3 ms·

I'm curious how much effort goes into maintenance. Even if you could learn 10+ languages, how much time per day/per language is necessary to retain fluency? Th

by tcbawo 11y ago

I'm curious how much effort goes into maintenance. Even if you could learn 10+ languages, how much time per day/per language is necessary to retain fluency? That must be why these people seem to constantly seek each other out.

panglott 11y ago
I remember once reading an interview with a supposed hyperpolyglot, in which he revealed that he spent nearly all of his time (8+ hours/day) reviewing flashcards. I guess it's possible, if you really like doing flash cards. These popular narratives about "hyperpolyglots" tend to have really naive views about what "fluency" in a language means. It's probably feasible to have rudimentary knowledge of many languages, but there are large practical limits as to how sophisticated your competence can be unless you're using that language regularly to communicate in a variety of domains.
- Uberphallus 11y ago
  When I met one of those I felt like I just received a license to say I speak 5 languages. The 1st: my mother tongue. The 2nd: I'm native-level, studied all my life, use it everyday. The 3rd: I'm somewhere between advanced-survival and fluent-colloquial depending on my BAC; spoken in the country I live in so I don't put that much effort. The 4th: just basic knowledge but really closely related to the 1st, so communication is fluent even if I'm making up words and abusing the rules of grammar. The 5th: I study it every day since over a year, I speak retarded and understand correctly pronounced simple phrases 60% of the time. Can survive in the countries where it's spoken and it's a nice perk with people; they become surprisingly friendly because very few people speak the language other than natives.
melling 11y ago
Maintaining a language is a lot of work. That's why I've created iOS language apps with several games. My thinking is that to learn and remain effective in a language, it has to be done as some form of entertainment. http://appstore.com/h4labs http://appstore.com/h4labs If people could give them a try and provide ideas and feedback, I'll do my best to incorporate it into a future release. I'm adding Spanish Verb Conjugation drills to the next release.

by tcbawo 11y ago

panglott 11y ago

I remember once reading an interview with a supposed hyperpolyglot, in which he revealed that he spent nearly all of his time (8+ hours/day) reviewing flashcards. I guess it's possible, if you really like doing flash cards. These popular narratives about "hyperpolyglots" tend to have really naive views about what "fluency" in a language means. It's probably feasible to have rudimentary knowledge of many languages, but there are large practical limits as to how sophisticated your competence can be unless you're using that language regularly to communicate in a variety of domains.

Uberphallus 11y ago
When I met one of those I felt like I just received a license to say I speak 5 languages. The 1st: my mother tongue. The 2nd: I'm native-level, studied all my life, use it everyday. The 3rd: I'm somewhere between advanced-survival and fluent-colloquial depending on my BAC; spoken in the country I live in so I don't put that much effort. The 4th: just basic knowledge but really closely related to the 1st, so communication is fluent even if I'm making up words and abusing the rules of grammar. The 5th: I study it every day since over a year, I speak retarded and understand correctly pronounced simple phrases 60% of the time. Can survive in the countries where it's spoken and it's a nice perk with people; they become surprisingly friendly because very few people speak the language other than natives.

melling 11y ago

Maintaining a language is a lot of work. That's why I've created iOS language apps with several games. My thinking is that to learn and remain effective in a language, it has to be done as some form of entertainment. http://appstore.com/h4labs http://appstore.com/h4labs If people could give them a try and provide ideas and feedback, I'll do my best to incorporate it into a future release. I'm adding Spanish Verb Conjugation drills to the next release.