kato lomb-how i learn languages

7/21/2019 Kato Lomb-how i Learn Languages

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POLYGLOTH O W I L E A R N L A N G U A G E S

KAT LOMB


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POLYGLOT

How I Learn Languages

KA LOMB

RANSLAED FROM HE HUNGARIAN BY

DM SZEGIKORNELIA DEKORNE

EDIED BY SCO ALKIRE

ESL-EJhttp://tesl-ej.org

Berkeley Kyoto


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Tank you toElizabeth Collison

Elena SmolinskSylvia Rucker

Professor Tom Huebnerfor their help with this project.

Te review comments of Dr. Larissa Chiriaeva,Maria omsa, MA, and Dr. Stefan Frazier wereinvaluable in the preparation of the manuscript.

Scott Alkire

ranslated by dm SzegiTe first two Forewords, Introduction, and

Chapter 20 were translated by Kornelia DeKorne.

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication DataLomb, Kat, 19092003.

Polyglot : how I learn languages / Kat Lomb. 1st English ed.p. cm.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2008907032ISBN 978-1-60643-706-3

Copyright 2008 by Scott Alkire. All rights reserved.

1. Language learning. I. itleCover: Te ower of Babel

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1563)

ESL-EJhttp://tesl-ej.orgBerkeley Kyoto

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2


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Contents

Preface vii

Foreword to the First Edition xviiForeword to the Second Edition xix

Foreword to the Fourth Edition xxi

Introduction 23

What Is Language? 35

Why Do We and Why Should We Study Languages? 37Te ype of Language to Study 39

Easy and Difficult Languages 41

How to Study Languages 49

Who Tis Book Is and Isnt For 51

Lets Read! 67

Why and What We Should Read 73

How We Should Read 85

Reading and Pronunciation 89

What Sort of Languages Do People Study? 97
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Language and Vocabulary 103

Vocabulary and Context 107

How to Learn Words 113

Age and Language Learning 121

Dictionaries: Crutches or Helpful ools? 127

extbooks 131

How We Converse in a Foreign Language 133

How We Should Converse in a Foreign Language 139

How I Learn Languages 147

Grading Our Linguistic Mastery 165

Te Linguistic Gift 173

Language Careers 183Te Interpreting Career 187

Reminiscences from My ravels 199

Whats Around the Linguistic Corner? 209

Epilogue 215
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v i i

Preface

IF multilingualism is indeed one of the great achieve-ments of the human mind, as Vildomec (1963, p. 240)claims, it is regrettable that few linguists have studied poly-

glots and what it is they know about language learning.1For their part, polyglots have not provided us with muchinformation either; in the 20th century, texts by polyglotson language learning, in particular texts that relate how theyactually learned their languages, are rare.

One text that relates personal language-learning experi-ence is Dr. Kat Lombs Polyglot: How I Learn Languages(2008; Hungarian: gy tanulok nyelveket [1995, 4th ed.]). A

collection of anecdotes and reflections on language and lan-guage learning, it frequently recalls the pragmatism of similartexts by polyglot linguists such as Bloomfield (Outline Guide

for the Practical Study of Foreign Languages, 1942), Pei (Howto Learn Languages and What Languages to Learn, 1973),and Pimsleur (How to Learn a Foreign Language, 1980). Tetext is further distinguished by the fact that it is the docu-ment of a learner who acquired most of her languages as an

adult. But the most remarkable aspect of Polyglot: How ILearn Languagesmay be its rich, wide-ranging meditationson ideas about and related to language learning, in writingranging from the warmly personal to the high-culture styleof a Central European polymath.

1. Linguistic definitions of multilingualism/polyglot vary. Nation, in astudy of good language learners, defines a multilingual person as beingfluent in four or more languages (1983, p. 1).


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Te most multilingual woman

Dr. Kat Lomb (19092003) has been called possiblythe most accomplished polyglot in the world (Krashen,1997, p. 15) and the most multilingual woman (Parkvall,2006, p. 119). Unlike most polyglots, Lomb came to lan-guage learning relatively late. Indifferent to foreign lan-guages in secondary school and university (her PhD wasin chemistry), she began to acquire English on her own in1933 to find work as a teacher. She began learning Russianin 1941, and by the end of World War II was interpretingand translating for the Budapest City Hall. She continuedto learn languages, and at her peak was interpreting and/ortranslating 16 for state and business concerns. In the 1950sshe became one of the first simultaneous interpreters in theworld, and by the 1960s her reputation was such that, ac-cording to an interview in Heteknewspaper (14 November1998), she and her colleagues in the Hungarian interpretingdelegation were known as the Lomb team (p. 16).

Her accomplishments did not alter her essential mod-esty: It is not possible [to know 16 languages]at least notat the same level of ability, she wrote in the foreword to thefirst edition of gy tanulok nyelveket(1970). I only have onemother tongue: Hungarian. Russian, English, French, andGerman live inside me simultaneously with Hungarian. Ican switch between any of these languages with great ease,from one word to the next.

ranslating texts in Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese,

and Polish generally requires me to spend about half a daybrushing up on my language skills and perusing the materialto be translated.

Te other six languages [Bulgarian, Danish, Latin,Romanian, Czech, Ukrainian] I know only through trans-lating literature and technical material.

Interest in Lombs book remained steady in Hungary forseveral years; subsequent editions were published in 1972,

1990, and 1995. In addition, translations were published


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Preface / ix

in Japan, Latvia, and Russia. Lomb wrote other books onlanguages, interpreting, and polyglots, and continued learn-ing languages into her eighties. In 1995 she was interviewed

by Stephen Krashen, who brought her achievements to theattention of the West.

Form and content of gy tanulok nyelveket

Perhaps because Lomb believes that language and lan-guage learning are phenomena that can be understood in dif-ferent ways, she employs different writing stylesmemoir/narrative, functional/expository, and figurative/literaryto

convey different aspects of language and language learning.She uses memoir/narrative to relate most of her language-learning experiences, functional/expository prose to outlineher language-learning strategies, and figurative/literary pas-sages to conceptualize language and language acquisition.

Lombs functional/expository sections feature manystrategies that correlate to the strategies of successful learn-ers documented in major second language acquisition (SLA)

studies (see Alkire, 2005); a few others do not, or have notyet been studied. One of her unique language-learning strat-egies is the reading of books at the beginning of languagestudy. In Chapter 7 she writes, Dare to include [extensive]reading in your learning program from the very beginning,and in Chapter 8 she asserts that the bulk of a learnersknowledge will come not from dictionaries, course books,or teachers, but from books. In autobiographical passages,

Lomb relates her experiences learning English, Russian, andSpanish through novels. All of this is noteworthy becausethe reading of full-length texts (e.g., novels) to acquire lan-guages has seldom been studied by SLA researchers.

Lomb is also singular in not endorsing grammar study.She writes, Te traditional way of learning a language(cramming 2030 words a day and digesting the grammarsupplied by a teacher or course book) may satisfy at most

ones sense of duty, but it can hardly serve as a source of


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joy. Nor will it likely be successful. For emphasis Lombparaphrases oussaint and Langenscheidt, the 19th-centurypublishers: Man lernt Grammatik aus der Sprache, nicht

Sprache aus der Grammatik. (One learns grammar fromlanguage, not language from grammar.)

About textbooks Lomb takes an original and provoca-tive stance: A student whose native language is Hungarianshould study from a book prepared by a Hungarian. Tis isnot owing to chauvinism but because every nation has tocope with its own specific difficulties when learning a for-eign language. Jespersen, the eminent Danish philologist,

knew this: he classified the errors committed in English bynationality.

Although many of Lombs principles have been corrob-orated by SLA research, the preceding pointsthe value ofextensive reading at nascent learning stages, the backward-ness of emphasizing grammar, and the benefits of learningfrom a textbook written by a compatriotremain relativelyunexplored, and offer new directions for SLA research.

How Lomb conceptualizes language learning is com-pelling and suggests that the imagination plays a greaterrole in successful language acquisition than is commonlyunderstood. Lomb writes, o use a metaphor, the Russianlanguage is a complicated, massive cathedral harmoniouslyfashioned in every arch and corner. Te learner must acceptthis in order to have sufficient motivation to build it. Also:Knowledgelike a nailis made load-bearing by being

driven in. If its not driven deep enough, it will break whenany weight is put upon it. Elsewhere Lomb opines, A for-eign language is a castle. It is advisable to besiege it fromall directions: newspapers, radio, motion pictures which arenot dubbed, technical or scientific papers, textbooks, andthe visitor at your neighbors.

