What foreign languages to learn in order to earn good money. Secrets of polyglots: truth and fiction What kind of work you need to know languages

There is no methodology that allows you to learn a foreign language without difficulty and quickly, and cannot be. But do not despair - there would be a desire. We have collected for you tips from professionals that will help make learning a foreign language much more effective.

1. Use effective techniques

Only 4% of students in schools begin to speak fluently after 3 years of language learning. The remaining 96% of students stop at some stage due to ineffective teaching methods, as well as because their expectations are not met.

2. Measure your expectations against reality

Most people need 600 hours or more of intensive study to become fluent in the simplest languages (French, Spanish) and nearly 1200 hours for more complex languages (Chinese, Russian).

3. Don't expect quick results

It will take more than 10 years for someone who spends one hour a week on classes to start speaking fluently. That is why people are often disappointed. Anyone can learn new language, simply forgets about how much it took him to learn even his native language.

4. Total immersion

To learn a new language, you only need one thing... the so-called immersion. After all, when every person learned his native language in childhood, he studied it continuously, every minute, for several years. What is meant by immersion? Immersion means that a person is constantly learning and using a new language. In the process of immersion, the language is learned for about 40 hours a week, instead of just 1 hour. In this case, you can reduce the training period from 10 years to 4 months.

5. Learn 300 key words

First of all, you need to start learning the right words. For example, in colloquial English, just 300 words account for more than 65% of a person's daily conversations. In fact, there are many words that people don't know in their own language (and will never use).

After 300 people have memorized 300 foreign words, you can start reading newspapers or blogs in the target language. Even if the student does not understand anything, he will begin to recognize some words and will gradually subconsciously determine the meanings of other words. The values of the unknowns must be specified in the dictionary. At first it will be tedious, but in the end it will be possible to get away from the dictionary.

7. Set a goal

Studying every day is very tiring, and almost everyone thinks of abandoning training. But if you set a specific goal - work abroad, communication, creating a family - it will be much easier to persevere.

8. Take advantage of the Internet

Today it is much easier to learn languages, because there is the Internet. You can immerse yourself in the local culture from a distance. You can read local news and gossip on blogs. This kind of total immersion is, in fact, a key feature for successful language learning.

9. Talk to yourself

It's time to start talking. But first, you should try to talk to yourself. A person needs to imagine that he met with someone or that he is being interviewed. This should be done regularly throughout the day.

10. Watch video

Talking to yourself, of course, will not be enough. You need to start listening to other people. Once again, the Internet is an amazing invention for learning languages. Youtube provides an excellent opportunity to listen to native speakers and begin to understand spoken language. As before, those who do not understand anything need not be upset. It is worth trying to find a video with subtitles. Also, do not disdain the dictionary when meeting with an unfamiliar word.

11. Don't forget about writing

The only thing that has not yet been studied is the letter. You need to start writing down certain things. For example, you should try to write your biography. This is a great way to strengthen lexicon.

12. Read news in a foreign language

You need to read the news on the smartphone screen on the way to work or to the store. At the same time, mentally, you need to mentally pronounce the situation in a new language. Also (in no case should this be abandoned) we continue to write a biography and watch the news. Naturally, in a new language.

13. The more foreign language, the better

In fact, the main goal should be to exclude Russian from Everyday life as much as possible. It would be nice to set a goal like "in a year I will watch all the news in a new language."

Perhaps the key to deep language learning is to use the Internet. It has very good specialized programs. For example, the Duoling app can lay a solid foundation for a new language.

Now is the time to chat with native speakers. Skype, e-mail or familiar foreigners - all possibilities are good. If they don't know a word of Russian, this is ideal.

So... The main thing to remember when starting to learn a foreign language is to constantly use it in all aspects (speaking, listening, writing, reading). If you are ready to step out of your comfort zone and constantly learn, surrounding yourself with a foreign language literally everywhere, you will quickly become fluent in a new language.

Today we bring to your attention a translation of an article by an Irish polyglot, the author of a unique method of learning foreign languages, Benny Lewis.

