Luca Lampariello: The Polyglot Dream

Actual Fluency Podcast episode 30 with Luca Lampariello. Welcome to the Actual Fluency podcast. The podcast that gives you the tools and inspiration to learn languages faster and more efficiently. And now your host, Kris Broholm.

I'm doing great. Chris, thank you for the lovely introduction.

Yeah, no problem. You deserve it, man. And uh, you're back in Rome?

Yeah, I'm back in Rome. I'm very happy to be here. The weather is absolutely fantastic today. I'm going to go for a walk and uh, everything is is just fantastic. How's the weather in Denmark? Always ask about the weather.

Yeah, exactly. I I think that's a great conversation starter. It's uh, it's sunny, unusually sunny and uh, but it's a little bit windy, so uh Yeah.

Uh-huh. It's kind of strange because I do remember that I was in in Denmark, uh, one it was like a month ago or something but we were together, do you remember that you had these like rain showers all of a sudden and it was kind of cold. How's how's the weather now? Like

It's it's it's warmer. Well, not generally, but today it's better than when you were here.

Wow, so I was not really lucky in in August or something. Okay. Gotcha. But but hey, I still enjoyed the the sky when it was clear, there were a couple of days when it was beautiful anyway, and I really like being in in in Denmark and in Sweden, you know, as usual.

Awesome, awesome. Well, Luca, you know, one of the biggest questions that I actually thought about, uh, when I was thinking about you and and obviously you get interviewed a lot, so it's actually difficult to, you know, get some unique twists, but one of the questions that I've had for a while is, what is exactly your kind of idea or definition of the polyglot dream, which the dream, which is the name of your blog.

Hmm, interesting question. Nobody had ever asked me that question before. Well, the polyglot dream for me, the polyglot dream means to live the life to live a a fantastic life through languages. Now, one might say that you don't need to speak multiple languages to have a fantastic life. That's also true. But I believe that the more languages you speak and the the the broader your horizons are in life because you understand more you understand people better, you understand cultures, you understand where you stand. A lot of people take for granted that they live in a unique world and and you know, for example, Italians, they live in Italy and they think that a lot of people think like them. Well, it's absolutely not the case.

Wow, yeah, it it does sound cool and when when did you come up with the with that kind of, it's a kind of a grand vision, isn't it? Did you have that at the beginning of your language learning kind of journey or or did that come as you were kind of going through it?

I'm going to tell the truth. My life, uh my my vision about life, my vision about how to learn languages, how to acquire languages, how to talk to people has changed, has been evolving and still is evolving. Um in the last uh 10 or 20 years because I've been learning languages for 20 years. So, I didn't have this like idea at the beginning, but the more I've been delving into languages, into different cultures, into traveling, I've been finding out more and more uh exhilarating aspects of being multilingual. It it it's simply cool to be multilingual.

Yeah, it's about the same. We it's not very popular in Denmark though and we kind of make fun of the Swedes for it, but yeah, we know we know what it is.

But you know what it is. So for example, if you say, um I still remember I watched a I was watching a Swedish movie when I still couldn't speak Swedish. And I saw these guys putting these things under their like their gums and stuff. Oh, what's going on? I was like, okay, now, this is like so for snus, for people who don't know snus is just, you know, a tobacco thing that you put under in your mouth in order not to smoke because it's so cold in Scandinavia that you when you have to smoke a cigarette, the best solution is just to stay inside and not smoke it. So, you put this thing, this tobacco thing under your um in in your mouth, so to say, under your gums.

Awesome. And I guess this uh kind of ties back to that famous Mandela quote that keeps being tossed around all the time about, you know, if you know a man's language, you you can connect to his his soul, his heart, not just his, you know, understanding brain.

Absolutely, absolutely. I I love the man and I love his quote.

It has to be done, right? You can't just that's kind of the little, uh I guess, caveat we have to put in there. If you if you haven't started learning that second language or or new language and just used it, you don't really know what what we're discussing right now. You kind of have to do it yourself. Even though they know what you stand for and what you you've accomplished and stuff. Of course, they believe you, but it's something you have to try for yourself, isn't it?