Lomb employs other metaphors as well. o illustrateteacher-guided learning, she presents a wry Hungarian joke

and then kindly explains the symbolism:


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Preface / xi

Coffees in Budapest have an advantage they have no coffee substituteTey have a disadvantage

they have no coffee beanAnd they have a mystery what makes them black?

As Lomb explains it, You can discover these elementsin teacher-guided learning as well.

Its unquestioned advantage: the reliability of the lin-guistic information and the regularity of the lessons.

Its disadvantage: inconvenience, an often-slow pace,and less opportunity for selective learning....In the end...the classic, teacher-guided method has its

own mystery. Te question is how to supplement it withpersonal methods.

Figurative language runs throughout Lombs book andsuggests, perhaps, that the imaginative conceptualization oflanguage learning may in fact facilitate it.

Factors in language learning success

Troughout her book Lomb expresses her belief that alanguage learners success is primarily determined by moti-vation, perseverance, and diligenceand not by innate abil-ity. I dont believe there is [an innate ability for learninglanguages], she says. I want to demystify language learn-ing, and to remove the heroic status associated with learninganother language. She claims that a good method plays amuch more important role in language learning than thevague concept of innate ability. She also believes that alearners level of education may play a role in how success-ful he or she is in acquiring a language; she speculates thateducated people may be lesssuccessful at learning languagesbecause of the gap between their intellectual achievementsand their status as beginning learners. Finally, Lomb statesthat Te ideal solution, of course, is to maintain active rela-


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tionships with native speakers of ones ilk and interests, withlots of shared activitiesespecially if these natives are will-ing to correct your mistakes, and if one is resolved not to get

mad at them when they do. One wonders if any solutionto language learning has ever been stated so well.

Lomb recognizes that language learning is time-intensiveand offers advice accordingly. We should connect languagelearning with either work or leisure. And not at the expenseof them but to supplement them. Also, Spend time tinker-ing with the language every day. If time is short, try at leastto produce a 10-minute monologue. Tese dictums may

seem simple or obvious, but they are seldom incorporated inacademic foreign language learning programs.

Languages, the only thing worth knowing even poorly

Despite her own high level of achievement, Lomb claimsthat she is not a perfectionist in language learning. I like tosay that we should study languages because languages are theonly thing worth knowing even poorly, she writes.

If someone knows how to play the violin only a little,he will find that the painful minutes he causes are not inproportion to the possible joy he gains from his playing.Te amateur chemist spares himself ridicule only as long ashe doesnt aspire for professional laurels. Te man somewhatskilled in medicine will not go far, and if he tries to trade onhis knowledge without certification, he will be locked up asa quack doctor.

Solely in the world of languages is the amateur ofvalue. Well-intentioned sentences full of mistakes can stillbuild bridges between people. Asking in broken Italianwhich train we are supposed to board at the Venice railwaystation is far from useless. Indeed, it is better to do that thanto remain uncertain and silent and end up back in Budapestrather than in Milan. Lomb never loses sight of the factthat the primary purpose of language is communication,

and that language learning should be pragmatic.


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Preface / xiii

Implications for SLA theory

Krashen and other linguists have offered arguments forwhy the experiences of Lomb and other successful learnersare important to SLA theory.

[Lomb] demonstrates, quite spectacularly, that high1.levels of second language proficiency can be attained byadults; much of her language acquisition was done inher 30s and 40s (Krashen and Kiss, 1996, p. 210).Stevick (1989), Chang (1990), Gethin and Gunnemark(1996), and Parkvall (2006) report similar cases of out-

standing adult learners. Tese cases are important ex-ceptions to prevailing SLA theory on age and languagelearning and need to be accounted for.

Pavlenko argues that texts such as Lombs allow for a2.complex, theoretically and socio-historically informed,investigation of social contexts of language learningand of individual learners trajectories, as well as an in-sight into which learners stories are not yet being told

(2001, p. 213).Krashen and Kiss point out that Lomb was a relatively3.unsuccessful student of languages in high school andlearned them primarily later, through self-study (1996).Te implications of this for prescribed methods in lan-guage teaching are worthy of investigation.

In an article on Lombs strategies for language learn-4.

ing and SLA theory, Alkire notes that Lombs text hasstrategies for, and conclusions about, language learningthat closely correlate with those of successful learnersdocumented in major SLA studies of the past 25 years(2005, p. 17).

Inspired by Carroll (1967), Naiman, Frhlich, Stern,5.and odesco conducted a study to see if biographiesof individuals speaking more than one language might


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contain clues to the conditions of successful languageacquisition (1978, p. 1). Teir findings substantiatedtheir thesis and have been widely influential in SLA

theory; Brumfit calls their work still of great relevance(1996, p. vii).

Scovel writes that, in our efforts to understand suc-6.cessful language learning, Te evidence can be eitherexperimental or experiential. Given the complexity ofSLA, I think we need a lot of both... (2001, p. 10).

As stated at the outset, there are not many accounts oflanguage learning by polyglots, nor are there many case stud-ies of them. Yet such learners, by virtue of their accomplish-ments, must be accounted for in any meaningful theory ofSLA. Stevick, in his study of successful learners, writes:

[Successful learners] statements are in fact datanot,to be sure, data about what they did, but data about whatthey said they did. And these data need to be accountedfor.... As data, these statements sometimes fit in with varioustheories of second language learning, and sometimes chal-lenge them. Whenever there is an apparent inconsistencybetween one of these statements and a given theory, then thetheory must either show that the statement should not betaken seriously, or it must show how the statement is in factconsistent with it after all, or the theory must modify itselfaccordingly (1989, pp. xiixiii).

Dr. Lombs text offers rare, experiential data that maywell contribute to our understanding of SLA.

Scott AlkireSan Jos State University

June 2008


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Preface / xv

References

Alkire, S. 2005. Kat Lombs strategies for language learning andSLA theory. Te International Journal of Foreign Languageeaching, Fall.

Brumfit, C. 1996. Introduction to the new edition. In Naimanet al., Te good language learner (pp. viix). Clevedon:Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Chang, C. 1990. How I learned English. aipei: Bookman BooksLtd.

Gethin, A. and Gunnemark, E. V. 1996. Te art and science oflearning languages. Oxford: Intellect.

Krashen, S. D. and Kiss, N. 1996. Notes on a polyglot. System24(2):207210.

Krashen, S. D. 1997. Foreign language education the easy way.Culver City (CA): Language Education Associates.

Lomb, K. 1995. gy tanulok nyelveket. Budapest: AQUA Kiad.Naiman, N., Frhlich, M., Stern, H. H., and odesco, A. 1996.

Te good language learner. Clevedon: Multilingual MattersLtd.

Nation, R. J. 1983. Te good language learner: A comparison oflearning strategies of monolinguals, bilinguals, and multilin-guals. PhD diss. University of California, Santa Cruz.

Parkvall, M. 2006. Limits of language. London: Battlebridge.Pavlenko, A. 2001. Language learning memoirs as a gendered

genre.Applied Linguistics22 (2):213240.Scovel, . 2001. Learning new languages. Boston: Heinle &

Heinle.

Stevick, E. W. 1989. Success with foreign languages. New York:Prentice Hall.

Vildomec, V. 1963. Multilingualism. Leydon, Te Netherlands:A. W. Sythoff.


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Foreword to theFirst Edition

IF IN conversation my knowledge of languages is re-

vealed, people tend to ask the same three questions. In re-sponse, I give the same three answers.

Question:Is it possible to know 16 languages?Answer:No, it is not possibleat least not at the same

level of ability. I only have one mother tongue: Hungarian.Russian, English, French, and German live inside me simul-taneously with Hungarian. I can switch between any of these

languages with great ease, from one word to another.ranslating texts in Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese,

and Polish generally requires me to spend about half a daybrushing up on my language skills and perusing the materialto be translated.

Te other six languages [Bulgarian, Danish, Latin,Romanian, Czech, Ukrainian] I know only through trans-lating literature and technical material.

Question:Why havent you chosen a career in foreignlanguage teaching?

Answer:In order to teach, it is not enough to have mas-tered a whole army of languages. o look it at another way,surely there are many unfortunate people who have neededto undergo multiple stomach surgeries. Yet no one wouldhand a scalpel over to them and ask them to perform the

same surgery they received on another person, simply be-


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cause they themselves had undergone it so often.If those individuals who conduct surveys and polls had

a sense of humor when asking us our occupations, my an-

swer would be language learner.

Question:Does one need an aptitude to learn so manylanguages?

Answer:No, it is not necessary. Aside from mastery inthe fine arts, success in learning anything is the result of gen-uine interest and amount of energy dedicated to it. In myown experience learning languages, I have discovered many

useful principles. Tis book outlines them for you.I wish to acknowledge that my achievement in lan-

guages is due to my collaborators over the years, known andunknown. Tis book is dedicated to them.

