Guest Post: Learn like a Boss with Your Own Resources

Create your own vocabulary list and dialogues

We all know that there is abundant of language learning material available either in the bookstore or on the internet. However, the question is “Which learning material suits your learning style and your necessity?”

A wide variety of choices is good in terms of providing sufficient learning material but it also could make you confused of choosing the right one for you.

Moreover, you may also be confused because of facing the scarcity of learning material, especially for unpopular languages.

‘Huckleberry Finn’ – An Unusual Attitude to Linguistic Diversity

Since you are reading my blog, I assume you are aware of the fact that there is a wide variety of languages in existence around the world today. It may even be hard for you to imagine that many African slaves in the 19th century United States had no knowledge of the concept of ‘language’. They had no access to education and were very unlikely to encounter foreigners in their area. In addition, they had neither the right, nor the money nor the will to travel abroad. So with regards to an understanding of linguistic diversity, they were just like us in our childhood years! I remember hearing my grandparents talking in Greek and not being aware that they were conversing with each other the way I did in Hungarian. In other words, I saw foreign languages as gibberish. Have I got evidence for this? Of course I do! Once I shouted out a made up sentence in front of my parents and finished with the following remark: “This is my Greek.” I’m not sure if this experience would have foretold my future passion for constructed languages and glossopoeia, but it did leave my parents astonished, there’s no doubt about that.

Best of 2013 – The 15 Most Popular Articles of the Year

First of all, I wish you all a New Year that brings luck and prosperity, fills your home with joy and spirit, and gives you new confidence and courage for a fresh start. Let me re-introduce the 15 most visited posts of 2013 on ‘I wish to be a polyglot!’. It seems to be quite a diverse list of articles, which encourages me to continue exploring a wide range of topic areas in the New Year. With over 5000 views and 120 comments, my blog has become my proudest achievement of 2013 – besides my GCSE results, of course. I would like to thank you all for being kind enough to sacrifice some time and have a quick look at the stuff that go through my mind. Oddly enough, your comments indicate that some of you even consider my articles ‘interesting’ – special thanks for that! A propos, I am aware of the issue with the comments and promise to answer them all as soon as possible.

Juntante la comunia de elefen – Como me pote aida? #babel2013

Prima, me vole demanda un pardona per no publicinte un article de cuando la vijila de tota santas. E ance, pardona per scrivente en elefen en loca de engles! La razona per esta es ce me ia enscrive a la Dia European de Bloginte Multilingual, cual ia es en 15 novembre, e donce me aora scrive en un otra lingua. Alora, nos ta parla sur alga cosa plu interesante!

Simple, fluent, elegant – Introducing an alternative writing system

I have always been planning to write this article due to the amount of comments I have received in connection with the beautiful writing system I use to write Neo-Ugric. Let’s reveal the truth: the alphabet is called ‘Tciaar’ and was invented by Ricardo Reséndiz Maita and Cialy Saturno Maita in 2005. According to Omniglot, the creators were inspired by writing systems such as Arabic and Mongolian, which seem to share a lot of interesting traits with the outcome.

It’s all Greek to me!

I have a tendency to write incredibly long articles, I know. But having a quick look at my other posts made me realise that in some cases a short piece of writing can be just as successful as a longer one. So please don’t expect a lengthy article this time! As you can see from the title, today I am going to write a bit about Modern Greek, more specifically my own experience with it. You may have read in my introduction that my mother is Greek and that this wonderful language and culture had a great impact on my early life. It was the first foreign language I came across, and the first one I began to learn in class. However, the years of studying did not seem to pay off at the end. And – in my opinion – are yet to pay off! Let me tell you a bit more about why my views on this are so pessimistic.

More about Lingua Franca Nova

Since I published the article ‘My adventures in 10 languages‘ nearly a week ago, I received quite a few questions about one of the paragraphs. This mysterious paragraph was written in a constructed language called Lingua Franca Nova, which I would like to write about in this article. So around two years ago, while searching for simple conlangs on the internet, I found an article about LFN and – as I expected – it gained my interest in the language. At this point I began to look through everything related to the subject that I could find on the internet (and surprisingly, there was a wide variety of available materials). Despite my great enthusiasm, it was only last week that I decided to have a go at using the language without being able to speak it. And, believe it or not, it seems to have worked.

Who is Bodo Wartke?

A few years ago, while searching for multilingual music on the internet, I came across a pretty basic lovesong. Those who know me well enough may not understand how the words ‘basic’ and ‘lovesong’ could bind together to form something that I consider remarkable. So here’s the explanation: this song is sung in 88 different languages and dialects. Incredible! The author is Bodo Wartke, a German singer-songwriter, actor and poet. With his valuable experience in the field of cabaret, he successfully adds humour to his masterpiece through the use of national stereotypes, or simply by singing in Shakespearean English, Klingon, Elvish and several German and Swiss dialects. Most of the translations have been provided by native speakers who wholeheartedly contributed to Bodo’s project in this way.

