Is This The Hardest Part Of Being A Polyglot? | Language Learning Tips

I absolutely love being a polyglot and languages have given me, well, basically everything! There are, however, many challenges that come along with loving languages so much and realizing how capable we are of learning them! Today I discuss one of the hardest parts of being a polyglot language learning... perhaps even the hardest part?
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[@hckoenig]

"I chose seven foreign languages and decided that that was going to be my focus." Like a true polyglot.

[@ABetterYouEm]

Honestly, it's such a battle keeping up daily habits re languages when other things go wrong. I've tried to make all my habits interlinked with fun things but sometimes, you just kind of want to relax and not think of studying! Refreshing to hear this from someone else 😊

[@melissamartinez276]

Just yesterday I was talking with my friend about how I would like to start studying italian and german but I cant balance the languages that I'm currently learning with my school life and my personal life, and it's really hard, sometimes I feel this feeling in my mouth of wanting to express myself in other languages but I can't and it's kind of sad because it's a really big impulse. The only thing that makes me feel better it's knowing that someday I'll be able to do it. ❤️

[@thedmitryguy]

How old are you?

[@melissamartinez276]

@@thedmitryguy 16

[@MrLilwallace]

I find the hardest part is dividing my time. I speak Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and I'd love to pick up another, but it's already a lot of work consuming enough resources to maintain what I already have. (Fellow Bay Area guy here, BTW.)

[@bunnyteeth365]

I'm really happy with primarily studying Hebrew and dabbling in other languages. For a while I only studied Hebrew and was happy with it. A year ago I briefly tried to study a bit of German on the side, but I ended up hating it. When I reached the intermediate stage I started wondering whether I made the right choice. Dabbling helps refresh me and also reassure me that I did make the right choice. I'm not a huge fan of the beginner stage, so it works out well. I have some ground rules for dabbling. 1. It can't be part of my main study session for that day. If I have to take a break from Hebrew for whatever reason, I enjoy dabbling in other languages to stay happy and motivated that day. I generally dabble in other languages when I'm relaxing in the evening. 2. Keep expectations low. I can't expect to progress all that much in any languages I'm dabbling in. It's meant to be a way to relax and keep things fresh. Dabbling is good for when I start having second thoughts about learning Hebrew. I usually quickly see how hard it is to be a beginner at a language and end up appreciating Hebrew. 3.Keep it low commitment and low pressure. That means no Duolingo or Anki for me. When I first tried to dabble in German one mistake I did was download a premade German Anki deck. It was incredibly hard, so it took a lot of time away from Hebrew. Now I prefer things like Easy German.

[@AlinefromToulouse]

This video reminds me that I recently made the choice to stop learning a language, because 2 languages at the same time, at around the same beginner level is in fact impossible. The language I stopped learning is close to my native language so I thought it could be possible to learn a more difficult language at the same time, but it is not a good idea. Any time spent with a language is no time spent with the other and exposition is so important.

[@irenemcnamara9699]

I do appreciate your 3-tiered system. It is so helping me to study several languages, and keeping the chaos down. It is difficult to decide which languages to study, because there is always one who says, hey, dont forget about me!

[@miafitzhugh756]

omg, was the pizza foodtruck w/ deaf employees you talking about mozzeria? I did an interview with the owner of the restaurant for school last year! wow, small world! anyway, great video as always :) thanks for your hard work and it is awesome to see your sub count going up so rapidly. finally getting the recognition you deserve!

[@IowaLanguages]

Good video. Let's us know we're not alone in the time management struggle and that success can still happen despite multiple responsibilities. ❤️ Thank you!

[@irenemcnamara9699]

Here is what I think: you've been helping me focus on my languages every day. I speak English and Russian. I know ancient Greek, but not for speaking. So I have decided to learn modern Greek, and then I will know 3 languages plus one historical language. So the modern Greek vocabulary is made up of many historical Greek words, which I already know. So I am very close to my goal of speaking 3 languages, and then I'll be a polyglot. I am also learning French and Spanish, but those languages will take longer to learn. And I have German on the back burner. But I am not a young woman, and I am running out of time in my language studies. And you are a great person Robin!

[@thedmitryguy]

What's your mother tongue?

