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.
Men chet tillarini o'rganishni yoqtiraman. Menga bu mashg'ulot shunchalik yoqadiki, men har ikki yilda yangi til o'rganaman. Hozirda esa sakkizinchisini o'rganayapman. Odamlar bu haqda xabar topganlarida doim so'rashadi: "Buni qanday qilasan? Siring nimada?" To'g'risini aytsam, yillar davomida shunday deb kelganman: "Bilmadim. Men til o'rganishni yoqtiraman xolos". Ammo bu javob odamlarni hech ham qoniqtirmasdi. Ular bitta til o'rganish uchun yillarni sarflasa ham, nega yuqori darajaga erisha olmasligini bilishni istashardi. Shunday bir holatda ular oldida ko'p tillarni o'rganuvchi men... Ular poliglotlar, ko'p tillarda so'zlay oluvchi insonlar sirini bilishni xohlashadi. Bunga men ham qiziqib qoldim, aslida poliglotlar buni qanday uddalashadi? Umumiy tomonlarimiz nimada? Bizga boshqa insonlarga nisbatan tilni tezroq tilni o'zlashtirishga nima yordam beradi? Poliglotlar bilan ko'rishib, buni aniqlashga qaror qildim.
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.
Eng oson yo'li - bir vaqtning o'zida bir nechasini uchratish, yuzlab poliglotlar bir joyda yig'ilib, tajriba almashadigan tadbirda. Dunyo miqyosida o'tkaziladigan bir nechta poliglotlar tadbirlari bor. Men shu tadbirlarga bordim, poliglotlardan o'zlarining metodlari haqda so'radim.
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.
Men irlandiyalik Benni bilan tanishdim. Aytishicha, uning metodi birinchi kundanoq muloqot qilishga intilishdan iborat. U so'zlashgichdan bir necha iboralarni o'rganadi va shu tilda gaplashuvchi odam bilan tanishib, ortga surmasdan darrov muloqot qilishni boshlaydi. U kuniga 200 marta xato qilsa ham bundan havotir olmaydi. Chunki u shunday o'rganadi, muloqot orqali. Hozirgi kunda buning uchun sayohat qilish ham shartmas, bu ajoyib! Chunki hozir boshqa tilda gapiruvchilar bilan so'zlashish oson va buni o'z xonangizdan chiqmasdan ham qila olasiz.
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.
Men braziliyalik Lukasni uchratdim, uning rus tilini o'rganish metodi bilan tanishdim. U Skype'da istalgan yuzlab ruslarga do'stlik takliflari yuboradi, va istalgan bittasini tanlab chat oynasini ochadi. Va "Привет" deb yozadi. U inson "Привет, как дела?" javob yozadi. Lukas buni "копировать" qiladi va boshqa bir chatga tashlaydi, u chatdagi inson esa bunga: "Я хорошо, спасибо, а как ты?" deb yozadi. Lukas buni ham nusxalaydi va birinchi insonga yuboradi. Va shu yo'l bilan u orqali ikkita inson o'zlari bilmagan holda bir-biri bilan gaplashadi.
(Laughter)
(Kulgu)
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?
Tez orada o'zi ham yozishni boshlaydi. Suhbatlar soni ko'payib, endi uning o'zi ham tushuna boshlaydi. Mohirona metod, shunday emasmi?
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.
Keyin men o'rganishni shu tildagi tovushlarni qo'llash bilan boshlaydigan, shu tilda eng ko'p ishlatiladigan 500 ta so'zdan boshlaydigan, va hattoki grammatikasini o'rganish bilan boshlaydiganlarni ham ko'rdim. Yuzlab poliglotlardan so'rab, siz yuzta tur xil usullarni eshitishingiz mumkin. Har birining o'zining til o'rganish metodi bor, lekin hammamiz bir xil natijaga erishamiz: bir necha tilda oson gapiramiz.
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.
O'z usullari haqida gapirayotgan barcha poliglotlarni tinglayotib, men shuni tushundim, bizni bir narsa bog'laydi: biz til o'rganish jarayonidan zavq olishning yo'llarini topganmiz xolos. Barcha poliglotlar o'zlarining til o'rganishlari haqida zavqlanib gapirishardi. Ularni bir ko'rsangiz edi. Rangli grammatik jadvallarini namoyish etishlari, qo'lda yasalgan yangi so'zlar yozilgan kartochkalar, va ularning dasturlar orqali so'z o'rganish statistikalarini. Hattoki chet tilida yozilgan retseptlar bo'yicha ovqatlar tayyorlashar edi. Har kim har xil metodlar qo'llaydi. Shu bilan birga ular tanlagan metod ularga zavq olibn kelishiga untilishadi.
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.