Alex Rawlings, Europe’s human phrasebook

Over a year ago I came across an interesting article on the website of my favourite linguistic-themed magazine, the Hungarian ‘Nyelv és Tudomány’. This was the first ever time I read the word ‘polyglot’ and I was indeed very impressed by the existence of such an extraordinary talent. The only thing that managed to impress me even more was a video attached to the article, which showed a 20-year-old British student talking about himself in 11 languages. A few weeks later I found myself being asked to “show something inspirational” at the end of a Year 9 French lesson. I was aware that these pupils were about to make their choices regarding what subjects they wanted to carry on studying, so I was striving to promote languages as thoroughly as possible. As I was sitting near the projector with a class of not so enthusiastic 14-year-old language learners staring at me, I decided to let Alex Rawlings – the mentioned hyperpolyglot – transform the mood in the classroom into something more vivid. The video was yet to finish, but the room was already filled with whispers, each and every one of them questioning how such talent could exist, and letting their speakers reconsider their attitudes to learning foreign languages. In September, half a year after this amazing experience, I was pleased to hear Alex’s voice through the loudspeakers of the French room. Yes, showing “the boy who speaks many languages” to the youngest of the school has by now become a traditional element of French lessons.

Mansaray: “Being a polyglot is a lifestyle choice”

A few days ago I found a very interesting article on the internet, which eventually filled my mind with subjective thoughts around the idea of wanting to become a polyglot. The title “Is Wanting to be a Polyglot a Misdirected Dream?” made me stop, think for a moment and rush into reading the article with the hope of finding an answer. The author is David Mansaray, whom I sometimes refer to as the ‘master of learning’, so I had no doubt about whether his opinion is worth considering. He explains that transforming this dream into reality requires incredibly hard work and a lot of time.

한국어를 읽을 수 있습니까?

Please don’t be put off by the strange “drawings” in the title. The question’s translation is “Can you read Korean?”, and is written… in Korean! The language uses the so called ‘Hangul’ script, which I often refer to as the simplest writing system in the Far East. Now, this article isn’t intended to be a beginners’ Korean lesson, especially due to the sorrowful fact that my knowledge of this beautiful language consists of no more than three sentences. However, I would like to introduce you to a special software using which you can easily learn the Korean writing system. When I first decided to learn the Korean alphabet (yes, it’s not a syllabary!), I spent quite a lot of time searching for the best free resource on the internet. Luckily, I found a software named Learn Hangul, which uses a unique technique to make the writing system memorisable. In addition to the program, I also recommend these practice sheets and this quiz if you would like to refresh your memory using a different type of resource. Believe me, learning the Korean alphabet is definitely worth the effort. It allows you to explore everything from a different perspective. Also, it may be quite useful in some cases. For example, if you see 강남스타일 written on a website, you automatically read the text as ‘Gangnam Style’ and have just enough time to click away before the video begins.

Polyglot Conference 2013 in Budapest

I was overjoyed to learn that the first ever Polyglot Conference, organised by Richard Simcott and Luca Lampariello (two of the most remarkable polyglots I know about) would take place in my hometown, Budapest. However, being in the UK deprived me of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Throughout the preceding months, Luca continuously updated his Facebook profile with news regarding the conference, which welcomed any language-lover regardless of lingual ability or profession. The speakers of the meeting included some of my greatest inspirations, such as Luca and Richard, Alex Rawlings, Benny Lewis, Susanna Zaraysky, Bálint Kőrösi and Emanuele Marini, whose incredible abilities surprised me when I first heard about him after the conference had taken place. Fortunately, the organisers uploaded quite a lot of summaries and even videos of the event to the internet, allowing me to take their teachings and recommendations on board. For those of you who are interested in accessing these materials, learning more about the project and perhaps joining Luca and Richard at their next destination, here’s the official website of the conference. Also, there seems to be another website, which introduces this year’s speakers individually.

Using the ‘One Sentence Trick’

“Where are you from?” “I’m from Turkey.” “Üzgünüm, Türkçe bilmiyorum.” This is an example of how I would attempt to break the ice when meeting a person from Turkey. For those who don’t know me well enough, this is the only sentence I know in Turkish. And despite not speaking their language, this one statement (which literally means “Sorry, I don’t speak Turkish”) would normally imply my awareness of and interest in the conversation partner’s language and culture. As expected, the sentence creates a highly positive first impression of me, and perhaps even initiates a powerful dialogue with the person.

Talking to strangers surpasses our known abilities

If you are a language learner, you’ve probably had at least one experience which made you realise that using a foreign language when talking to someone you have never met results in more success than if you talk to a friend, a family member or a teacher. I believe this is just a matter of confidence and bravery: talking to a native speaker of a language induces more of that subconscious lack of self-esteem and fear of failure if you happen to know the addressed person reasonably well.