KL, 1970


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Foreword to theSecond Edition

HE INERES in language learningnot the value

of my ideas on the subjectexplains why the first editionof this book sold out in a matter of weeks. Once the bookwas actually read, however, people considered my ideas onlanguage learning to be quite controversial.

In hundreds of letters, newspaper articles, and lectureson college campuses and in language clubs, there havebeen discussions and arguments regarding the fact that inHungary we are forced to learn various foreign languages be-

cause of our linguistic isolation, and that my book endorsesthis forcing. I do not promote the forcing of anything.My view is that knowing languages is part of the process ofbecoming a cultured person. I am grateful to all those whoseremarks and comments have supported my conviction.

Also controversial was my view on the question, Is theresuch a thing as an innate ability for learning language(s)?I dont believe there is. Indeed, one of my goals in writing

the book was to remove the mystical fog surrounding theidea of an innate ability for language learning. I want todemystify language learning, and to remove the heroic statusassociated with learning another language.

Apologies to those who have an opposite stance on thesubject, for I cannot offer any new argument. I can onlyreiterate what I stated in the book:

1. Interest driven by motivation, perseverance, and dili-

gence plays a determining role in ones success in learning a


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new language;2. An innate ability to learn languages, or rather the

qualities that make up this skill, are not possible to find in

one person.

Due to lack of time since the publication of the firstedition, I can only give thanks to everyone who shared hisor her appreciation of my work. My favorite comment mayhave come from seven-year-old Ildik, who told me, WhenI get to be your age, I will speak many more languages thanyoujust wait and see! Another memorable comment

came from a Swedish woman, who at over 70 years of age isstarting on her eighth language. She invited me to a trans-lation duel (terms: who can translate a famous poem mostsuccessfully in the least amount of time). Finally, I wouldlike to give thanks to a young writer, Mr. S. Pl, for hisview that Te optimism of the writer is the most importantpoint in the book. And we, the readers, from now on willhave a more hopeful perspective and are more likely to over-

come our original inhibitions and look upon learning a newlanguage as a personal goal of high value, which we can hopeto fulfill to the best of our abilities.

Enthusiasm is contagious, wrote Jnos Selye.If I have been able to infect only a few people, then I

have achieved my purpose with this book.

KL, 1972


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Foreword to theFourth Edition

MY BOOK was first published 25 years ago. Te quar-

ter century that has passed has been an age of great politicaland economic fluctuations. Country borders have been bornor blurred and complete ethnic groups have set off to findnew homelands in new linguistic environments. All this hasmade it even more important to analyze language-learningmethods and to evaluate their efficiency.

My perspective has become broader as well. I have vis-ited new countries and conducted interviews with famous

polyglots. I have become acquainted with a branch of a till-now unknown language family. I have looked at the ques-tion of whether a language can be easy or difficult, and whatthe connection is between age and learning ability. Tis ishow the new edition came about: to address some questionsnot covered in the previous ones.

Tis new edition has strengthened my conviction thatself-assurance, motivation, and a good method play a much

more important role in language learning than the vagueconcept of innate ability, and that dealing with languages isnot only an effective and joyful means of developing humanrelationships, but also of preserving ones mental capacityand spiritual balance.

KL, 1995


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2 3

Introduction

I MUS have been about four years old when I surprisedmy family with the declaration that I spoke German.

How so? they asked.

Well, its like this: if lmpa2 is Lampe and tinta3 isinte, then szoba4 can only be Sobbe 5and klyha6mustbe Kaiche.7

Had my dear parents been familiar with the terminol-ogy of modern linguistics, they would have said: Tis poorchild has succumbed to the phenomenon of false friends.(Tis is what we call the type of error committed as a re-sult of mistaken generalizations about another language.)

Instead, they grew perplexed and saddened and decided,once and for all, to strike me off the list of those capable ofmastering a foreign language.

Initially, life appeared to prove them right. In juniorhigh school, I lagged far behind my classmates who were ofGerman origin or who had had German nannies. Years later,after I got out of high school, I was still regarded, and I re-garded myself, as a foreign language flop. So when I applied

to college, I set my sights on the natural sciences.Yet I had already come under the spell of languages.Years before, leafing through my sisters textbooks, I had

2. Hungarian for lamp.3. Hungarian for ink.4. Hungarian for room.5. Actually, it isZimmerin German.6. Hungarian for stove or heater.7. Actually, it is Ofenin German.


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come across a page full of Latin proverbs. Tough I hadnot yet studied Latin, I spelled out each beautifully ring-ing sentence and their approximate Hungarian equivalents

with great delight:Juventus ventus (Youth is folly), Perangusta ad augusta (All beginnings are difficult). Could itbe possible to build with such diamond bricks the thoughtbridge that spans the space between minds? I fell in lovewith languages over a few proverbsfolk wisdom crystal-lized into laconic figures of speech.

I insisted that I be enrolled in a French class, taughtat the junior high as an extracurricular course. Te great

advantage of this course was that it was free of charge; itsdisadvantage was that poor Ms. Budai had been chosen toteach it solely on the basis of her first name: Clarisse. Teprincipal must have thought: With such a name, the per-son must certainly know French. In any event, both Ms.Budai and I were filled with ambition. I shall never forgetthat after a month she made me class monitor out of a senseof gratitude. And I, after diligent perusal of the dictionary,

inscribed on the blackboard La toute classe est bienne 8In college, I fared ill with physics and well with chem-

istry. I was especially fond of organic chemistry. It is mybelief to this day that the reason for this was that I had mas-tered Latin grammar by this time. Knowing how to deducethe entire declension system of nouns and the conjugationof verbs from the simple phrase agricola arat (the farmerploughs) helped me enormously. All I had to do was sub-

stitute the hydrogen atoms of the two basic compoundsmethane and benzenewith ever-new roots.Tus, I went to sit for my PhD exam in chemistry with

calm assurance, knowing that I would soon have my doc-toral degree in hand. At the same time, I also knew that Iwould not be able to do much with it; in the early 1930s,

8. Incorrect; it is as if one said *Te class whole is well instead of Tewhole class is good (oute la classe est bonne).


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Introduction / 25

Hungary, like most of the rest of the world, was in a deepeconomic depression. Tere we all were, with our spankingnew degrees, trying hard to figure out what to do next.

I chose a career for myself quickly: I would make myliving teaching languages. Te next decision was a bit moredifficult: which language would I teach? Latin was not a verysought-after commodity, and there were more French teach-ers than students in Budapest. English was the only sure andsteady breadwinner. But I had to learn it first.

Spurred on by the two incentives of necessity and thirstfor knowledge, I worked out a method for language learning

that I use to this day. I will devote the forthcoming chaptersto it.

Will this method work for others? I shall attempt toanswer that question later. At this point, however, I wouldlike to emphasize my conviction that anybody would havereached the same results had they hit their books with thesame curiosity and stick-to-it-ness that I did in the spring of1933, crouched at the end of my living room couch.

I started by intensively studying a novel by Galsworthy.Within a week, I was intuiting the text; after a month, I un-derstood it; and after two months, I was having fun with it.

When I landed my first job teaching English, however,I wanted to teach my students using a more proper, peda-gogical approach. Tus I waded through a study course thatwas popular at the time, called 50 Lessons. I still have nopangs of conscience about having dared to teach a language

on the basis of the Latin adage docendo discimus (we learnby teaching), treading just one or two lessons ahead of mystudents. I hope that my energy and enthusiasm made upfor what I lacked in linguistic knowledge.

I also tried doing written translations at a pharmaceuti-cal lab where I had managed to acquire some sort of job.

My translations, however, apparently didnt cut it be-cause the proofreader sent them back with the remark,

Whoever did this must have been one gutsy person!


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I did need real guts for the next step I was about to take,a step that really tied the knot between me and my new pro-fession. In 1941, I decided to learn Russian.

Id give a lot to be able to write here that it was my po-litical instincts that led me to make this decision, but I cant.All I know is that I took advantage of an incredible oppor-tunity that presented itself to me. Browsing in a secondhandbookshop downtown, I came across a two-volume Russian-English dictionary. I made a beeline for the cashiers counterwith my treasure. It didnt require much of a sacrifice: I paidpennies for the two musty, ragged volumes that had been

published in 1860.I never put them down after that.In the early 1940s it was suspicious to study Russian in

Hungary, which was becoming more and more fascist. Tusit was downright lucky that I had worked out a methodfor language learning based on texts. Although there wasRussian instruction going on at the university (I believe), forme to get into that program was about as likely as getting a

scholarship to study in Russia.I found a few classic Russian novels in someones private

collection; these I could not tackle. Chance came to my aidonce again.