Well, to fully understand the scope, to fully understand how it feels to speak a foreign language to a certain level and embrace a culture, you have to live it, of course. That's the reason why I say the polyglot dream. The polyglot dream is the dream, a dream is something to be fulfilled. And I think that um in order to really understand it, you have to live it. You know, absolutely.

Exactly. And and do you feel that the community, sort of the I mean, we keep referring to this community, but what I mean is the people online are gathering in communities of language learners, of aspiring polyglots. Do you feel that this growth in this community feeling is also because of the internet? It's becoming easier and it's becoming more popular or do you think it's kind of just like a natural development of society itself?

Hmm I I think it's uh it's it's a development of society, but I think the first and foremost, it's about the internet. It's like posting, you know, everybody can post a video saying, hi, I speak a few languages and then another person will send them him or her a message because they find his his his or her video interesting and say, hey, let's team up. Do you want to have a chat in Skype and then these two people will contact another one. Three, four, five and that's that's how it grows. And then all of a sudden somebody comes up with the idea of um creating a conference about it or a gathering like the one that happened in Berlin. And 200 people show up. What was amazing about Berlin is that you you just realize, you find yourself in a room full of these people who speak a lot of languages or are extremely passionate and you tell yourself, wow, actually, I thought I was the only loner learning languages, but actually there's a lot of geeks like me. You know? I I I just call them geeks, but in reality, it's just, you know, passionate people who are very passionate about what they're doing. Languages. And there's a ton of people like that in the world. So, the internet gives us this possibility of finding out about people while in the '80s or like in when the internet didn't exist, we were not conscious that the world was full with um is full of these people. It's just that we didn't didn't know about it. The internet just makes us more conscious of of of things happening in life and of of some things that are there but that we don't see.

Right. I I think that's a perfect uh it's so beautiful, isn't it? And it seems like the world in general is becoming more tolerable as well and more open to foreign kind of cultures and trying out different things and being more um I guess just accepting that people are different. It's not the you don't live in your own country and just have your own mindset. You get inputs from everywhere.

Well, let let me put it this way. The internet is is in this goes for language learning as well. The internet is just an instrument. It can uh can it can be used for good purposes or for disastrous purposes, for bad purposes, for evil purposes. Uh take for example, for language learning, it's an amazing it's an amazing instrument, but it's also used to spawn and to spread uh evil like for example, this has been happening, uh you know, recently, uh so, recently and it's been happening since the internet was born. So, it it's up to us to use the internet in a in a good way or in a bad way.

Exactly. Do you think that the internet is kind of like a more easy or effective way of learning languages or are we developing new and unique methods because of the internet?

It's it's both. You I I still believe that I used to learn languages effectively even when the internet was not around. What I believe in uh every time I talk about something is a combination of things. It's what really makes a difference. Now, if we think back to about, for example, famous polyglots in uh Mezzofanti comes to mind. Uh he didn't have the internet, and yet he learned so many languages. So, it doesn't mean that if you don't have the internet, uh you're screwed so to say. Sorry for the bad word.

What what can people do in kind of practical terms like for to to make sure that they actually don't fall into those traps because I can definitely relate to to that. You know, you see a video about you see an actually useful video, like something you want to know about. And then there's like related about a cat or Steve Jobs dying or, you know, you just keep going. What what what is it that in our minds that we have to tell ourselves that or do we structure our time on the internet? What what what would you do practically in in this case?

Okay, well, first, um the the reason why you act that way and I act that way is simply because the internet is addictive. You know, you can do whatever you want. So, it's like um a bear in a room full of honey. You know, just could spend hours and hours eating the honey.

Yeah, Facebook, Reddit, Twitter.

Facebook is is email, Reddit, Twitter. You you name it, you know? It's full of obstacles there. It's just, I think that if a person really knows how to use their time accordingly and how to use the internet just to search for information that they want, obviously, once again, you can spend some time watching a documentary. Why not? Or something else that that caught the eye while you were searching for something else, but it doesn't have to be the rule.

Right. It has to be the exception. And it shouldn't preferably be in the study time or the serious time, preferably.