Aslida men ham shunga o'xshash yo'l bilan til o'rganishimni tushundim. Men ispan tilini o'rganayotganimda darslikdagi matnlardan zerikkan edim. Temiryo'l bekatiga qanday o'tish haqida so'rayotgan Xose haqida o'qish kimga qiziq, to'g'rimi? O'rniga men "Garri Potter"ni o'qishni xoxladim, juda ko'p marotaba o'qigan, bolalik davrimdagi eng sevimli kitobim. "Garri Potter"ning ispancha tarjimasini topdim va o'qishi boshladim. Boshida, albatta, men deyarli hech narsani tushunmadim, lekin bu kitobni yoqtirganim uchun o'qishda davom etdim. Va oxiriga kelganimda muammolarsiz tushuna boshladim. Xuddi shu holat nemis tilini boshlaganimda ham bo'ldi. Sevimli serialim "Friends"ni nemis tilida ko'rishga qaror qildim, va yana boshida hammasi tushunarsiz edi. Qachon bitta so'z tugab, boshqasi boshlanayotganini tushunmasdim. Lekin har kuni ko'rishda davom etdim, chunki bu Friends. Men uni istalgan tilda ko'rishim mumkin, juda yoqtiraman. Va nihoyat 2-3 fasldan keyin men ular nima deyotganini tushuna boshladim.
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.
Boshqa poliglotlar bilan ko'rishgach, shuni tushundim: bizlar daho emasmiz, bizda tezkor va oddiy til o'rganish usullari ham yo'q. Biz faqat bu jarayondan zavqlana olamiz. Til o'rganishni zerikarli maktab darsidan har kungi yoqimli mashg'ulotga aylantirgan holda. Agar siz so'zlarni qog'ozga yozishni yoqtirmasangiz, ularni dasturda saqlashingiz mumkin. Agar darslikdagi zerikarli materiallarni eshitishni xohlamasangiz, unda YouTube yoki podkastlarni shu tilda topishingiz mumkin. Agar siz introvert bo'lsangiz, va kim bilandir muloqotni tasavvur qila olmasangiz, unda ichki monolog metodidan foydalanishingiz mumkin. O'z xonangizda hotirjam o'z-o'zingiz bilan gaplashing, hafta rejasini, kun qanday o'tganini gapirib bergan, yoki telefondagi istalgan bir rasmni olib, uni tasvirlab bergan holda. Mana poliglotlar tillarni qanday o'rganadi. Eng yaxshi tomoni shuki, bu til o'rganishni xoxlagan barcha uchun qulaydir.
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.
Boshqa poliglotlar bilan uchrashuv menga til o'rganishdan zavqlana olish juda muhim ekanligini tushunishimga yordam berdi. Lekin bitta buning o'zi kamlik qiladi. Agar ma'lum bir tilda erkin muloqot qilishni xoxlasangiz, siz yana uchta qoidaga amal qilishingiz kerak.
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.
Birinchidan, samarali metodlardan foydalaning. Agar siz ertaga testda tushadigan so'zlarni yodlashga harakat qilsangiz, so'zlar sizning qisqa xotirangizga joylashadi, siz ularni bir necha kun o'tib unutasiz. Agar so'zlar uzoq xotirada saqlanishini xoxlasangiz, siz ularni bir necha kun davomida takrorlab yurishingiz kerak, intervalli takrorlash yordamida. Siz buning uchun Anki yoki Memrise kabi dasturlarni qo'llashingiz mumkin. Yoki poliglotlar orasida keng qo'llaniladigan "Oltin ro'yhat" metodi ya'ni daftarga so'zlarni yozib borishdan foydalaning. Agar qaysidir metod samarali yoki qulayligiga ishonchingiz komil bo'lmasa, poliglotlarning YouTube kanallari va vebsaytlarini kuzating, ulardan ilhomlanish mumkin. Agar bu usullar ularda ishlasa, sizga ham asqotishi kerak.
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.
Uchinchi qoida, bu o'rganish jarayonda tizimli yondashuvni qo'llay olish. Biz hammamiz juda bandmiz va odatda bizga til o'rganish uchun vaqt yetmaydi. Lekin biz agar hammasini oldindan rejalashtirsak bo'sh vaqt topa olamiz. Siz odatdagidan 15 daqiqa oldinroq uyg'ona olasizmi? Bu so'zlarni takrorlash uchun eng qulay vaqt bo'lgan bo'lardi. Ishga ketayotib yoki mashina boshqarayotib podkastlarni tinglay olasizmi? Chet tilidagi nutqni eshita boshlash siz uchun foydali bo'ladi. Rejalashtirmasdan ham qilsa bo'ladigan ko'plab mashg'ulotlar bor. Masalan, podkastlarni siz ishga ketayotib yoki uyingizni tozalayotib tinglashingiz mumkin. Til o'rganish rejasini tuzish muhimdir. "Men har seshanba va payshanba o'rtog'im bilan muloqot qilishni 20 daqiqa mashq qilamiz. Nonushta payti YouTubeda videolarni tinglayman". Agar siz tizimli yondashuvni qo'llasangiz, vaqt yetishmovchiligini his qilmaysiz, til o'rganish hayotingizni bir bo'lagiga aylanadi.
