This video features polyglot and professional footballer Will John sharing his secrets and strategies for learning languages quickly and effectively. He discusses the importance of discipline, creating routines, immersion techniques, and overcoming the fear of making mistakes. The video aims to provide actionable advice for aspiring polyglots.
Will suggests optimizing tutors by actively programming them to meet your specific learning goals. This means clearly communicating your objectives, such as improving listening skills by having the tutor speak more, or wanting to speak more by asking them to pose open-ended questions and encourage you. He emphasizes that the responsibility for learning remains with the student, and they should guide the tutor rather than expecting the tutor to solely drive the process.
According to Will, extensive reading involves reading simply for the pleasure of reading and absorbing information. It's about getting broad exposure to the language.
Intensive reading, on the other hand, involves tackling more challenging material, which may require looking up words and translating. This method is also useful but, in Will's opinion, one should spend more time on extensive reading. He notes that a significant amount of vocabulary gains come from reading, and the volume of words encountered in a book is much higher compared to a movie.