Exactly. And if you have a study time, if you if you if it's set in stone, so to say, if you decide, okay, um this week, I'm going to have this time schedule, then you're going to stick to it, then the internet. You have to know what you but my suggestion is if set some goals and then set a time schedule for the week that you're going to follow more or less because without a time schedule, without a goal, you're just like a boat in the middle of the ocean and in the middle of a storm. You know?

Yeah. Exactly. Well, that's fantastic actually, and I I think that's one of those meta concepts that we don't really get to talk about a lot because a lot of the focus in the language learning is about your methods and particular books or what to do in the time, but actually talking about kind of spending your time in the first place, I think is something that's often overlooked. So, I'm I'm glad you brought this up.

Well, time management is everything. I always say it's not just what you do and how you do it counts, but when you do it counts as as much as the other two. So, you have to organize your time like, okay, I know I have the know-how. I know what to do. Now, it's time to organize the schedule. Without a schedule, you wake up. You can spend like 2 hours in Russian because you're like enthusiastic that day, but then the other day, you spend the whole day on on YouTube and you feel down or you feel guilty because you spent the whole day doing practically nothing for your Russian. So, if you tell yourself, okay, 1 hour Russian today, 1 hour Russian tomorrow, etc. It's going to do much better. What really counts in language learning, um but really, really counts is that you do things every single day. Maybe even 10 minutes. But if you keep at it and this is actually the most difficult thing for a lot of language learners, including myself recently. It's difficult to to to study or to to to read or to learn every single day, you know?

But that's kind of what is giving the huge results in the end, is the consistency, isn't it?

Yeah, consistency is I think that if you look, if you take a look at successful people, all of them share this feature. They are consistent. They're disciplined. Um sports, language learning, you name it. They are consistent. They do it every day.

Right. And that's what really counts. Well, fantastic. And of course, you've been teaching as well a lot over the years. Have you seen any any differences in what the students have trouble with or has it been kind of consistent?

Absolutely, I've seen well, I wouldn't talk about teaching, I would more it's more training. I train people to um I give them the know-how. They want to know, you know, what what I think they you approach people because if they know something you don't, you see value in it, right? So, um I think that the reason people approach me is not because they want to know exactly my method, the so-called Luca method. It's because I they want to know, most of them want to know, um how to study, that's true. Uh but also how to organize their their their time schedule.

So, so you you would actually be more of a language coach than I mean, you could say you're teaching how people how to learn, but that that would be more of a coach, I guess.

This is this is how I define myself. I'm not a language teacher, I'm a language coach. It's different. And there's even I've found a recently a page, a very interesting one. I don't remember exactly the thread, but I still remember that you had 10 points why a language coach is different from a language teacher and I was nodding all the time saying, yeah, that's she she nailed it. The author said, she nailed it. That's exactly, these are exactly the differences between a language coach and a language teacher. I believe and I abide by the principle that you cannot teach uh somebody a language. You can lead a horse to water. You can you can't make it drink, as they say, right? So, nobody can teach you a language. You have to learn it by yourself. Um I can train I can give you motivation. I can tell you, you know, if you do these things, if you organize your time correctly accordingly, you're going to succeed, but I cannot force them. They have to find motivation to learn themselves because we can chat once a week, we can have a training session once, maybe even twice a week, but what they do with the rest of their time is what really makes the difference in the long, in the short and in the long run.

Right. You can't just throw Russian vocabulary at me and uh expect it to stick.

No. Especially especially the the vocabulary, I I don't know if you're using a um paper vocabulary. I would avoid that by all means because it slows you down, you know? I would I would use an online dictionary even if I like, uh I like I still like paper. You can call me old fashioned, but I like uh reading stuff on paper. But in the case of dictionary, you have to think that the main goal is to search for words and an online dictionary is by far faster than a than one

Yeah.

made of paper.

I mean, even if you're quite fast at looking up a word, you know, it's seconds each time that just add up to a lot of minutes, a lot of hours in in the long run.