[@qarakhanano]

Thanks, this video helped me a lot!

[@butchstein9738]

When learning languages or better through learning languages you learn many things. Like for instance understanding that if you do it for yourself you don't have to impress no one. Or letting it go when you understand that some language is way to rusty to use it on the spot. I learn a language at a time. But when refreshing or taking to the next level is ok to combine.

[@NihonDiary]

I relate so much to this video!! I'm devoting majority of my time to my Spanish studies, but often it is so hard for me to gauge my progress or even WHICH activities are helping me improve. Sometimes, I sit down with my flashcards, language app, Spanish homework or even a private lesson and wonder if I'm doing the right thing with my time (which is so precious!). Set aside the fact that I do need some down-time to just watch mindless television or play a video game. It can feel really frustrating even when I am making progress in Spanish, I feel pressure that I'm NOT spending time on my Chinese or any of the other languages on my wishlist that loom in my mind.

[@M_SC]

Very helpful, trying to make decisions at the moment.

[@Sam-shushu]

This is timely again for me, thanks Robin. Getting pulled in too many directions by too many hobbies and languages. I don't want to make the hard decisions.

[@chrisuhey9383]

so, recently I've been playing a lot of vrchat and I've made so many new friends all across the world. I'm super excited to come home and get online and join them. And I've seen polyglot videos around and they impress me a great deal. My online friends have taught me arbitrary phrases you wont really ever use. and in doing this, I found out that I surprise them a lot with my annunciation on words, but to me i just know to repeat the sounds they say to me. XD but I've taken it upon myself to learn how to say basic things like "Hello, how are you?", "Nice too meet you.", "I'm doing well, thank you.", "My name is Chirs", and "Good bye, see you later(or nice meeting you)" just those basic things are wonderful. I simply want to learn customs in different languages because I want to be able to simply greet and make more friends around the world. Also as an American there is the stigma of you expect the world to know English, but you cant speak any other thing, and the world today is so evolved that youre bound to meet someone of a different culture and possibly teach them something ne, so why not learn something new? also i can currently introduce myself in 12 other languages besides English!! so wish me luck on this journey!

[@thedmitryguy]

What's your mother tongue?

[@chrisuhey9383]

@@thedmitryguy English.

[@user-xv1zr4ln7l]

I have the same dilemma. However, thanks to the coronavirus, I have had more time for language studies during last six months than I had before it... and I am making most of this time. :-)

[@shiryu42]

Looking forward to that project of reviving your Japanese. I'm much interested because I'm in that intermediate plateau and I have abandoned it for quite some years, so I would like to see your progress. Meanwhile, everyday maintaining my Chinese and Italian, studying English actively, is so much fun. Un saludo!

[@o_felipe_reis]

Yeah that’s the biggest challenge! I mean... boarded life balance hehe! Language management is tough. Great video Robin. Btw how can I buy your book? Stay safe!

[@alobo_78]

feliz lunes Robin! It is good to know about this topic.... I was wondering if you were able to study asian languages again but now I know that yo have many activities, and it definetely a matter of time.... and priorities! A big hug and thank you for this advices ... ! Please give me a surprise someday... Un video en español ! Maybe you are focused on German and Mandarin but I know that you can do it ;-)

[@scottr6337]

I absolutely agree. I am not a polyglot (yet) but when I lived in Italy I learned the language pretty well. However, when I returned to the States, I wasn't able to use it as much. As the old saying goes, if you don't use it, you lose it. Because I decided to focus on learning Spanish to a high level, I can tell my Italian has fallen drastically. On the other hand though, I believe that once you have learned something, it never truly disappears. So re-learning Italian should go at a faster rate, at least to the point I was before. Thanks for the video Robin!