A lot of White Russian migrs lived in Berlin then. Oneof these families happened to take a vacation for a few weeksin Balatonszrsz, a small resort on our Lake Balaton. Myhusband and I happened to take their room at the inn the

very day they left, and the maid was just about to dump thestuff they had left behind. In the clutter I discovered, withmounting excitement, a thick book with large Cyrillic let-tering: it was a silly, sentimental romance novel from 1910.I set to it without a moments hesitation. I spent so muchtime tinkering with it, trying to understand the text, that tothis day I still remember certain pages of it word for word.

By the time I was able to move on to more quality read-

ing, it was 1943 and carpet bombings were upon us. As


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Introduction / 27

a result of hours spent in the bomb shelter, I was able toprogress faster. All I had to do was camouflage my book. Ipurchased a thick Hungarian encyclopedia and had a book-

binder acquaintance sew the pages of Gogols Dead Souls inplace of every second sheet. During air raids, I would wadethrough entire chapters of it. Tis was the time I worked outmy technique of boldly skipping over unfamiliar words, forit would have been dangerous to consult a Russian diction-ary in the bomb shelter.

With the siege raging, I tried to pass the time in thedark cellar by constantly working on the conversation I

would have with the first Russian soldier who set foot init. I decided to embellish each sentence with a few adjecti-val and adverbial participles (my mastery of these was theshakiest). Moreover, I would dazzle him not only with theease and elegance of my command of his language, but withmy literary accomplishments as well: I would draw paral-lels between the poetry of Pushkin and Lermontov; I wouldsing the praises of Sholokhovs epic style; and so on and so

forth.Tat was the dream. Te reality, in contrast, was that in

the sudden quiet of the dawning New Years Day, I stole upinto the bleak and barren garden surrounding the building.Barely had I filled my lungs with a few fresh breaths when arather young soldier jumped over the fence into the garden.He was clutching a milk jug, making it obvious what he wasdoing there. But he did utter a few words:

Korova est?he asked.I, on the other hand, was so discombobulated with ex-

citement that I didnt even recognize the word for cow.Te young man tried to help.

Korova! You know? Moooooo!As I just kept staring at him agape, he shrugged and

jumped over the other fence.Te second encounter transpired a few hours later, by

which time I had had a chance to get over the first fiasco.


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2 8 / POLYGLOT: HOW I LEA R N LA NGU AGES

Tis time a very young man opened the door. He asked forsalt, then took some bread and bacon out of his rucksackand set to eating comfortably, every once in a while offering

us a bite on the point of his jack-knife. When he realizedthat I spoke Russian, he was greatly moved.

Molodets Partisanka! (Well done, little guerrilla!) Heshook my hand vigorously.

After a while, some Romanian officers entered. (Wewere liberated at Rkosfalva, where Romanian troops werealso stationed.)

What kind of language are you speaking with those

guys? Te Russian soldier said scowling.Im speaking French, I replied.Te little Russ shook his head, then packed up his pro-

visions, stood up, and started out. From the threshold, hehissed back at me: Shpionka! (Little spy!)

So much for being multilingual!City Hall was liberated on February 5, 1945. I present-

ed myself that day as a Russian interpreter. Tey lost no time

in hiring me and I received my first assignment right away: Ihad to call the city commander and tell him who the mayorwas. When I asked for the phone number of the command-ers headquarters, they just shrugged and told me to pick upthe receiver; HQ would be at the other end. Tere was butone live phone line in Budapest on February 5, 1945.

From that time on, I had no end of opportunities topractice my language skills. Te only trouble was that al-

though I was able to gab in Russian fluently (probably withlots of errors), I barely understood anything. My interlocu-tors attributed this difficulty to a hearing problem. o con-sole me, they sweetly roared into my ear that as soon as myhealth was restored, my hearing would return as well. At thetime, I weighed 44 pounds less than normal for my height.

In January 1946, I was appointed Director of theMetropolitan Office of ourism. It was a nice title with a

good salary; I even had an office of my own in the relatively


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Introduction / 29

intact building of the Vigad.9Te only fly in the ointmentwas that no tourist could be found anywhere, high or low,throughout the land. Our roads were all torn up, our bridges

sunken into the Danube. Of all our hotelsif I remembercorrectlyonly the one on Margaret Island was open forbusiness. Budapests need for an Office of ourism roughlyequaled that of having a Colonial Ministry.

As we approached spring, my colleagues and I spent ourdays cutting out pictures from magazines, old and new, anddisplaying them on the walls of our offices according to thistheme: PastPresentFuture. Te past was represented

by old street scenes of Pest-Buda before the unification,10thefuture by the plans of reconstruction just being drawn up atthe time, and the present by images of shot-up, collapsedbuildings.

One day, as I was trying to wend my way through thecrowd bustling among the ruined, scaffolded houses alongPetfi Sndor Street,11 a man made a beeline for me. Heasked me, with the French accent of a native speaker, where

he could find a post office.I gave him directions and, of course, immediately fol-

lowed them up with a question about how he had come tobe in Budapest. It turned out that curiosity had broughthim our way. He was the proverbial first swallow who wasmeant to bring summer tourists to Hungary.

Without thinking I immediately took him by the armand dragged him off towards my office.

9. A landmark Budapest exhibition hall and theater, built in the 1860s,comparable to the Met in New York; the name means Merry-makingHall or Entertainment Hall.10. Budapest was unified and named Budapest in 1873; before then,three cities were recognized instead: Pest, on the Eastern bank of theDanube, Buda, on the Western bank, and buda (Old Buda), North ofBuda. ogether, they were sometimes referred to as Pest-Buda.11. In the heart of downtown Budapest. Tis street was named after oneof Hungarys greatest 19th century poets.


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I am the manager of a splendid establishment, I said.You must pay us a visit at once.

Te foreigner attempted to politely extricate himself

from my grasp. Embarrassed, he offered the excuse that hewas not in the mood and did not have the time besides.

I, however, was not about to be shaken off. One mustmake time for such things! I guarantee you will spend apleasant hour in the company of my colleagues, all ladieswho speak French extremely well. Not to mention all thepictures on display that are sure to arouse your interest!

But Madame, I am a married man! Tat was his last-

ditch argument.I despaired at such obtuseness. What would become of

our profession if we were to limit it to unmarried people?My companion, however, forcefully pulled himself free ofmy grasp and disappeared into the crowd.

And they say that the French are polite! I was in-censeduntil, slowly, I began to see my own stupidity.

When the Allied Commission was set up in Hungary,I was appointed to manage its administrative affairs. Onecouldnt imagine a more ideal posting for a linguistand bythen, I felt I was one.

I was rapidly alternating between English-, Russian- andFrench-speaking negotiating partners, switching languagesevery 10 minutes or so. Not only did my vocabulary receivean immense boost, but I was also able to gain tremendous

experience in the skill that is so essential for interpreting:I learned to switch from the linguistic context of one lan-guage to another in seconds.

Te spirit of linguistic discovery spurred me on and ledme next to learn Romanian. o this day, I find Romanianvery fetching. It has more of a country flavor than Frenchand is more manly than Italian and more interesting thanSpanish, due to its Slavic loanwords. Tis unique blend

aroused such enthusiasm in me that I read a Sebastianu nov-


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Introduction / 31

el and Lszl Gldis grammar booklets in just weeks. odayI no longer speak Romanian but have plenty of occasions totranslate Romanian technical papers into other languages.

My administrative work and my interpreting/translat-ing consumed my energies totally up until 1950. In thatyear two questions that had been bothering me for a longtime became impossible to ignore.

Te first was whether the method I had worked out forapproaching a foreign language through interesting readingwould work for other learners as well. Fortunately, an idealsituation arose to test my theory.

Te teaching of Russian in colleges had great momen-tum in those days, and I was offered a lectureship at thePolytechnic Institute. As it was for engineering students,I thought it would be logical to approach the languagethrough their technical expertise and build the edifice oflanguage upon that foundation. We formed a small collab-orative group and soon two Russian textbooks, emphasizingtechnical texts, came out of our collective effort in quick

succession. Even with all the errors caused by our inexperi-ence, I am glad to claim this project as my brainchild and Iam very glad that the reading of technical texts has becomecommon practice in all our universities.

Te other question that had been nagging at me for along time was what I would do with languages in which Icould not rely on any analogies with Germanic, Slavic, orRomance languages. Again, a situation arose to address it:

that year, at the Universitys East Asian Institute, a Chinesecourse was offered for the first time.

I would like to give a detailed description of my firstencounter with Chinese here because I see it as symbolicof my whole relationship to languagesand to learning ingeneral.

