How Are Polyglots Able To Learn So Many Languages? (What Are They Doing Differently)

If you have tried to learn a new language, you will quickly realise it is extremely difficult. You may even think it is impossible at times, which can really make you question how a polyglot can do it so easily and so many different times.

Polyglots are just normal people, even if they look like they have super powers, so I will go through what they actually do to learn languages and you will probably find it’s not that different to what you need to learn just one.

To be honest, all they really do is just put a lot of time and effort in.

There is no reason why you cannot become a polyglot and more importantly, there is no reason why you cannot learn the one language you want to learn.

What Is A Polyglot?

A polyglot is simply someone who can speak many languages. The exact number of languages is not too important, but it’s usually over 3. There is also a lot of debate about how well they need to be able to speak each language, as some will say they can speak 20 languages, but really they can only say a few phrases.

Most people agree that a polyglot should be able to hold a general conversation in a language if they want to be able to say they speak it, but either way it doesn’t really matter here.

All you need to know is that a polyglot is someone who likes learning a lot of different languages.

(You can read more about – How Many Languages Do You Need To Speak To Be A Polyglot?)

Do Polyglots Learn All Their Languages At The Same Time?

Usually a polyglot will not start new languages at the same time, but they will keep studying to maintain multiple languages at the same time.

This means that when they start a new language they make it their main focus and put a lot of effort into it until they are at a good level. Once they reach this point, they can easily maintain it, which means they can move on to the next new language and repeat this process.

It might seem like a better idea to start multiple languages at once, but really you are going to get confused doing it this way. The languages will easily get muddled up, where as doing one at a time is going to help avoid this.

All the other languages that they already have in their head are pretty strong, so they are less likely to get muddled up with the new one they are learning.

What Do Polyglots Do Differently?

Polyglots are really no different from me or you; we could all become one if we wanted to. I will go through what they do, but you will see that it is pretty much the same advice for learning just one language.

Polyglots just put more time and effort in. They do everything I will talk about here to an obsessive level.

If you are struggling to learn just one language you need to take inspirations from what polyglots do, you need to put in more effort and match their levels. If you do that, you will see results like they do. 

Polyglots Think In The Language They Are Learning

One of the techniques that polyglot use to help speed up their learning process is to try and think in the new language as much as they can.

One of the main things that slows language learners down is translating back and forth in your head. This is of course necessary in the early days, but as soon as you can, try and stop doing it.

Thinking in a language is a sort of gradual process, but the sooner you start trying to do it, the sooner you will notice you are getting better at it. Once you can do this, you will find you over all progress is much quicker.

Polyglots Make The Languages A Part Of Their Life

Polyglots are able to understand that if they want the languages to stay in their brain, then they need to use them so they will make the effort to integrate the language into their daily life.

The old saying “Use it or lose it” is very true for languages and you will hear polyglots say that some languages they did not focus on too much have faded away with time, and this will happen quickly if they don’t keep the study going.

Making the languages apart of their lives means that they are using them frequently and it means that even if they are not actively progressing, they are also not letting it fade. Using a language throughout your day will just allow you to maintain it fairly easily. 

They do this by simply doing things they would normally do, but in their other language. This could be as simple as reading the news in a different language or just making sure they talk to their friends who speak the language.

So long as they are doing something, it’s beneficial for them.

(You can read more about – Use Your New Language Throughout Your Day)

They Language Stack

Language stacking is probably the only real difference between you and a polyglot, but there is nothing stopping you doing this if you wanted to.

This process is pretty clever and also very simple. So let’s say you learn German and then after you want to learn Italian, you would use your German to learn Italian. You would go and buy a load of German books that are designed to teach Germans how to speak Italian.   

Here you are getting practice of your German language, but more importantly you are using that language to learn something else, it just happens that the something else is a new language, Italian.

If you are going to use one language to learn another, you will need to be pretty good at the first language, but once you are comfortable with it, then there is no reason why you can’t use it to learn another one.

Then of course in this example, once you get good at Italian, you could use this to learn Spanish or whatever, by getting Italian resources that will teach you the next language.

(You can read more about – What Is Language Stacking? (Laddering))

Polyglots Know How They Learn

Polyglots understand what techniques work for them and how they learn most efficiently.

They have gone out of their way to work this out, and are now extremely efficient at what they do.

They didn’t just pick up the first textbook they seen and hope it did the job. They will have tried many and will also have done many other things like lessons and courses and really anything that might help them learn.

They will have usually spent their time testing all these different methods when learning their first language. Whatever seemed to work, they will then try this for the second language, as well as knowing what didn’t work, which they will avoid.

After they have done this for a few languages they will extremely efficient and know exactly how they learn and what is a waste of time for them. 

This is type of experimentation is something you will need to do yourself, even if you are only learning one language.

They Enjoy The Process

You can safely say that polyglot love learning languages. They love the process and it’s why they keep adding more.

They find the whole process interesting and exciting. Many of us are maybe not that into languages. We might want to learn one, but we sort of want to just be able to speak it, polyglots absolutely love the journey.

I am not sure if this is something they had from the start, or something they discovered along the way, but either way enjoying the process is a big part of their success.

Polyglots Are Driven

While polyglots enjoy the process, they will also put a lot of effort in. They have a strong understanding of why they are doing it and they are driven to get it done.

We can all learn a language if we put enough effort in, but we often don’t. We just sit and watch Netflix. A polyglot will put the effort in and they will make it happen.

We really should look to polyglots for inspiration and try and copy their level of drive, for anything in life we want to do, let alone learn a language.

They Have An Almost Obsessive Mindset

You will notice when you speak to a polyglot their mindset is very powerful. They will have drive, but it is really on another level. They really believe in themselves and more importantly they believe there are no limits to what they can do.

This makes them have an almost obsessive focus at times and is exactly why they are able to push so much harder with a language than we can.

I honestly believe if we only put a fraction of their effort towards a language we would see results very quickly.

(You can read more about – Language Learning Mindset)

They Trust The Process

A huge part of a polyglots mindset is based around the fact that they have faith that they can do it.

This is of course helped by the fact they have done it before but basically they trust the process. They know it works.

The more languages they learn the more honed in they become to this mindset. They know what they like and they now what works for them.

They also know the common mistakes and pit falls and they trust if they repeat what they did last time, they will see results again.

If you haven’t learned a language before it can be hard to trust the process, but polyglots are all the proof you need to trust it. If they can do it, you can.

Polyglots Are Consistent

Polyglots are also extremely consistent, which is unlike most of us. Many of us stop or give up completely, which they will not do.

They are happy to turn up every day and just grind it out. As I’ve said, they know it works and they know if they put the effort in they will get there.

It is easier to be consistent when you know what you are doing will pay off.

Polyglots Are Highly Organised

You will also find that most polyglots are extremely organised. They usually have a very detailed system of studying.

This again helps them be consistent. They often know exactly what they need to be learning and when. They just follow the process step by step and always end up at the finish line.

There is nothing stopping us from getting more organised and it would probably help a lot of us keep pushing forward and making  a lot more progress than just deciding to do things as we go along.

Conclusion

As you can see polyglots pretty much study exactly like me and you, they are not that different.

The only real difference is that they are not scared to put the effort in and will do it. They trust the process more than us and while that can give them the edge, there is no reason why we can trust it too.

Plenty of people have learned a language and there is no reason why we cannot and there is also no reason why we cannot learn multiple if want. It just takes time and a lot of effort, but we can all be polyglots if we want to be.  

(You can read more about – Why Do Polyglots Learn So Many Languages?)