre un idioma. Sembla que tothom té una manera diferent d'aprendre una llengua, però tots arriben a parlar idiomes amb fluïdesa.
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.
Mentre m'explicaven els seus mètodes, em vaig adonar que el que teníem en comú és que trobem la manera de gaudir del procés d'aprenentatge. Tots parlaven de l'aprenentatge com una cosa divertida. Hauríeu d'haver-los vist les cares mentre m'ensenyaven els quadres de gramàtica, les fitxes fetes a mà i les estadístiques d'aprendre vocabulari per aplicacions. Fins i tot, com els agrada cuinar amb receptes en altres idiomes. Tots utilitzen mètodes diferents, però s'asseguren que els agrada.
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.
Em vaig adonar que jo faig el mateix. Quan aprenia el castellà, m'avorria el llibre de text. A qui li agrada llegir sobre en José preguntant com anar a l'estació de tren? Volia llegir Harry Potter, perquè era el meu llibre preferit de petita i l'havia llegit moltes vegades. Vaig agafar Harry Potter en castellà i vaig començar a llegir. Al principi, quasi no entenia res, però vaig seguir llegint, perquè m'encantava i al final, el podia entendre quasi tot, sense problema. Amb l'alemany, em va passar el mateix. Vaig començar a mirar Friends, la meva sèrie preferida, en alemany. Al principi, tot era un guirigall. No sabia on acabava una paraula i on començava l'altra, però la vaig seguir mirant cada dia. M'agrada tant que la puc mirar en qualsevol idioma. A la segona o tercera temporada, el diàleg començava a tenir sentit, de veritat.
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.
No me'n vaig adonar fins que vaig conèixer altres poliglots. No som genis i no tenim cap drecera per aprendre llengües. Només trobem maneres de gaudir del procés, de fer que aprendre una llengua sigui tan divertit que ho vulguis fer cada dia. Si no t'agrada escriure en paper, escriu en una aplicació; si no t'agrada escoltar àudios del llibre de text, busca continguts de YouTube o podcasts en la llengua que sigui. Si ets una persona introvertida i no vols començar a parlar amb nadius, parla amb tu mateix. Pots parlar en veu alta a la teva habitació, explica't què faràs el cap de setmana, com t'ha anat el dia o tria una foto del mòbil i descriu-la a un amic imaginari. Els poliglots aprenen així i el millor de tot és que qualsevol que vulgui aprendre una llengua ho pot fer.
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 self-talk. 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.
Gràcies a altres poliglots em vaig adonar que és essencial gaudir quan aprens llengües, però gaudir no ho és tot. Si vols parlar amb fluïdesa en un altre idioma, cal aplicar tres principis bàsics.
So meeting other polyglots helped me realize that it is really crucial to find enjoyment in the process of learning languages, but also that joy in itself is not enough. If you want to achieve fluency in a foreign language, you'll also need to apply three more principles.
Primer, calen mètodes efectius. Si intentes memoritzar una llista de paraules per a un examen, les paraules es guarden en la memòria a curt termini i les oblidaràs en pocs dies. En canvi, si vols guardar-les en la memòria a llarg termini, les has de revisar durant diversos dies. Això s'anomena repàs espaiat. Pots fer servir aplicacions basades en això, com Anki o Memrise, o escriure llistes en una llibreta, seguint el mètode Goldlist, que és molt popular entre els poliglots. Si no saps quins mètodes existeixen i si són efectius, busca webs i canals de YouTube de poliglots i busca-hi idees. Si a ells els funciona, probablement a tu també.
First of all, you'll need effective methods. If you try to memorize a list of words for a test tomorrow, the words will be stored in your short-term memory and you'll forget them after a few days. If you, however, want to keep words long term, you need to revise them in the course of a few days repeatedly using the so-called space repetition. You can use apps which are based on this system such as Anki or Memrise, or you can write lists of word in a notebook using the Goldlist method, which is also very popular with many polyglots. If you're not sure which methods are effective and what is available out there, just check out polyglots' YouTube channels and websites and get inspiration from them. If it works for them, it will most probably work for you too.
El tercer principi és crear un sistema d'aprenentatge. Estem sempre molt ocupats i ningú té temps d'aprendre un idioma. Però podem trobar-ne si ens organitzem. Et pots llevar 15 minuts abans? És el moment perfecte per revisar vocabulari. Pots escoltar un podcast de camí a la feina? És una bona manera d'escoltar la llengua. Hi ha moltes coses que es poden fer sense organitzar temps extra, com escoltar podcasts de camí a la feina o fent les feines de casa. L'important és crear un pla d'aprenentatge. "Practicaré parlant cada dimarts i dijous amb un amic durant 20 minuts." "Escoltaré un vídeo de YouTube mentre esmorzo." Si crees un sistema d'aprenentatge, no cal que trobis temps extra, perquè ja formarà part de la rutina.
The third principle to follow is to create a system in your learning. We're all very busy and no one really has time to learn a language today. But we can create that time if we just plan a bit ahead. Can you wake up 15 minutes earlier than you normally do? That would be the perfect time to revise some vocabulary. Can you listen to a podcast on your way to work while driving? Well, that would be great to get some listening experience. There are so many things we can do without even planning that extra time, such as listening to podcasts on our way to work or doing our household chores. The important thing is to create a plan in the learning. "I will practice speaking every Tuesday and Thursday with a friend for 20 minutes. I will listen to a YouTube video while having breakfast." If you create a system in your learning, you don't need to find that extra time, because it will become a part of your everyday life.
