For nearly nine years now I have been enthralled with the concept of foreign languages. This represents a marked departure from the entirety of my adolescence in which I passionately and contemptuously despised the very idea of other languages. And while in these ten years I've made a substantial stab at two languages, I could most certainly respond without hesitation to the question: "Have you spent more time actually applying yourself and learning or researching the means by which one can learn." The answer, emphatically, is the latter. This is indeed a dismal state of affairs, for in the massive vortex of black hole consumed time I have expended browsing every website and article known to man on the topic of second language acquisition, I could have surely, and even with the most idiotic or inefficient of methodologies, reached full literacy and fluency in at least one additional language if not two or more.
This is a good time to set Quantity Always Trumps Quality as my browser homepage and try to solve this once and for all...
But what if, just what if, there really are methodologies out there that are vastly superior to my current belief that the ultimate scientifically justified combination for learning consists of SRS software to maximize vocabulary acquisition efficiency and continual Krashen-style comprehensible input to the extent possible within the limits of one's vocabulary? I resolved, really resolved this time, that it isn't worth worrying about... it's better to stop bullshit researching and start learning. That is, until I found...
A New Idol For My Collection
What precipitous event was it that drove me to shatter my resolve to learn with what I had? I've added a new idol to my collection. He's one of the world's most accomplished polyglots, he is of the comparative philology school and does not take interest in cheap fluency (as in guys who learn 2,000 words for daily conversation and sloppy grammar and add a language to their list as "learned"), and the guy does not use flashcards, wordlists, or Supermemo, he does not study language with any techniques I had heard of before this week and he is highly accessible and willing to advise aspiring polyglots. All in all a true inspiration. Maybe it really is worth it to learn a thing or two more first before getting started in earnest...
Dr. Alexander Arguelles
Professor, polyglot, and scholar of the highest caliber
Key concepts he has introduced/promoted in the polyglot world: shadowing, scriptorium.
Essential Reading:
- Arguelles' personal website - read in full, don't miss the Great Books section.
- Thread with a profile of Dr. Arguelles
- The Linguist Blogger - A more in-depth profile
- A forum the good professor himself moderates
- approximately 20 hours of reading, I have copy & pasted the best
of it to create a word document with more than 80 pages of his wisdom.
(To be attached/linked here later.) - The Linguist Blogger - Interview with Dr. Alexander Arguelles
- Youtube - Videos of Dr. Arguelles reviewing language courses (see Assimil) and explaining various languages.