This post will answer the following questions:

How to start speaking a foreign language today?
How to impersonate a native speaker?
How to learn several foreign languages in 2 years and become a polyglot?

The article contains a lot of tips on using various resources and free applications that will help you improve your language skills in the shortest possible time. If you have been looking for effective methods for memorizing new vocabulary and improving your communication skills in a foreign language for a long time, then this post is for you. ;)

Most people believe that everyone who excels at learning foreign languages has a genetic predisposition to it. However, the example of Benny Lewis proves that this belief is just one of hundreds of excuses we use to justify our unsuccessful attempts pass for a polyglot.

As Benny recalls, a few years ago he was absolutely hopeless in everything related to languages: at the age of 20 he could only speak English, was the worst in the German class, and after 6 months living in Spain he could hardly muster up the courage, to ask in spanish where the bathroom is.

It was during this period that a certain moment of insight came in Lewis's life, which radically changed his approach to learning languages: he not only succeeded in mastering Spanish, but also received a certificate from the Cervantes Institute (Instituto Cervantes), confirming the level of language proficiency at C2 level - in perfection . Since then, Benny began to actively study other foreign languages, and on this moment can easily carry on a dialogue in more than 12.

As Benny Lewis himself says: “Since I became a polyglot - a person who speaks several languages - my world has become much wider. I got to know interesting people and visited places that I had never even thought of before. For example, my knowledge of Mandarin made me make new friends while traveling on the Chengdu-Shanghai train, I talked about politics with a desert dweller in Egyptian Arabic, and my knowledge of sign language gave me the opportunity to become familiar with the culture of the deaf.

I danced with the former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, and then talked about it in Irish live on the radio, interviewed Peruvian fabric manufacturers, talking with them in Quechua about the specifics of their work .... And in general, I had a wonderful 10 years traveling the world.

In this post you will find many useful tips, the use of which will help you improve your knowledge of foreign languages in record time and, quite possibly, become a polyglot.

As the world becomes more connected economically and socially, the ability to communicate and understand each other has never been more important than it is today. Whether you are traveling, doing business or studying, learning another language is a must. The article presents a list that includes ten of the most important languages that will definitely come in handy in life.

Experts advise to start mastering the language that you like or is extremely necessary, since the most important link in mastering a new means of communication is motivation, which makes a person study tirelessly. If you still find it difficult to make a choice, then you can refer to this list.

Languages are chosen according to their global significance (degree of prevalence, influence in politics and economics), ease of learning and usefulness for a particular person (for example, when traveling or applying for a job).

10. Portuguese

Compared to Spanish Portuguese has a separate, distinct history, incorporating Latin and Celtic influences. This language is harder to learn than Spanish. More than 230,000,000 Portuguese speakers consider it their native means of communication. In fact, it is the official language in ten countries. It is spoken in places as far away as Angola in Africa and East Timor in the Pacific.

9. Russian

With over 250,000,000 native speakers, Russian is the geographically most widely spoken language. Using the Cyrillic alphabet may seem a little intimidating at first, but once you become familiar with it, you will realize that it provides a good basis for understanding Slavic languages such as Ukrainian, Serbian, and Bulgarian. In addition to its importance in the business world, this international communication tool boasts the largest collection of scientific and technical literature in the world, making it extremely practical for those who are hungry for knowledge.

8. Japanese

The Japanese language is important to understand. When you travel around Japan, you may be surprised to find that few road signs are written in English, and most of the population does not speak it at all. Over 120,000,000 people speak Japanese, and some consider it the most Difficult language in the world. It has three intricate writing systems, levels of formality, structural grammar that many may find puzzling. However, those who study it find it to be quite amusing.

7. Hindi

Along with English, Hindi is official language Indian government. It is a truly rich language that has expanded its vocabulary from Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Turkish and English. Although most people associate it with India, it is also the official language of Fiji, as well as a regional language in Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mauritius.