Finalment, si vols aprendre a parlar amb fluïdesa, cal paciència. És impossible aprendre una llengua en 2 mesos, però si que pots millorar en aquest temps, si aprens a poc a poc cada dia mentre t'ho passes bé. No hi ha res que motivi més que l'èxit.
And finally, if you want to learn a language fluently, you need also a bit of patience. It's not possible to learn a language within two months, but it's definitely possible to make a visible improvement in two months, if you learn in small chunks every day in a way that you enjoy. And there is nothing that motivates us more than our own success.
Recordo clarament el moment en què vaig entendre el primer acudit en alemany a Friends. Estava tant contenta i motivada que vaig mirar dos capítols més aquell dia. I mentre ho mirava, vaig entendre moltes més coses, petites victòries. A poc a poc, vaig arribar a un punt on podia parlar lliurement i fluïda per expressar-me. És una sensació meravellosa. No en tinc mai prou. Per això aprenc un idioma cada dos anys.
I vividly remember the moment when I understood the first joke in German when watching "Friends." I was so happy and motivated that I just kept on watching that day two more episodes, and as I kept watching, I had more and more of those moments of understanding, these little victories, and step by step, I got to a level where I could use the language freely and fluently to express anything. This is a wonderful feeling. I can't get enough of that feeling, and that's why I learn a language every two years.
Aquest és el secret dels poliglots. Trobar mètodes efectius que es poden usar sistemàticament durant un període de temps mentre t'ho passes bé. És així com els poliglots aprenen idiomes en qüestió de mesos i no d'anys.
So this is the whole polyglot secret. Find effective methods which you can use systematically over the period of some time in a way which you enjoy, and this is how polyglots learn languages within months, not years.
Algú pensarà que gaudir d'aprendre una llengua està molt bé, però el veritable secret dels poliglots no serà que teniu molta facilitat i la majoria no?
Now, some of you may be thinking, "That's all very nice to enjoy language learning, but isn't the real secret that you polyglots are just super talented and most of us aren't?"
No us he explicat una cosa sobre el Benny i el Lucas. El Benny havia estudiat 11 anys d'irlandès i 5 d'alemany a l'escola. Però quan es va graduar, no podia parlar-ne cap. Fins als 21, pensava que no tenia el gen per als idiomes i que no podia parlar cap llengua. Va començar a analitzar la seva manera d'aprendre idiomes, que era parlar amb nadius i rebre'n feedback. Avui, el Benny pot conversar en 10 idiomes. El Lucas va intentar aprendre anglès durant 10 anys a l'escola. Era un dels pitjors alumnes. Els seus amics se'n reien i, com a broma, li van regalar un llibre de rus, perquè pensaven que mai aprendria cap idioma. Va començar a experimentar amb els mètodes, buscant la seva manera d'aprendre. Per exemple, amb converses de Skype amb desconeguts. 10 anys després, parla amb fluïdesa 11 idiomes.
Well, there's one thing I haven't told you about Benny and Lucas. Benny had 11 years of Irish Gaelic and five years of German at school. He couldn't speak them at all when graduating. Up to the age of 21, he thought he didn't have the language gene and he could not speak another language. Then he started to look for his way of learning languages, which was speaking to native speakers and getting feedback from them, and today Benny can easily have a conversation in 10 languages. Lucas tried to learn English at school for 10 years. He was one of the worst students in class. His friends even made fun of him and gave him a Russian textbook as a joke because they thought he would never learn that language, or any language. And then Lucas started to experiment with methods, looking for his own way to learn, for example, by having Skype chat conversations with strangers. And after just 10 years, Lucas is able to speak 11 languages fluently.
Sona a miracle? Doncs veig miracles com aquest cada dia. Com a mentora d'idiomes, ajudo a la gent a aprendre idiomes tots sols i ho veig cada dia. Hi ha gent a qui li costa aprendre'n un durant 5, 10 o 20 anys i, de cop, aprenen pel seu compte i comencen a fer servir materials que gaudeixen, mètodes més efectius o a seguir l'aprenentatge per observar-ne el progrés. De cop, troben la facilitat que els faltava.
Does that sound like a miracle? Well, I see such miracles every single day. As a language mentor, I help people learn languages by themselves, and I see this every day. People struggle with language learning for five, 10, even 20 years, and then they suddenly take their learning into their own hands, start using materials which they enjoy, more effective methods, or they start tracking their learning so that they can appreciate their own progress, and that's when suddenly they magically find the language talent that they were missing all their lives.
Si heu intentat aprendre un idioma i us heu donat per vençuts, perquè és massa difícil o perquè no teniu facilitat, intenteu-ho un altre cop. Potser esteu a un mètode d'aprendre una llengua amb fluïdesa. Potser esteu a un mètode de ser poliglots.
So if you've also tried to learn a language and you gave up, thinking it's too difficult or you don't have the language talent, give it another try. Maybe you're also just one enjoyable method away from learning that language fluently. Maybe you're just one method away from becoming a polyglot.
Gràcies.
Thank you.
(Aplaudiments)
(Applause)