Un polyglotte sommeille en vous | Sébastien Roger de Nuñez | TEDxToulouse

Summary

The speaker shares their journey of learning 11 languages, highlighting the importance of motivation and persistence. They discuss how languages connect people to cultures, emphasizing the 'carrot and stick' approach to language learning. The speaker believes that practice, not perfection, is key to communication. They encourage listeners to start speaking from day one, make mistakes, and embrace the learning process. By doing so, learners can open doors to new worlds and build meaningful connections. The talk inspires viewers to overcome fear and embrace language as a gateway to deeper understanding of others.

Takeaways

• 🌍 Learning languages becomes addictive, starting with one and expanding to others.
• 🔑 Each language opens a door to a new culture and a deeper understanding of the world.
• 🍃 People learn languages for two main reasons: the 'stick' (necessity) and the 'carrot' (personal motivation).
• 🧳 The speaker's personal motivation (carrot) for learning languages is travel and connecting with people.
• 🛠 Languages in the same family, like Romance languages, share similarities, making them easier to learn for some speakers.
• 💬 You don’t need to know a language perfectly to start speaking it; even 100 words are enough for basic conversations.
• 🎯 Making mistakes and inventing words is part of the language-learning process; it helps communication and progress.
• 🤝 Language learning is about communication, not perfection. It's okay to get things wrong as long as the message is understood.
• 🎶 Accent and body language are as important as vocabulary; they shape how a speaker is perceived in a foreign language.
• 🚀 The key to learning a language is daring to speak from day one, making mistakes, and embracing the learning journey.

Q & A

What is the main theme of the speaker's talk?

The main theme is the joy and importance of learning languages, how it opens doors to different cultures, and how one can approach language learning in a fun and effective way.

What does the speaker mean by 'the stick' and 'the carrot' in language learning?

'The stick' refers to being forced to learn a language for practical reasons, like communicating with family or in regions where multiple languages are spoken. 'The carrot' refers to a personal motivation or goal, such as traveling or building relationships, which encourages language learning.

How does the speaker describe the experience of learning languages?

The speaker describes language learning as addictive, where one starts with one language and keeps going. It’s a process where making mistakes is acceptable, and the focus is on communication rather than perfection.

What personal experience does the speaker share about learning Japanese?

The speaker spent a year and a half learning Japanese, focusing on kanji and polite expressions, but after all that time, the only sentence they could remember was 'What’s there in the tree?', which is not a practical, everyday sentence.

What analogy does the speaker use to explain the structure of languages?

The speaker compares languages to family members, explaining that languages within the same family (such as Romance languages) are like brothers and sisters, while languages from different families are like cousins. They also note that while languages evolve, certain words, like 'mother' and 'father,' remain similar across time.

Why does the speaker believe you don't need to be fluent to start speaking a language?

The speaker emphasizes that you can start speaking a language with just a few words and grow from there. The goal is communication, not perfection, and even with limited vocabulary, it's possible to engage in basic conversations and be understood.

What strategy does the speaker use to practice and reinforce language skills?

The speaker practices by hitchhiking, where they meet new people frequently and engage in repetitive conversations, reinforcing their language skills by explaining the same things to different people.

How does the speaker use imitation in learning new languages?

The speaker stresses the importance of imitating not only the words but also the melody and gestures of the language. For instance, they share how they imitated Portuguese with a certain melody and gestures when speaking Spanish in Brazil, which helped them communicate better.

What does the speaker suggest about the role of mistakes in language learning?

The speaker encourages making mistakes and even inventing words, as long as the overall message gets across. Mistakes are part of the learning process, and it's more important to communicate than to be grammatically perfect.

What advice does the speaker give to those hesitant to start learning a language?

The speaker advises people to be bold and start speaking from day one, without waiting until they know the language perfectly. They suggest focusing on communication rather than worrying about mistakes and encourage learning through practice and interaction.