6. Arabic

Arabic is the official language in 26 countries and has approximately 422,000,000 local and non-local speakers. It has become extremely important in the energy and security sectors, especially in Middle Eastern cities such as Dubai, UAE, Doha and Qatar. However, it contains various dialects (for example, there are large differences between Egyptian Arabic and Moroccan Arabic) and has a complex writing style.

5. German

There are many good reasons to learn German, primarily because it is spoken language weight. On the German communication is carried out in the field of business, since Germany is the economic center of Europe. While the younger generation of people in Eastern Europe more likely to learn English, those who grew up under the Iron Curtain were more likely to learn German. Despite the fact that it has a more complex grammar compared to English, it is more logical.

4. French

After World War II French became European. It was essential for business and tourism. Today there are 110,000,000 of its speakers. In addition, 190,000,000 people speak it as a second language.

Americans who want to speak French with native speakers should visit Quebec and New Brunswick. Residents of these Canadian provinces use it as their primary means of communication.

3. Spanish

About 470,000,000 people speak it as their first language, in addition to 100,000,000 people speak it as their second language. It is the official means of communication for 20 countries. First of all, it is widespread in South America and the Caribbean. Of course, it is also very desired language for Americans who are learning it due to growth, Hispanics in Florida, Texas, and the Southwest. It should be noted that it is very easy to learn.

2. Chinese

China is about to overtake the United States thanks to largest economy. Thus, the most widespread communication tool in the world (about 955,000,000 speakers) has acquired great importance. It is extremely difficult language at first: a change in tone can change the meaning of a sentence. The grammar system is relatively simple, although writing Chinese letters is notoriously difficult.

1. English

Over 400,000,000 people speak English language as their first language, and another 1.1 billion speak it as a foreign language. Simply put, it is impossible to travel or do business internationally without knowing this means of communication.

Without knowledge of English, a good career is unthinkable. In fact, commercial pilots are required to speak it, and most diplomatic positions also require it. Difficult spelling rules and specific grammar can be a real challenge, but once you've mastered it, it's just fine.

That the study of foreign languages is a "threat to traditions", and criticized the idea of the Ministry of Education to introduce a mandatory USE in a foreign language and add a second language to school curriculum. In the Duma, her position was supported. T&P contacted 6 experts from the fields of neuroscience, psycholinguistics, translation and social psychology to find out what is useful for learning foreign languages and what its absence can turn into.

"Several languages give several pictures of the world"

Even Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote that "the world of a man is what his language is." Language largely determines how we look at the world and how we perceive it. According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (the hypothesis of linguistic relativity), which is being actively discussed in science today, language affects our thinking and the process of cognition. Therefore, when a person knows more than one language, he has several pictures of the world. This is an incomparably richer life. You need to learn foreign languages not because it is useful for traveling - now you can get by with English - but because, penetrating into another language, you penetrate into other worlds. Why do people learn Latin, Ancient Greek, Sumerian? After all, these Sumerians, ancient Greeks and Latins are long gone. And yet, you can imagine what kind of world they lived in by studying their languages. Language proficiency is not a matter of technical well-being when you can go to the store in China and say the right words. It's not about that, it's about expanding your world.

Any training changes the brain. And when the brain learns, the number and quality of nerve connections increase in it, the efficiency of gray and white matter grows. Therefore, no matter what this brain is doing, whether it solves simple crossword puzzles, which seems to be a difficult task for a particular person, or proves complex theorems that are suitable for completely different people as mental work, it improves the brain. This is true at any age, since the neural network develops every second. The brain is always changing, even at 90. Learning foreign languages in this sense is extremely efficient due to code switching. When you switch from one language to another, it is a very difficult job for the brain. And hard means good.

Of course, the younger the brain, the more plastic it is, that is, the more capable of learning and changing - therefore, the more earlier man whatever one begins to study, the more sense it makes. With respect to foreign languages, this is triple the case. This does not mean that in adulthood it is not worth or impossible to do this - just in childhood such activities are much more effective.

Canadian scientists conducted experiments showing that people who know more than one language postpone memory loss by several years due to the development of neural connections. When a person speaks several languages, his neural network works more intensively. The brain in this case will be more preserved. This postpones the theoretically possible decline in intellectual abilities, including memory loss.

