Hello or should I say hej allihopa? It’s Oleg again, and if you’re new here — I’m on a quest to learn a language (Swedish) from scratch, share my progress, and discuss different aspects of our multilingual world. Regular posts go out at the beginning of the week (like this post on a rather… problematic sitcom set in an EFL class), and end-of-week posts are reserved for progress updates interspersed with related rants and observations. This time it’s about polyglots and how they might not be the perfect role model for you.
Hold on tight as we’re in week #2 of my language learning journey!
svenska, svenska, svenska
I wish I could say I’ve reached some amazing milestone, like assembling an IKEA cupboard with audio-instructions in Swedish, but my progress isn’t that fast, as I still dedicate <10 hours per week for my studies.
“10 HOURS OLEG? But that’s still a lot!!! How do you manage to find the timw with your work, side-hustles, badminton practice, dog-walking, cooking, and other stuff you supposedly do??” Well, as I’ve said time and time again, language learning is the perfect activity for the busy and the lazy.
For now, most of my Swedish learning time is centred around listening, watching videos and learning vocab. Listening can be combined with other activities (even though you’ll miss a ton, it’s better to half-ass it than to not-ass it at all).
With all that said, here are my micro-milestones:
learned how to count from 1 to 10
read a bit of Tove Jansson strips in Swedish (with side-by-side translation)
learned words to talk about family members
In all my previous language learning attempts, I really neglected writing, but I want to redeem myself and incorporate more of it into my journey now. The idea for now is to write down (by hand) transcripts of some of the videos (like the ones by Slow Swedish). Why? To create new neuroplastic connections in my brain (there’s a bunch of research on that but I’m sure at least 50% is just neuro-woo) and learn faster.
Polyglots can inspire but…
I remember seeing that video of Tim Doner (Teen Speaks Over 20 Languages) some ten years ago and thinking to myself… wow, that’s so cool! And it is cool, for all intents and purposes. Speaking dozens of languages is, for many of us, an enviable feat. But does that mean that we need to study languages like polyglots to attain any sort of satisfaction or fluency? Probably not.
To me, the biggest problem with the whole idea of polyglotism (polyglossia?) is it being seen as a status symbol of sorts. There are multiple accounts on Instagram and Youtube these days, where folk will start every post or video with “My name is X and I speak Y languages”. And while some of them I truly admire, others don’t seem that genuine.
Now, the point of this post is not picking a fight with someone, but to me, there are some issues with “polyglot-as-an-influencer/polyglot-as-a-role-model”. Folk will routinely:
Overexaggerate their abilities (there have been documented cases where online polyglots would just read pre-prepared stuff rather than actually talk)
Engage in parlor tricks (“Hear X talk 77 languages in a row”)
Talk in a gazillion of languages but seemingly be able to ONLY talk about the actual topic of language learning (a bit meta, and maybe even a bit of a self-own there)
Try to sell you a course/book/method
Go on to teach a language they’re not sufficiently proficient in or qualified to teach
Now, this isn’t to say that it’s applicable to all polyglots. Of course not! I mean, my personal ROLE MODEL is Kato Lomb, whose book is literally called Polyglot: How I learn languages (you can get it for free if you follow this linke). But if you are serious about your language journey in one or two foreign languages, I think you’d be better off with a different kind of role model.
Maybe it’s someone who, just like you, fell in love with your target language and learned it through blood, sweat and tears. Maybe it’s a linguist or professor who has dedicated their life to the language. Maybe it’s an author who started writing in a second language, literally making literary love to it (I am, of course, referencing Nabokov here). My new role model, for example, is this French YouTuber who learned Norwegian before moving to the troll and fjord country. Her tips are useful even if you’re learning a non-Nordic language:
So, find your role models folks! And if you have some already — share them in the comments. Have a great weekend and talk to you soon. And if you’re not subscribed yet, well…
I agree. If you set out to be a polyglot from the beginning of your language learning journey you probably will not achieve anything more than parlor tricks. Your skills will probably be very superficial. I think you’ll be better if you first think of yourself as a learner of x language, a learner of y language, a learner of z language and then as a polyglot.
It's not an easy feat, but as the language community, we can help stop glamourising the skill of speaking 10k languages, and instead focus on the amazing journey we took on. 😊