It was not easy to get into the course. University stu-dents, especially language majors, were given preference,

and I was already past the age when people usually embark


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32 / POLYGLOT: HOW I LEARN LANGU AGES

upon such a major enterprise. And so it happened that I didnot receive a reply to my application. Ten I found out bychance that the course had already started weeks before.

At around seven oclock on a fall evening, I found my-self at the university. I groped along its dark corridors, tryingto find the lecture hall. I wandered from floor to floor: therewas no sign of anyone in the building. I was about to giveup and put the whole enterprise on ice when I noticed athin line of light seeping from under the door of the farthestroom at the end of a long, deserted corridor. Although thismay sound corny, I believe to this day that it was not the

sliver of light shining under the door but the light of mydesire for knowledge that overcame the darkness. I enteredthe hall, introduced myself to the charming lady instructorfrom Shanghai, and ever since, my life has been lit up by thebeauty of Oriental languages.

I spent the next day stooped over the only Chinese-Russian dictionary to be had at any public library, trying tofigure out how to transliterate words from Chinese, a lan-

guage that knows no letters (and hence no alphabet). A fewdays later, at dawn on a December morning, I set to deci-phering my first Chinese sentence. Well, I worked way intothe wee hours of that night until I finally cracked it. Tesentence went like this: Proletarians of the world, unite!

In two years, I made such progress in Chinese that I wasable to interpret for the Chinese delegations arriving in ourcountry and I was able to translate novels I had grown fond

of, one after another. In 1956, I started thinking about howto make the knowledge I had acquired work for me in an-other Oriental language. And so I embarked on Japanesethis time, completely alone. Te account of my study of thatlanguagea very instructive talewill be given in detail inanother chapter.

Meanwhile, the number of Russian teachers had in-creased to the point where I was able to give up my post

to professional educators and start working on another lan-


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Introduction / 33

guage, Polish. Classes were announced and students were in-vited to enroll. When I enrolled, I used a trick that I highlyrecommend to all my fellow linguaphiles who are serious

about learning a language: sign up for a level much higherthan what you are entitled to by your actual knowledge. Ofthe three levels available (beginners, intermediate, and ad-vanced), I asked to be enrolled at the advanced level.

When the instructor tried to ascertain my level of ex-pertise, I replied, Dont bother. I dont speak a word ofPolish.

Ten why on Earth do you wish to attend an advanced

course? He was astonished.Because those who know nothing must advance vigor-

ously.He got so confused by my tortuous reasoning that he

added my name to the class roster without another word.

In 1954 I had the opportunity to travel abroad for thefirst time. Although I have traipsed across just about the

whole globe since then, I have never been as excited as theday I found out that I would be able to go on a packagetour to Czechoslovakia with the Hungarian ravel Agency(IBUSZ). As an act of gratitude, I immediately purchased acopy of Ivan Olbrachts novelAnna the Proletarian, and byperusing it with my by-then customary method, I unlockedthe secrets of Czech declensions and conjugations. I madenotes of the rules I gleaned in the books margins. Te poor

book deteriorated to such a degree as a result of this heartlesstreatment that it fell apart the minute I got home.

My knowledge of Italian has its origins in less lofty cir-cumstances. In the early 1940s, a brave downtown crafts-man tried to sell some Italians the patent rights to a machinethat manufactured shoe uppers. Even after diligent perusalof the dictionary, my translation must have been more per-


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suasive than objective, for the Italians proceeded to buy thepatent rights without further inquiry.

My relationship with Spanish is of more recent origin. Iblush to acknowledge that I embarked on it by reading theSpanish translation of a silly American bestseller, GentlemenPrefer Blondes. By the time I was finished with it, all I need-ed to do was verify the rules of accidence and syntax I hadgleaned. Rudolf Kirlys grammar reference served this pur-pose well.

At this point my interest was drawn more and moretowards interpreting because by the late 1960s, Budapesthad developed into a city of conferences. In the comingchapters of this book, there will be a lot more on the subjectof interpreting, which in my opinion is the most interest-ing of all intellectual professions. What still belongs herein the Introduction is mention of the fact that my very firstlive performance brought success: one of the delegates atmy first conference in Budapest asked me whether I wouldbe amenable to interpreting at a West German conferenceas well. I happily accepted and when I received the writteninvitation, I thought it would be good manners to learn thelanguage of my hosts.

And so it was this way that my language-learning ca-reer came full circle back to German, its less than glamorousstarting point.


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35

1_______________________________

What Is Language?

HERE MAY be no other word that has as many con-notations as this noun does with its few letters.

Because the word for language in Hungarian is thesame as the word for tongue, the Hungarian anatomist,upon hearing it, will think not of human communicationbut of the set of muscle fibers divided into root, body, blade,and tip. Te Hungarian gourmet will think of tasty morsels

in stewed, pickled, and smoked forms on the menu, andthe theologian will be reminded of the day of red Pentecost.Te Hungarian writer will think of a tool that dare not rivalNature,12and the poet will imagine a musical instrument.

Tose dealing with language for a living are usuallycalled linguists or philologists. Tey come up with theoriesof language and study the connections between languageand culture.

Tose dealing with languages as a vocation or hobbyhave no name in Hungarian. It is a bit ironic because thesepeople love languages, learn them easily, and speak themwell. Te English language calls such people linguaphiles.I feel such a difference between a philologist/linguist and a

12. Reference to a poem by Sndor Petfi: Oh Nature, glorious Nature,who would dare / with reckless tongue to match your wondrous fare?(Te isza, translated by Watson Kirkconnell.)


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36 / POLYGLOT: HOW I LEA R N LA NGU AGES

linguaphile as, say, a choreographer and a ballerina.So our subject is the linguaphile, the person who wishes

to acquire a language with the goal of actually using it.If we

should still wander to the field of theory, it may be becausea linguaphile is an open-eyed, educated person who is usu-ally interested in the broader background of his or her stud-ies. Also, I believe that the right choice of the language tobe learned and its effective acquisition is made easier by anoverall view. Of course, I realize that linguists and philolo-gists may find my perspective too simplified, and lingua-philes may find it too theoretical.


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37

2_______________________________

Why Do We and Why ShouldWe Study Languages?

LES SAR with these two basic questions.Ill begin with the second because its easier to answer.We should learn languages because language is the only

thing worth knowing even poorly.If someone knows how to play the violin only a little,

he will find that the painful minutes he causes are not inproportion to the possible joy he gains from his playing.Te amateur chemist spares himself ridicule only as long ashe doesnt aspire for professional laurels. Te man somewhatskilled in medicine will not go far, and if he tries to trade onhis knowledge without certification, he will be locked up asa quack doctor.

Solely in the world of languages is the amateur of value.Well-intentioned sentences full of mistakes can still buildbridges between people. Asking in broken Italian whichtrain we are supposed to board at the Venice railway stationis far from useless. Indeed, it is better to do that than toremain uncertain and silent and end up back in Budapestrather than in Milan.

Linguists have written a lot on the first question: whywe learn languages. Te chief focus, motivation, is such a

central problem that a six-day conference was devoted to


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it in Germany a couple of years ago. Simply, we are moti-vated to do something when we accept what is necessaryto achieve it. o use a metaphor, the Russian language is a

complicated, massive cathedral harmoniously fashioned inevery arch and corner. Te learner must accept this in orderto have sufficient motivation to build it. In contrast, theItalian language, praised as easy to learn, has a simpler struc-ture and a more lucid floorplan; but, if any detail is skimpedin its construction, it will collapse. We must accept this inorder to be motivated to learn the language.

Not long ago, I heard the following story from the

mother of a small child. Pete received a whistle, a drum, anda trumpet for his birthday. Te little boy asked if he couldhang each of his toys one by one on the wall of his room.

We cant, his mom said. Te local government willpunish us if we drive so many nails into the wall.

Why drive them? the child said. I dont need the in-sidepart of the nails. I only need the part that juts out!

I am always reminded of little Pete whenever I hear

that someone wants to learn a language only passively.Knowledgelike a nailis made load-bearing by beingdriven in. If it is not driven deep enough, it will break whenany weight is put upon it.

Te building of language has four large halls. Only thosewho have acquired listening, speaking, reading, and writingcan declare themselves to be its dwellers.Tose wanting toinhabit these halls will have to overcome obstacles just as the

mythological heroes did. Like Odysseus, they will have todefeatthe Cyclops of I cant remember it again and resistthe Sirens song of there is a good program on V. Tecomparison is, however, not precise. Te cunning Greek wasable to defeat every challenge through his desire for homehis motivation. For us, the passage through the building oflanguage alone will bring its own joy and motivation, if wetackle the task in a sensible and prudent way.