[@kenoe76]

I'm so glad I'm not the only person with that problem!!! I speak 7 languages on intermediate to advanced level, and every time I spend time on one of them, I feel really bad on behalf of all the others. Not to say that I have to fight the urge to start learning Greek and Portuguese on top of all the others. My solution? I started collecting university level exams in those languages, even though I already have a university degree in law. This keeps me from feeling bad because I'm working on only one language at any given time. Now it's only during the summer holidays that I continue to struggle with THE problem, hehehe

[@hmt894]

Do people with other passions/hobbies have this problem? I declare it is time for me to refresh my French, then i work on it for 4-6 months and something comes up and inspires me to move on to my Spanish, Swedish or Russian. I decided a few months ago it is Italian time and still going stong, but my track record is not great in this area. 🙄

[@learnindonesianwithchandra3637]

Welcome to new week too

[@user-wq4yn6sx9b]

I'm Russian and I am learning Spanish and English now, and I can note that is the most difficult thing to use these languages actively in daily life I try to use these languages in my daily routine, listening podcasts while I am going to university.

[@thedmitryguy]

What city do you live in?

[@user-wq4yn6sx9b]

@@thedmitryguy in Barnaul

[@mattchandler15]

I had to make this decision a few months ago. I had advanced (by my own definition) Spanish, but I decided that enriching my vocabulary was a priority. I had intermediate French that was a little rusty because I didn't use it almost at all for about two years. I have also been obsessed with Vietnamese for years now, but I stopped learning it because I couldn't find enough resources. I found some new resources this year that were much better, and I wanted to start using them right away. I ultimately decided to try to study all three simultaneously, which I was hesitant to do for the fear of spreading myself too thin. I just couldn't let any of the languages go. It seems to be working well so far, though.

[@savannahtrannie7870]

I'm gonna help you with vietnamese

[@amiecorbin5889]

I honestly wish they put some sort of sign language into primary schooling. I'd find it more useful than the "French" I was taught. :(

[@RonaldMcPaul]

Tune in next time for another episode when Robin uses his hands to tell us that's he's super busy but he's still really positive about things like learning languages and community.

[@StinaJulia]

I'm not polyglot, but I already have this problem. I was hoping to learn French or Spanish to a better level, when my son chose French as the "modern language" in school! At home, we also use "signs as support" with words from the Swedish sign language ... so ordinary (Swedish) sign language feels in some way reasonable ... I feel that I really only speak Swedish and English ... and that I am a beginner in 4 other languages, of which I focus on 2.

[@Jasshcsm]

I chose not to be a polyglot, and put all my time and effort to study just one language.

[@RingsOfSolace]

I hear it's good to learn one language to a really high level before you start considering studying multiple. For example, I've been working on my Spanish, and my gf is billingual (Spanish and English). But she's been studying English for a few years and I've only got about 7 or 8 months in Spanish. I'm doing really well but I really wanna solidify it, but after we both wanna learn German together, so until then she's been brushing up on her Italian now. Even the thought of this is too many languages to keep track of lmfao

[@solea59]

I remember your story Robin of how you began learning languages ( spanish ) I'd like to know as I'm sure many other people would, did you set out to become a polyglot, or did you step on the merry-go-round by accident and can't get off, and would you like to completely get off sometimes ? :-)...just for a well earned break !

[@williamwerner3284]

How about learning Sicilian?

[@Maria-ey1rv]

English is my second language, I'm Brazilian and now I'm learning German. by the way, I love your tips. Maria Mizia from Brazil.

[@thedmitryguy]

How long have you been learning English?

[@mariamizia5557]

@@thedmitryguy I've been studying for one year. How about you?

[@irenemcnamara9699]

What are we going to do about you? There is no way we can keep up with you! You are so complicated! From where do you get all this time? How do you keep all of these languages organized?

[@williamwerner3284]

IAM CURIOUS TO KNOW WHAT LANGUAGES.YOUR FAMILY AND ANCESTORS SPEAK.

[@skyediy6557]

Please make tier 2 ‘latte’ more appealing on your patreon. I’m literally here wanting to throw my money at you, but tier 2 isn’t sexy enough. Get some other tiers going too; ‘tier 3, hot chocolate’ , ‘tier 4; mocha frappachino’

[@skyediy6557]

I think you’ll find growing loyalty if you offered a shout out for new patreons at the end of your videos. And / or thought of something else. I think you give too many benefits to tier 1: espresso.

[@anthonymhomer]

com'era la pizza?????

[@l22hans]

It’s uncomfortable to watch your address because you can’t sit stable one second at all. You can speak multiple languages. Why do you need too much body and hand movement to enforce your expression? You are a lecturer, not an actor.