Tatiana Chernigovskaya

Neurolinguist, Doctor of Philology, Doctor of Biology, Professor, St. Petersburg State University

"Rejection of languages will return Russia to a state of savagery"

Knowledge of a foreign language affects the breadth of thinking. In addition, people who study it are much more sensitive to their native Russian language, and, accordingly, to literature. After all, the language is often taught not only for practical purposes, but also in order to read works of art or non-fiction. From foreign languages, concepts come that cannot be translated, and which do not exist in our reality, so their study significantly broadens one's horizons. It also, of course, has a positive effect on mental abilities. Languages are indispensable to those involved in science, since much of the material is now not translated, and has never been fully translated.

Of course, there are people who are not very capable of foreign languages, but they are not completely incapable. Ignorance of the language limits knowledge in general - both social and scientific, and all the rest. It makes a person more limited. Over the past 20 years in Russia, people began to learn more language, and were involved in a wider range of information. You definitely get a lot more information about life if you know languages.

We all exist in the same world, and a foreign language introduces us to other civilizations. These acquaintances do not occur by someone's selection: a person begins to freely navigate in what he wants to know. Translations cannot cover everything, so some things need to be known in the original. Or, say, a person who is engaged in literature will be able to compare what he read in a foreign language with what he read in Russian. This broadens his range of knowledge. And it will be the same in any field. Neither in physics, nor in computer science, nor anywhere else, everything can be mastered only through translations.

Of course, with a certain amount of effort, any text can be translated. But there are many concepts in the world that we do not have and come to Russian first in the form of barbarisms, and later become part of it and, as a result, expand it. You can take any scientific dictionary and you will see how many words we simply borrowed. It seems to us that the word "influence" has always been in Russian, but in fact it was invented by Nikolai Karamzin, and this is a tracing paper from the French "influence". If you stop for a second, you will see how many foreign words exist within Russian. For example, the word "computer". At first, such machines were called "calculating devices", but then their designation in English simply ceased to be translated. When you say "computer" instead of "computer", you spend less life on unnecessary actions. Everything can be translated, but concepts from one language constantly enter into others - first as foreign bodies, and then, if it is a necessary thing, they eat into it in a normal form.

The Russian language has absorbed a huge amount of Tatar, Turkic, Latin and Greek words. Usually we do not even suspect that some element of the language is actually a Greek loan, but in Greece, as soon as you learn to read letters, you instantly begin to understand signs. Russian drags words from everywhere. Celtic, Saxon, French, full of Danish and even, for sure, there are Dutch - especially if we start talking about the sailing fleet. Under Peter I, we stole from the Dutch many concepts related to shipbuilding. We simply no longer notice that these are words of foreign origin. "Atom", "Jesus Christ", "patriarch" - all these are also foreign words. If no one knew Greek or English, we simply would not have these concepts, and we would again turn into barbarians.

To stop teaching foreign languages means to stop the development of Russian. The Russian language is the main field of all intellectual activity in Russia. If it is artificially limited, cut off from the world by an iron curtain, we will have a mentally retarded country. The rejection of foreign languages will return Russia to a state of savagery.

Viktor Golyshev

Translator of Anglo-American literature, author of classical translations of many works

"The poverty of the language is associated with a lack of mental development"

Today, there are many studies in which magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has shown how the volume of speech-related brain formations increases when learning a second language, even in adults. This suggests that the brain, in principle, has the resources to master several languages. There are studies that have shown a significant development of cognitive (cognitive) skills in people who speak two or more languages. This is not surprising, because concepts are formed on the basis of language, and thinking is nothing but operations with concepts.

It has long been noticed that the poverty of the language correlates with the insufficiency of mental development. This is due primarily to the fact that, in the words of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, "the limits of our knowledge are determined by the limits of our language." Learning languages is one of the most intellectual activities of the brain. After all, this is not just a mechanical memorization of new words, but also the embedding of these words into single system concepts. Like any training, language learning supports high level brain functionality.