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39

3_______________________________

Te ype of Languageto Study

HE CHOICE is very wide. According to the Bible,foreign languages were born when God destroyed the owerof Babel. When it collapsed, 72 languages appeared: thismany because Noahs three sons had 72 descendants. Shemhad 26, Ham had 32, and Japheth had 14.

Te number of descendants and languages alike hasconsiderably increased. As far as the latter is concerned, theGerman weekly Der Spiegel provides rough data (vol. 46,1994): the inhabitants of our globe communicate with eachother in 6000 languages. Where the number of languageshas decreased, the explanation is interesting:

With the rise of Western culture on a given con-

tinent, the number of languages used by the in-habitants decreases proportionately. 4900 of our6000 languages are in Africa and Asia. Te popu-lation of New Guinea communicate with eachother in 800 different languages; those living inEurope and the Middle East only in 275.

According to the article, English is the most widespread

language. However, the authors dont put it down to linguis-


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tic imperialism but to the development of history and thefact that English is relatively easy to acquire.

Te exactnumber of spoken languages cant be known.

In the spectrum of languages, we can only symbolically dif-ferentiate between seven main colors; in practice, the indi-vidual colors fade into each other through a number of hues.Te way from Italian towards French leads through Ligurianand Provenal; if I like, I can consider them as four distinctlanguages; if I like, I can consider one a dialect of Italian andthe other a dialect of French.

In the spectrum of languages, there have always been

those glittering with a more blinding light: the so-calledworld languages. Tese are the ones with a larger radius ofaction; these are the ones that tried to attract the humblerones into their magic circle. Tey never completely succeed-ed, not even Latin, which in the Roman Empire stretchedfrom Dacia through Iberia. My witness is Ovid.

Te pampered duke of poets fell out of favor with hismajestic patron, Emperor Augustus, and was banned from

Rome for some court gossip. Te poet had to leave the me-tropolis, glittering with light, for omis, inhabited by thedregs of the Empire. Yet Ovid, the uncrowned king of Latin,didnt suffer most for the shame of exile but for not knowingthe vernacular of the local population.

Barbarus hic ego sum, quia non intellegor ulli.(Here Imthe barbarian no one comprehends.)

His sigh may well be translated but hardly understood.

oday, when a considerable part of most countries GrossNational Product is provided by tourism, the Western visi-tor is surrounded by locals trying to offer him accommoda-tion not in their language but in his.


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41

4_______________________________

Easy and DifficultLanguages

I PU the adjectives above in quotes not because I ques-tion the idea that languages are different in their learnability.Instead, Ive done it to suggest that the question we shouldbe asking is: For whom is a language easy and for whom isit difficult?

Everyone acquires their mother tongue commensu-rate to their own level of verbal intelligence. However, asfar as foreign languages are concerned, Herre Borquist fromStockholm will learn within days how to make himselfunderstood in Norwegian, Signore Pirrone will fare easilyin Spanish, and Pyotr Petrovich will get by in Ukrainian.Considering the whole issue, there are general criteria onhow easily languages can be learned which Id like to com-ment on from the perspective of a polyglot

Every language is a code system. It is not like the oneused in diplomacy, which often changes according to the sit-uation. Instead, a language resembles the traffic code, whichis permanent and easy to understand. Red commands us tostop in all regions of the world. Green tells us to proceed.Arrows show the direction of traffic.

Languages, too, have their international codes: punc-

tuation marks. Te period denotes the end of a sentence,


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the comma its continuation. Te question and exclamationmark are obvious.

However, the universality of the code ceases at this

point. One has to acquire the phonetics, vocabulary, andgrammar for each and every language separately. We can sayrule, pattern, paradigm,or even subroutineorprogram. I pre-fer the term shoemakers lastso I will stick to my last.

A language is more difficult the more lasts we needwithin it to form (1) meaningful words from sounds/letters;and (2) sentences from words.

Te trouble of grammatical manipulation of words

doesnt really exist in Chinese. When I was in China severaldecades ago, the slogan Books to the People was in fash-ion. It was visible on the walls of every house in the form offour decorative hieroglyphs. Te exact translation is akebook give people. Te Chinese seemed to understand it:Id never seen so many men absorbed in newspapers andso many children crouching over their books as in Maoscountry.

Te study of Chinese and Japanese is, in theory, madeeasier by the fact that some of the characters are ideograms(i.e., the characters form reveals its meaning). In alpha-betic languages, it only applies to a couple of onomatopo-etic words (clap, splash, knock13) and some verbs imitatinganimal sounds (roar, croak, bleat14). It is interesting thatreduplicated forms, which are common in Hungarian (csip-csup,15kip-kop,16tik-tak17), occur less frequently in other lan-

guages and are mostly of a belittling or mocking nature, likeriff-raff (lower-class); tittle-tattle (idle gossip); the GermanMischmasch (hodgepodge); the French charivari (hullaba-

13. Te Hungarian equivalents are csattan, csobban,and koppan.14. Te Hungarian equivalents are bget(for sheep), brekeg(for frogs),and mekeg(for goats).15. Hungarian: petty, measly, trifling.16. Hungarian: knock-knock, pit-a-pat, rat-a-tat.17. Hungarian: tick-tack (a ticking or tapping beat like that of a clock).


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Easy and Difficult Languages / 43

loo); and the Hebrew lichluch(dirt), bilbel(confusion), andkishkush(scrawl).

Apart from these playful forms, one has to learn not

only the connection between sound and meaning but alsothe link between sound and writing. Good dictionaries pro-vide information on both.

If few lasts are necessary to determine the connectionbetween sounds and letters, we call the language phonetic.We Hungarians feel our mother tongue is like that. Tespelling that we acquired in elementary school is so muchfixed in us that we dont even notice we pronounce tudja18

tuggya and tartsd 19tardzsd. I only became aware of thediversity of our sounds when I heard a German student ofHungarian wailing about how difficult it was for him todistinguish betweenprtalan, pratlan, parttalan, prtatlan,

prttalan.20Its also easy to get confused among the wordsmegrlt, megrlt, megrlt, megrlt21

And all these are within one language! But if we learnforeign languages, we have to familiarize ourselves with

the fact that although the word vice means the same inmany other languages as in Hungarian,22it is pronounced inFrench as vees, in English as vIs, in Italian as vee-chay,and is written in German as Vize.

18. Hungarian: he/she knows it (indicative) or he/she should knowit (subjunctive); d + j are pronounced as one long sound, the one nor-mally written asggy.

19. Hungarian: you should hold it (subjunctive); t + s are pronouncedas one sound, the one normally written as dzs, as a result of voicing beforethe last letter d.20. Pr: pair, couple;prt: (political) party;part: shore, coast, bank; -ta-lan and -atlan: privative suffixes. Hence: prtalan: uncoupled (uncom-mon);pratlan: odd (number), unparalleled;parttalan: boundless, shore-less;prtatlan: impartial;prttalan: non-partisan.21. Megrlt: he/she became happy; megrlt: he/she went crazy; meg-rlt: it became vacant; megrlt: he/she ground sth.22. Te meaning substitute is meant here. Te Hungarian word is pro-nounced vee-tse and today is obsolete.


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4 4 / POLYGLOT: HOW I LE AR N LA NGU AGES

As far as being phoneticis concerned, English gets theworst grade. We get used to the fact that in Hamlets famousutterance o be or not to be, the long /i/ sound is written

e. But it is written ee in the word bee, ea in the wordleaf, ie in the word siege, and ey in the word key.

I envy musicians! A sequence of soundslike Fr Eliseis played the same way today by, say, a skilled Albanian pia-nist as it was by a skilled English pianist in the 19th century.Te connection between a piece of sheet music and a tune iseternal and international, but the relationship between writ-ing and sound varies by language. It is determined, among

other things, by the alphabets of individual languages.Tis variability can be deceptive. Once I was in a res-

taurant in Berlin. Te menu offered an attractive-soundingdish: Schtschie.I wasnt able to resist, so I ordered it. Onlywhen it was served did I realize that the food that I assumedto be an exotic sort of fish was nothing but the national dishof Russia, (shchi) (cabbage soup).

Terefore, when studying a language, we have to get

acquainted with the lasts so we can encode sounds into let-ters or produce sounds from letters. Parallel with this, welaunch two other processes: the building of sounds/lettersinto words and the building of words into sentences.

I like the metaphor of construction because we mustknow how to choose the appropriate words and put themtogether, i.e. make sentences. Tere are three major typesof joining operations, based on whether the language is

isolating, agglutinative, or inflecting.23In theory, isolating languages appear to be the simplestof the three: words can be placed next to each other in theirdictionary forms. Agglutinative languages, on the otherhand, require that we glue a suffix to the dictionary formof a word when making sentences. (Te term comes from

23. Isolating languages are also known as analytic languages and inf-lecting languages as fusional languages.


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the Latin wordgluten [glue].) With inflecting languages, wemust inflect (or bend) the dictionary form of the worddepending on its placement in a sentence.