Exactly. And think about imagine if you had to look for a um a word in Japanese or Chinese and you have to go by traits, you know, how that search is very, very different than a normal search with a Latin alphabet. It might take even 15 minutes if you don't know how to do it. You know, you can imagine 15 minutes nowadays that everything is is faster and 15 minutes is like it's it's too much, you know? Even one, even one minute will be too much. You have to be fast and searching for words, you have to be fast. In digesting, it might take some time, but some processes, that's where the internet plays a huge role. You have you can make you can be much faster. And obviously, this is uh this is a big plus for language learners around the world.

Yeah, exactly. And you can get more definitions. So, if you look up a word in a dictionary, it might just give you the English translation on some of the words, but if that might not make you understand exactly the the extent of the word. But if you look it up online, they usually have a lot of space because, you know, you can print as many words on the internet as you want. You're not cutting down a more trees. Um so, that's another plus, right?

Well, the trees are going to be happy about that, but it's not just the trees that are going to be happy. It's also the fact that when you if you find this is another uh I think important piece of advice, find yourself a dictionary in which you have, for example, not only the meaning of the corresponding meaning of the word in a given language, but also some examples because building a constellation of elements around the word, meaning, you just don't find the meaning of the word, but you also find a couple of examples or synonyms or things or like the way that word is used in different contexts. It's absolutely key to make it remembered like to to make it stick to your long-term memory.

Right. And what would what would be, you know, a quick what's the biggest small thing anyone could do if they're using Anki, memorize any kind of vocabulary help. What's the biggest thing they could do to boost it by tons? Is that just using that that reference, that mental reference?

Well, the best thing, some people say you should build uh I this might sound contradictory. You can build some, you know, you can think about ideas or you can think about some strange images to associate with that word or some strange situations. I think you're burning your memory with that. What what makes it strong, what makes um a um a given remembering a given word, the process, what makes it strong in your head is when you um when it becomes part of your life. When it becomes part of your experience or when emotions are involved. If you um use that word, that expression for some reason. If you find a way to use it on your daily life, and there are countless ways in which you can do that, then it becomes second nature.

Amazing. And and to those who are starting out in a language, obviously you can't read history books about in the target language just yet. What what do you just say then, well, try to use uh sentences with it and try to get, you know, talking on a Facebook chat or Skype group or whatever. Would that be a good alternative for beginners?

It is a double it is a double step process. First, you have to read in a certain way. It is not just the things that you read. Obviously, you have to read things that interest you, but it's how you read. How in if you're passionate, if you read in a certain way, things will stick. If you read it just for the sake of reading another book, they're not going to stick. First, and then you can find a way to use them in um in real life, not necessarily with other human beings. You can write something about, today I to to yourself, maybe have it corrected. you know, you can write, oh, today I I really want to talk about, you can write a list of these words that you that you have learned or you have seen on the book and then you want to write something about it. Today I, let's suppose that I learned 10 words. I I found 10 words. um of military origin, because we're talking about the war. Then you will write something about, I read this interesting chapter in which Hitler attacks Russia and you have this um advance of uh soldiers and people who are hurt or are dead and you and you're using these words. Okay, I'm sorry for the morbid example, but this is strong. You know, it doesn't have to be everything doesn't have to be perfect and is and and nice. It can be things that interest you and even shock you uh in a way, but they have to have they have to be strong feelings towards what you're learning.

Yeah. Wow, and I'm so uh I'm I my brain is spinning from this uh this uh

You're going to think about it for the next week.

Yeah, it's fantastic. You know, time has been flying as always and I just want to thank you so much for for taking the time and I think we we covered a lot of of interesting topics that we don't that I don't get to cover too often. So, so I just want to say thank you so much for coming on and and also for, you know, hanging out in in Copenhagen. That was a ton of fun.

Thank you for inviting me and thank you for the time uh in Copenhagen. I think I'll I'll be back soon. Maybe maybe not in winter because I think I think it might be a little bit cold. Uh but possibly next year because I really I really like Copenhagen and and we can hang around and talk about languages and stuff. I might I might even um speak a may I have a smattering of Danish by that time but like the other time we can simply speak me in Swedish and you answering in Danish or in English. That works.

All right, cool. Thank you for listening to the Actual Fluency podcast. For more information, be sure to check out actualfluency.com. Until next time, enjoy learning and have a great day.