Top Tips from Vaughn Smith: Language Learning Genius
How many languages do you think you could learn if you tried really hard? Two? Three? Four at a stretch?
How about 45?
There is a man in America, called Vaughn Smith, who speaks eight languages fluently, but says he has a "beginner's grasp" of around 37 more. And in 24 of those "beginner" languages he can actually hold long conversations.
How does he do it? Well, Vaughn's memory is probably better than most people's. But he also has some learning methods he has been kind enough to share with us.
Vaughn suggests finding people who speak your target language. For example, Vaughn often goes for walks in Washington DC, where he lives, and simply talks to tourists that he meets — using their language.
Maybe he can help the tourists if they need directions or are having trouble with English — all while practicing his own target languages!
Another tip from Vaughn is to "mix things up."
For example, you can listen to online radio in your target language, or watch movies. But one of his favorite methods is reading "bilingual" short stories that have the target language together with an English translation.
The stories teach him new words and how to put phrases and sentences together correctly — and they don't take too long to read!
Vaughn says daily practice and revision are important — even in small amounts. He recommends using flashcards for memorizing new words, but says it's important not to cram too much into one day.
He says reading a new word list once, 10 different times a day, is more effective than reading it "a hundred times in one sitting."
However, Vaughn says the most important thing is "the desire to learn."
For Vaughn, language learning is fun — it helps him to connect with people. And his love of languages is one of the big reasons he's so good at learning them!