According to historical linguists, articulated speechwas born 100,000 years ago. Te number of its users hasmultiplied to several billions since. It would be a miracleif the above three language types were still sharply distinct.English was once an agglutinative language; in its presentstate it is closer to the typically isolating Chinese than theIndo-European languages with which it is usually classified.Indeed, Frederick Bodmer, the great philologist, has noted

that the English of Alfred the Great (871901) was a typi-cally inflecting language, and that Anglo-American is pre-dominantly isolating.

I dont know how a foreign student of Hungarian relatesto this question but the word tengedhetnlek is certainlyeasier for us than its (longer) equivalent in other languages(e.g., I could let you go through [English], ich knnte dichdurchgehen lassen[German], or

[ya mog by propustit tebya] [Russian]).An advantage of Finno-Ugric (or rather, Uralic) lan-

guages is that they dont have the concept of grammaticalgender. Tis is in marked contrast to Semitic languages,which show different forms depending on the genus evenwhen trotting out numbers. In Hebrew, if you are com-pelled to use the form not knowing sth (alas, how often ithappens!), in the case of the classic negative particle, en, you

have to choose the right form out of 10 (!) options, depend-ing on gender and number. Te healthy linguistic instincthas even changed it for the gentler negative particle lo ineveryday speech.

Fewer lasts are necessary in some languages. In English,one can form the plural of nouns by adding a single -s(apartfrom a minimal number of exceptions). Conjugations usethis -s as well, in the third person singular in the present

tense. However, the lack of suffixes makes the word order


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stricter. If we were to translate rt eszik a cigny24 intoEnglish, the result could easily be Te cheese is eating thegypsy.

German grammar is difficult. As opposed to the singledeclension last in English, Eld Halszs dictionary has nochoice but to list 49 (!) different forms. German verbs havenumerous prefixes, just as Hungarian verbs do. However,both languages are a bit fraudulent, so to speak. For ex-ample, although the prefix ver-seems to be as innocent asthe Hungarian el-or meg-,25it is not: meidenand vermeidenboth mean to avoid,26yet kaufenand verkaufenmean to

buy and to sell; lernenand verlernenmean to study andto forget; and sagen and versagenmean to say and tofail. And lets be careful with sprechen, too, so that it doesntbecome a Versprecher (a slip of the tongue)!

Its no use learning dialects. Nor is it useful to learnidiomatic phrases, because they are the spoiled childrenof language and they change as rapidly as teenagers slang.However, we must know sociolects!27Tey play an important

role in Hungarian. We address our older or socially higher-ranking partners in the third person, as if they werent pres-ent: Professzor r tart ma eladst?28

24. Hungarian: Te gypsy is eating (cottage) cheese, the beginningline of a folk song, usually translated into English as See the Gypsy EatCheese. In this Hungarian sentence, the object comes first (indicated bythe -t), then the verb, and then finally the subject.

25. Hungarian: el-means away and meg-is a perfective suffix (cf. eatand eat up).26. Teir Hungarian equivalents similarly differ only in a prefix: kerlnivs. elkerlni.27. A variety of a language used by a particular social group.28. Hungarian: Will you be holding a lecture today? (to a professor),lit., Will the professor be holding a lecture today? Using professorinstead of you is preferred because out of the two formal options foryou, ncan sound too distancing or official and magatoo personal orintimate. Te use of third person forms is possible because the formalsecond-person conjugation is the same as the one in the third person.


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Te study of sociolects is often not about grammar butword choice. Tere was a case where a high-ranking diplo-mat from an exotic country married a Hungarian woman.

Tey had a child, and the woman sometimes talked withtheir child in Hungarian. Tis is the only way I can explainthe fact that when a member of our government visitedhim in his office, the diplomat offered a seat to him thusly:Csccs! 29

In Japan, the predominant sociolect requires a level ofpoliteness and deference that can seem excessive when com-pared to other languages. For example, a waiter is required to

talk to a customer like this: O-mizu-o omochi itashimasho-ka?(Sir, may I please serve you some water?). Te standardanswer to the question How are you? is O-kage sama de

genki des.(Because of you, I am fine.)

29. Hungarian: sit down in child language. Te proper expression isFoglaljon helyet!


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o reach true fluency in 10 languages, I would haveneeded at least 60 years using classic methods, since amongthe languages I learned are such difficult languages as

Chinese and Japanese. (Te quotation marks are not aroundthe adjective to suggest that these two languages arent dif-ficult but because there is no easy language. At most, somelanguages may be easier to learn poorly.)

I have not found the magic password that springs openthe lock on the gate of knowledge. One of the reasons is thatthere is no such password. If I still wish to relate my experi-ence, I only do so because during this half-century, study

has never been a burden for me but always an inexhaustiblesource of joy.

I wouldnt have written this book if I felt that my rela-tionship with language learning was an individual peculiar-ity. It is because I believe that my way is viable for all thosethirsty for knowledge and ready for intellectual adventuresthat I would like to transmit the conclusions I have drawn.

Tere are language learners whose lack of motivation

or pressing schedule restricts their progress. My book is notfor them. I have no doubt that they will be educated byour professionaland competentteachers. By transmit-ting my humble experience, I would like to increase the joyof learning and reduce its difficulties for those who are notsatisfied by the pace of teachers.


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51

6_______________________________

Who Tis Book Isand Isnt For

MY BOOK was written for the kind of person whodoesnt really exist: the Average Language Learner.

Being average is the most abstract and rare thing inthe world. Whenever I read statistical reports, I try to imag-ine my unfortunate contemporary, the Average Person, who,according to these reports, has 0.66 children, 0.032 cars,and 0.046 Vs.

Yet, it was the Average Language Learner I had in mindwhen I was conceiving my book. Hence, it is indispensableto delineate him or her more closely.

His or her age is between 16 and 96. His or her profes-sion can be whatever: a university student, a gardener, a den-tist, a seamstress, or a retired chief accountant. Tere are twodisqualifying criteria: too much and too little free time.

I will insert two questions here that arise almost everytime I give a talk: what is the best age to begin learning aforeign language, and what is the oldest age when one canstill do so?

Te first question concerns mainly parents and the sec-ond one pensioners looking for a useful pastime.

Lets start with the first question.

I will cite an experiment that involved swimming les-


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52 / POLYGLOT: HOW I LE AR N LA NGU AGES

sons for babies. Te conductors of the experiment observedthat babies two weeks old would frolic uninhibited in basinssuited to their size. It was theorized that the babies still had

in their neurons the memory of the months spent in theamniotic fluid. But at six months, the babies would not sub-merge themselves uninhibited in the water; they had grownused to the phenomenon of air.

Tis is more or less the case with language as well. Temother tongue is inhibition and prejudice. I have seen four-or five-year-old children stamping their feet in anger andeven threatening with their fists the person who speaks like

a human but is incomprehensible.Te usual argument against the playful method of for-

eign language instruction that is started before prejudicescan set in is the child wont learn either language very well.o be frank, I have never seen an example of that in my life.If that were the case, the bilingual children raised at the bor-ders and those raised by nannies would all be idiots.

My objection to early foreign language instruction, espe-

cially by relatives, is that its rarely effective. As far as a childis concerned, a mother, father, or grandparent is already in-separable from his or her mother tongue. Yet if one parentis a native speaker of a language foreign to the environment,let him or her make use of the opportunity to teach a stillpliable mind. Te result may come out only years later, whenthe child begins learning the foreign language consciouslyand with motivation, but it is still something.

I emphasize the native foreign language of the instruct-ing parent because youth is the age of the unconscious de-velopment of skills; in language learning, it is the period ofmechanical imitation of foreign sounds. Beyond a certainage (usually 12 to 14 years), one generally cannot acquirenative-like pronunciation.

I dont recommend my method to those who have toomuch or too little free time.

If one can devote an unlimited number of hours to lan-


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Who This Book Is and Isnt For / 53

guage learning, a concentrated program can be followed;such programs are outside the scope of this book. If, on theother hand, one cant devote even 6090 minutes a day to

language learning, this book is not suitable either. My bookis for the average language learner.

Also, a certain interest is required beyond the practicalproblems of language learning, as well as a bit of healthyimpatience with the pace of learning dictated by the old, de-cent, and regular methods. Tis is because the age in whichwe live demands some acceleration of learning as well.

Any method of language instruction is a construction.

It is characteristic of the age in which it was born.Te aim of my book doesnt requireand its length

doesnt permitcomplicated elaborations on the social sci-ences. Let me then just rephrase the previous paragraph intothe language of pedagogy: historically, the language-learningmethods that come to the fore in every age suit the socialdemands of the period.