Second, third, etc. languages clearly make the picture of the mental world richer, richer in descriptions of how things and phenomena are interconnected. Thus, each item gets more "hooks" for memorization and subsequent retrieval from memory. Memory becomes stronger, more capacious and more associative. The latter quality is especially important, since it is associations that are the basis of creativity.

Alexander Kaplan

Doctor of Biological Sciences, Psychophysiologist, Head
laboratories
neurophysiology and neurointerfaces, Moscow State University

"Languages affect thought processes, memory and personality"

Learning a foreign language, like any other experience, does not go unnoticed for our consciousness and brain function. Any information that enters the brain from the outside at any moment of its activity modifies neural connections. The consciousness of a person who speaks two or more languages will never be equivalent to the consciousness of a monolingual - a person who speaks only one language. Experiments carried out - for example, they are described in the works of Judith Kroll - indicate that bilinguals automatically activate both languages in their mental lexicon, even when the language situation is unfolding in only one language. For example, when an English speaker hears the word "marker", in addition to English word also activates the Russian "mark" (Marian & Spivey, 2003). To avoid confusion in languages, bilinguals have to constantly "juggle" words and concepts, while suppressing information that is irrelevant to the current speech situation. Some scientists believe that this mechanism helps bilinguals develop executive functions and show greater cognitive flexibility compared to monolinguals.

The idea of "bilingual cognitive superiority" first emerged in the mid-1980s and has since been developed largely under the guidance of University of Toronto psychologist Ellen Bialystok. Over the past 30 years, scientists have conducted many studies and found that bilingual children and adults are faster and better at tasks that require switching attention, solving cognitively conflict situations, choice between relevant and irrelevant information. Bilingualism also affects the preservation and maintenance of cognitive functions in old age. For example, one 2010 study looked at data from 200 Alzheimer's patients and found that those who spoke multiple languages experienced symptoms 5.1 years later.

Of course, the concept of the cognitive advantage of bilinguals should be treated with skepticism for the time being - after all, a large amount of data remains outside scientific journals, and we still do not know much about how several languages “get along” in the human head, and what mechanisms are responsible for this. But the value of such linguistic knowledge is definitely very high, since languages constantly interact with each other within the framework of the human cognitive system, influence thought processes and memory, and leave an imprint on personal characteristics, not to mention the sociocultural component.

Anna Lukyanchenko

Employee of the Research and Educational Laboratory of Neurolinguistics, National Research University Higher School of Economics, PhD (University of Maryland, USA)

"Without a foreign language, a person is deprived of hands"

A society in which the study of a foreign language is restricted or banned will become one-sided and dull. Languages enrich each other, and without interaction with other systems, Russian will not develop. Indeed, in other languages there are concepts and descriptions of phenomena that simply do not exist in our reality. Without such concepts, without these names, we will not be able to learn anything about unfamiliar or new phenomena. The cultural environment will also be cut off, so that our worldview will suffer greatly.

A person who is unable to express himself in something other than his native language, in communication is simply deprived of his hands. When he leaves somewhere, he immediately finds himself completely dependent on other people and feels helpless. He needs guides to take him everywhere, he cannot live on his own. Such a person can only find a place for himself in his native country, and as soon as he is taken out of there, he will immediately face a huge number of problems.

A person who is only familiar with one culture may become less tolerant and more suspicious and very limited. IN modern world this, of course, is rare: to be so within the same environment, you need to be born in a closed tribe in the Amazon. Most of the world's population has access to books, television, and often even the Internet, so we constantly encounter other cultures. But the question of how we are able to understand them and are ready to accept them is directly related to the study of languages. Prohibitions in this area hinder the development of culture, primarily in the country where they begin to operate.

