Hi there, Vladimir here with another video on how to learn English
Can you be fluent in 2 foreign languages as an adult?
No, you can't
Can you be fluent in 2 foreign languages as an adult?
No, you can't and here is why
First we need to make a few clarifications
the word Fluent
Fluent is the most misused and abused word
among language learners and language teachers
Cambridge dictionary says:
Let us agree that:
"Fluent" doesn't mean being able to "Get by"
Simply introduce yourself in another language,
order food at a restaurant
or ask how much something is.
To me,
fluent is about being able to speak a foreign language
almost the same way you speak your native language.
To understand 99% of what you hear on TV
To make grammatically correct sentences
not necessarily use idioms or slang,
but construct grammatically correct sentences 99% of the time
Not speak in a perfect native accent,
but still clearly
speak a language easily, well, quickly, and without many pauses
Plain and simple
to understand foreign humor
How about that for fluent
A new definition of fluent
Fluent is a person who understands humor
You understand Louis CK you are fluent
You understand comedy central roasts, you are virtually native
You understand Cris Rock, you are native
You understand Frankie Boyle, you are uber native
To me fluency and mastery mean more or less the same thing
Answer me this simple question:
Why would you waste time learning a few words in a foreign language?
The word "dabble" comes to mind
Why would you dabble in a foreign language?
I love how people refer to it as
My next PROJECT
Russian is my next project
What?
what are you talking about?
What is the pleasure of learning a few words?
How can you communicate with such limited vocabulary?
Language is not a project, language is not a hobby.
Language is not snowboarding
When it comes to snowboarding, you don't have to be Shaun White
to enjoy going down the slopes
but language, the most human of skills
There is no communication with 500, 600 words
and do you have any idea how much time it takes to feel comfortable 500, 600 words
what kind of project are we talking about
My next challenge:
Chinese in 3 months
The time it takes to became good at something
All that Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking
I love movies
I must have seen at least 1,000 movies
add to that sitcoms like Seinfeld, Friends The big bang theory
to name but a few.
TV series like the Wire, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones
to name but a few
countless chat shows
That is at least, 6,000 7,000 hours of just listening
And that's not counting audio books
And don't get me started on my Reading
It takes time and repetition to become good at something
I can hear you say: but I don't want to reach the highest level.
And my answer is:
with language there is no other level, but the highest level
everything else is a torture,
a torture for you and the person you are talking to
you don't need to be a F1 driver to enjoy driving
with language is different
I speak from experience
my Japanese is not all that good
and it's a struggle for me and the person I am talking to
English and my native Bulgarian no problem whatsoever
a shear bliss
All those so called polyglots and their gatherings
All presentations are in English
Why?
Why not in French or German or Spanish or Chinese?
Because English is the only language they truly know, feel comfortable using
What is the point of learning all those other languages
if you are not going to use them?
It takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to master a foreign language
At 3 hours a day it works out to 10 years.
It is virtually impossible to be fluent in more than 1 language.
Which brings as to the second point I want to clarify:
The word adult
By adult I mean somebody past 23 years of age
Because at that age people graduate universities, people start working, join the real world
start thinking about bills, mortgage, rent and all that jazz.
Children can become bilingual, no question about that
they have all the time in the world,
I doubt you can be trilingual, but bilingual Yes
I grew up bilingual: Bulgarian and Russian
Russian was a mandatory subject in Eastern Europe
Was, not anymore
Plus we had tons of Russian movies and TV
I remember very well Friday was Russian TV day in Bulgaria
fucking communists
I was almost bilingual
Was
My Russian has deteriorated quite a bit
I can still get by, more than get by but that's not fluent
My listening is OK, I understand 90% of what I hear in movies
but not the humor. I used to understand Russian humor, but not anymore
My speaking is shit, I make lots of grammatical mistakes
I can still get my message across, but with no sense of grammar
it's no fun
Another reason why you can't be fluent in more than 1 foreign language as an adult
With language: if you don't use it, you lose it
Language skills are not like riding a bicycle skills
Ok, let me wrap this up
I strongly believe that
you can be fluent in 3 languages 2 as a child, and 1 as an adult
And please don't bother with exceptions
you are not an exception
I would very much question people's claims to language fluency
I would look at their childhood for clues
The main takeaway point from this video is:
Make sure you know English well before you take up a new language
your next language "project"
We live in a time where you need to ask yourself:
Do you really want to talk to somebody who doesn't speak at least a little bit of English?
I am fluent in 2 languages: my native Bulgarian and English
English a language I learned as an adult
If you want to know how to reach my level then you need to read my book Virtually Native
which is available on Amazon and virtuallynative.com
For more infomation >> Numbers on Narcan--How Much is Being Used? - Duration: 3:16. 
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