How do these demands change over time?

In this short review of the history of language learn-ing, I will start with the Romans, because language learningbegins with them. Tis is where the biggest, eternal glory ofour trade lies.

It was just a languagethe Greek language with itshigher culturethat caused the Romans, intoxicated bytheir military conquests, to first lay down their arms.

Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artesintulit agresti Latio

(Captive Greece took captive her fierce conquer-or, and introduced her arts into rude Latium.)

Horace: Epistles, II, 1(ranslated by C. Smart)


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Victorious Rome pounced on the established culture ofGreece with the greed of the nouveau riche. o appropriateit, she chose a way suited to the age. She put the captured

Greeks into war chariots rolling towards Latiumor madethem trudge behind in chains. And so it came to be thatRoman youths were taught Greek by Greek prisoners ofwar.

Te fate of our first fellow language teachers was notenviable. Tey were only allowed to communicate with theirRoman masters as long as their students produced some-thing. When the adolescens Romanus,the Roman youth with

black locks and aquiline nose, grew bored of his lessons, histeacher suffered the same limitation of speech as his fellowslaves.

Over time, the Romans enriched the world with no lessmagnificent works of art than the Greeks had. Te knowl-edge of Latin became a symbol in the feudal worlda sym-bol of belonging to the privileged class. (In todays Americanlanguage, one would call it a status symbol.) Tis means of

social division was usedas alwaysto suppress all under-privileged classes. Women were rarely allowed to study Latinor Greek. (Nobles wives sulk in Mikszths30 short storiesthat their men speak Latin, excluding them from the con-versation.)

It is understandable, therefore, that at the birth of capi-talism, the rising middle class adopted language learning asa social springboard. By learning the two classical languages,

the middle class hoped to elevate themselves socially as wellas dissociate themselves from the other classes not speakingthem. Tis was when the gymnasium31was born. Its cur-riculum was designed completely around the instruction ofthese two languages.

One of the purposes of teaching Latin and Greek was

30. Klmn Mikszth, Hungarian writer of the 19th century.31. A type of secondary school that prepares pupils for university.


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for discipline. Tis mentality, based on having pupils cramgrammar, suited very well the barracks atmosphere ofGerman boarding schools and the system of English public

schools that often led to sadism. Is it by chance that theword discipline has a double meaning: a field of studyand orderly conduct?

Te fact that the first really large-scale language learn-ing operations involved two dead languages determined themethod of instruction for a long time. Tis was unfortunatebecause it was out of the question for the pupil to feel thelinguistic elements as handy tools or building blocks to be

used for communication at his or her discretion (which isemphasized so much today). It took a century for schools tobecome liberated from this burden.

Because the voices of our ancestors who lived beforeChrist were not recorded by any electronic device, it is un-derstandable that pronunciation problems have never beensystematically addressed in pedagogy. o my knowledge, the

debate over pronunciation hasnt been decided even today.In England, the names of Caesar and Cicero are taught as/kaisar/ and /kikero/, which we Hungarians are used to hear-ing as /tsaysar/ and /tsitsero/. By the way, it was Englandthat insisted on the instruction of classical languages thelongest and the most stubbornly. It was in the parliamentaryminutes that when a lord got stuck in the middle of a Latinquotation, all the upper house rose as one person and con-

tinued the quotation.Te fact that Britain reveres tradition is not the only

reason why Latin and Greek have been in the curricula ofEnglish schools for so long. English orthography (spelling),having little connection with pronunciation, can be learnedmore easily by pupils if they have some idea of classical lan-guages. Ocean, which sounds like /oh-shn/, and theatre,perceived as /thietuh/, are easier to write down if one has the

words oceanus/okeanosand theatrum/theatron behind him.


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Until around the mid-19th century, due to aristocratsmarriages spreading over borders and the ensuing settle-ments and blending, urban citizenry spoke foreign lan-

guages. Te turn towards broader language instruction tookplace at the end of the century when the interest in livinglanguages became greater than what could be satisfied bygeographical or family circumstances. Wanderers who set offdown the highway with a bundle on their backs and a toolin their pockets were guided not only by the spirit of adven-ture and the hope for a bigger piece of bread, but also bythe desire for learning languages. Te system of exchange

children, too, was born to satisfy this need.Te mail coach was replaced by the train, and the sail-

ing ship by the steamship. Countries got closer to each oth-er; interest in peoples beyond the borders became keener.Te developing trade relations involved a new motivationas well, and this new motivation called for a new form ofknowledgethat of living, spoken, and everyday languages.Te age was ripe for the birth of a more modern language

learning method. Soon Mr. Berlitz appeared on the sceneand then his many followers.

Te essence of Berlitzs method is making a connectionbetween an object (concept) and its foreign-language namewithout the mother tongue mediating, e.g., Tis is a book,that is a pencil.

When the shipwrecked protagonist in KarinthysCapillaria32got before the queen of the depths of the seas,

this was the method he used when trying to attract her atten-tion: By the method of the excellent Mr. Berlitz, I pointedat myself and I said: human.

Tis method, the direct method, dethroned translationamong private language teachers. In schools, however, trans-lation continued as the basis for language teaching in vari-

32. A fantasy novel written by Frigyes Karinthy, a Hungarian writer ofthe early 20th century, first published in English in 1965.


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ous, gradually modernizing forms.By this time in Europe (late 19th century), boys and

girls at the age of 10 were starting to learn foreign languages

in school. By the time they reached secondary school, theyhad some knowledge of one or even two foreign languages.But being drilled with grammar and forced to memorizeexceptions that occur once in a leap-year no wonder thatchildren left secondary schools with almost no practicallanguage knowledge after studying German for six or eightyears. It was only the children of the well-off citizenry whoobtained a usable command of a language, as a result of the

parents financial generosity (nannies, tutors) and the chil-drens investment of time.

Te nanny systemwhich is actually rather efficientfrom the point of view of language learningis not dissimi-lar in concept from how the Romans used their Greek cap-tives as teachers. Te task of nanniesthose exploited do-mestic maids-of-all-workwas not only language instruc-tion, but also the teaching of manners. I am biased towards

these pioneer practitioners of our trade because they werethe champions of womens emancipation, fighting amidstmuch hardship, and because they were the ones who carriedand passed on the baton of a higher culture in their philis-tine environment.

In the mid-20th century, a new generation grew upwhich related differently to foreign languages than thosewho were young between the two world wars. Te objective

and the motivation had changed once again.Up to this time, the knowledge of a language was part

of general knowledge and the ambition to acquire it usuallystopped when the student became a worker.

Te language learning needsof the post-Cold War gen-eration, however, do not end with the years in school, andthe new generations objectivesdo not allow for long-term,leisurely study. Te world has shrunk further. Contacts with

foreigners are no longer the privilege of professional dip-


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lomats, merchants seeking new markets, or boredom-ban-ishing globetrotters. During your everyday work and every-day leisure, you meet speakers of other languages plenty of

times: self-interest, curiosity, and expressions of friendshipdemand that you should learn as quickly as possible howto have a word with them. But it is also the development oftechnology that has radically changed peoples relationshipwith learning.

We who fly from Budapest to Vienna in one hour in-stead of riding overland by wagon (three days), and who getlight by flipping a switch instead of priming a gas-lamp, will

need such immediate methods in language learning as well.And we have grown comfortable. We expect technology

to relieve our physical and spiritual discomforts. In regardsto language learning, the audiovisual method tries to reducethe burden arising from the memorization indispensable toany language learning by an increased involvement of theeyes and the ears.

Yet in fairness some new methods help us to acquire an

extremely important aspect of communication: good pro-nunciation.

Even the brave linguaphiles who applied the directmethod found it more important to faultlessly gabble theconjugation of concevoirand other hardly-ever used verbs inhardly-ever used tenses than to pronounce the language asit is spoken. Tis is where the audiovisual method, based onimage and sound impressions, was expected to do wonders

and it did provide very good practical results.Te great advantage of the method is the opportunity to

repeat the material frequently. And I must stress that repeti-tion is as an essential element of language learning as a knifeis to a lathe or fuel is to an internal combustion engine. Tisprimitive truth was, by the way, invented earlier than thegasoline engine: Repetitio est mater studiorumrepetition isthe mother of studiesas our ancestors said.

It is much to the liking of the complacent child that


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our schools educational methods appeal to as many sensesas possible. Indeed, it relieves the childs mind of consciousconcentration. In the schools of the 19th century, learning

grammar was an end to itself. Now, however, we are start-ing to claim that it is not even precious, not even interest-ing, to consciously

kato lomb-how i learn languages

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