Lilia Brinis

social psychologist

“A person who has been forcibly limited to his native language and native culture will be deprived of the opportunity to understand the world»

Everything Scientific research Linguists and psychologists unequivocally testify that the more languages a person knows, the higher his intellectual level and the better his ability to adapt to the world around him and all his cognitive abilities. The reverse has never been observed. Talk about the fact that learning foreign languages can be harmful has no scientific basis. It is clear why such conversations arise: the authors of such ideas do not like the values \u200b\u200bthat stand behind the languages they study. But fighting values is one thing, fighting learning languages is another. This is the wrong way.

A person who has been forcibly limited to his native language and native culture will be deprived of the opportunity to understand the world around him, since language is the key to the perception of a foreign culture. It's like forcing someone to look exclusively at black and white instead of color photographs. The world is diverse, and this is expressed in how different languages are. A person can be deprived of this diversity if he closes the way to their study.

According to the general opinion of all researchers, the earlier we start learning a language, the easier and with less stress it is acquired. In childhood, a person has mechanisms in his head that allow him to master his native language. After six or seven years, these mechanisms fade away. In an adult, they are practically absent. Therefore, when a child begins to learn a foreign language, he does it effortlessly: classes are quite easy for him, and there are special techniques that help children with this. If we miss this deadline, it will be difficult to start as an adult.

It's not that foreign languages are taught so well in our schools - that's out of the question. Why teach them even worse? Among the statements of Irina Yarovaya was a rhetorical question: “Citizens of which country will we educate?”. This question is very easy to answer. By teaching children foreign languages, we will educate the citizens of a modern, strong, competitive country.

Russian, like any major language, has interacted a lot with other languages in its history. From the time of the very first literary monuments and the very first stages of its formation, we see traces of extremely diverse influences. For example, we observe a very early Germanic influence - the so-called Gothic borrowings. The simplest, primordial Russian words: “hut”, “bread”, “glass”, “letter” are very early Germanisms that entered the Russian language even in pre-literate times. There are also a number of Scandinavian borrowings. Greek had a very strong influence on Russian, which was associated with the adoption of Christianity - however, Greek vocabulary turned out to be not only ecclesiastical, but also everyday. For example, “notebook”, “beetroot” or “sail” are all ancient Greekisms. Then a powerful stream of Turkisms poured into Russian, although their influence should not be overestimated. Many important areas were affected by them: in particular, the administrative and financial sphere. Say, such words as "money", "customs", "label", "treasury" are Turkisms. There is also a mass of everyday vocabulary: “caftan”, “cap” and others. Then came the Petrine era, and with it came a huge stream of elements from Western European languages. At first these were Dutch words, then German and French, and a little later English. The Age of Enlightenment also brought us many German and French words: "role", "boulevard", "piano", "bridgehead", "scar" and hundreds of others.

We are used to these words and often do not even realize that they are borrowings. I am not talking about such words as “hut”, which are many hundreds of years old, but who would suspect a foreign word in the less ancient Turkism “hearth” or in the more recent “scar”? This is an absolutely natural process, the language is enriched with the help of borrowings and improves its ability to reflect the world around. From this point of view, there are no problems here - only people with deep complexes can have problems.

Borrowing is not a threat to tradition. It is rather strange to speak of language in these terms. Threats to language are quite different, if they come across it at all, and they lie far apart. There is no need to be afraid of borrowings, and it is pointless to fight them. Language is a natural phenomenon that is difficult to control and manage. We can’t cancel, say, the dative case, can we? In the same way, it would be very difficult to ban a word and instill another in its place. Similar attempts have been made in the past, but their effect has been negligible.

People who describe the study of foreign languages as a threat to tradition are likely to be afraid of the values associated with the culture that expresses itself through these languages. This is a substitution of concepts. A person himself is able to figure out whether these values suit him or not. Why decide for him? In itself, learning a foreign language does not change our consciousness in the way that the authors of such initiatives think. It's just that a person has a choice. He himself can judge everything, having access to texts and other people. In itself, study only develops the intellect, just as physical exercise develops muscles and improves health. Depriving a person of access to learning a foreign language, especially in childhood, is like depriving him of movement or color vision. This is a stupid forced impoverishment of spiritual development, not motivated by anything. It is very sad if these ideas prevail.