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.
Va so'ngida siz bu tilni mukammal bilishni xoxlasangiz, sizdan yanada sabr talab etiladi. Ikki oy ichida tilni o'rganishning iloji yo'q, lekin ikki oy ichida sezilarli progressga erishish mumkin. Albatta har kuni oz-ozdan, jarayondan zavqlangan holda o'rgangan bo'lsangiz. Va bizni shaxsiy rivojlanishimizdanda ko'proq motivatsiyani o'zi yo'q.
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.
Men "Friends" serialida birinchi marta nemis tilidagi hazilni tushungan lahzamni juda yaxshi eslayman. Men juda baxtiyor va ilhomlangan edim. Men shu kuni odatdagidan ikki seriya ko'proq ko'rdim, va ko'rayotib men sahnalarni yanada yaxshi tushunishni boshladim. Mening kichkina g'alabam meni qadamma- qadam yangi darajaga, bu tilni qo'llay olishimga olib keldi. Bu ajoyib hissoyot! Menga bu his shunchalik yoqdiki, men har ikki yilda yangi til o'rganaman.
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.
Mana poliglotlarning asosiy siri. Ma'lum bir vaqt oralig'ida tizimli qo'llasa bo'ladigan samarali metodni topish va bu jarayondan zavqlanish. Poliglotlar tillarni aynan shunday o'rganishadi, yillar emas, oylar davomida.
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?"
Hozir kimlardir o'ylashi mumkin: "Bu albatta chiroyli eshitiladi, zavq olish... Lekin asosiy sir poliglotlarning bizlarga qaraganda superqobiliyatliroq ekanliklaringizda emasmi?"
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.
Benni va Lukas haqida men sizlarga aytmagan yana bir narsa bor. Benni maktabda 11 yil irlandcha va 5 yil nemis tilini o'rgangan. Maktabni tamomlagach, u bu tillarda umuman gapira olmasdi. 21 yoshgacha u o'zida "til o'rganish geni" yo'q va chet tillarida gapira olmayman deb hisoblardi. Keyin u til o'rganishda o'zining yo'lini qidira boshladi, turli xil tillarda gapiruvchi insonlar bilan muloqotga kirishishga intildi. Va bugun Benni 10 xil tilda suhbat qura oladi. Lukas maktabda ingliz tilini o'rganishga 10 yil uringan. U sinfdagi eng yomon o'quvchilardan biri bo'lgan. Hatto do'stlari ustidan kulishgan va hazil tariqasida unga rus tili darsligini berishgan. Ular u hech qachon bu yoki boshqa tilni o'zlashtirolmaydi deb o'ylashgan. Shunda Lukas turli metodlarni tajriba qilib, o'z usulini qidira boshlagan. Masalan, Skype orqali notanish insonlar bilan muloqot. Va oradan 10 yil o'tib Lukas 11 ta tilda bemalol gaplasha oladi.
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.
Bu mo'jizadek eshitiladimi? Men har kuni bunday mo'jizalarni guvohi bo'laman. Til o'rganish bo'yicha ko'pchilikka mustaqil o'rganishida yordamlashaman, har kun mo'jiza ko'raman. Odamlar til o'rganishga 5 yil, 10 yoki hattoki, 20 yil harakat qilishadi, va ular o'rganishni o'z qo'llariga olganlarida, o'zlariga yoqadigan material va metodlarni qo'llay boshlaganlarida, yoki o'z ta'limini kuzatib, o'z rivojlanishiga baho berishni boshlaganlarida, aynan shu vaqtdan boshlab, go'yoki mo'jizadek ko'ringan til o'rganish layoqatini o'zida kuzatishni boshlashadi.
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.
Shunday ekan, agarda siz ham til o'rganishga harakat qilib, keyin bu juda qiyin yoki men qobiliyatsizman deb tashlab qo'ygan bo'lsangiz, yana bir bor urinib ko'ring. Balki sizga tilni yaxshi o'zlashtirish uchun qiziqarli metod yetishmayotgandir. Balki sizga poliglot bo'lishingiz uchun bor-yo'g'i bitta metod yetishmayotgandir.
Thank you.
Rahmat.
(Applause)
(Qarsaklar)