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How to learn 20 languages: lessons from a teenage masterA young man walks into a bookstore in New York City. The store sells Russian books to immigrants and other Russian-speaking visitors. The owners look at him, and they think maybe he is lost. This young man is a white American teenager. Why would an American high school kid visit a Russian bookstore? Then the boy surprises them. He begins speaking to them in Russian. Many other foreign-language bookstores have also received visits from this young man. His name is Tim Doner, and he is a polyglot. A polyglot knows more than four languages. Doner is careful to say he is not perfect in his languages, but he can hold basic conversations in more than 20 languages. In addition to Russian, he can talk to people in Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese, French, Urdu, and even the language spoken by the native American Ojibwe people. Doner began learning about language as a child. He was good at accents, and he became a child actor. Then he went to school and began studying languages formally, but he still had trouble communicating. Eventually, he discovered something. He could learn from the environment in New York. His strategy of walking into foreign language book stores and talking to people is just one example. Listening to music is another strategy. When Doner listens to a singer, he tries to understand specific words in phrases. Then he can figure out the meaning of the phrases. He practices with the phrases to learn pronunciation. Then he tries them out with people. For example, he learned Hebrew by listening to rap songs. Next, he became interested in Arabic. He listened to music and read a lot. Then he surprised Arabic speakers by talking to them in their language, and he made new friends. Doner’s third strategy is to use the Internet. He started uploading videos a few years ago. In each video, he speaks a little bit of his new language, and he asks native speakers for help. For example, Doner decided to learn Pashto, a language from Pakistan, Afghanistan and nearby countries. After a month of studying, Doner made a two-minute video. He used Pashto to introduce himself and speak for two minutes. The video got more than 1000 comments. Most of the messages were from native speakers, and they gave him good suggestions.A fourth strategy helps him memorize new vocabulary. In a TedX teen talk, Doner describes this mental exercise. He uses his imagination to connect new vocabulary to places in his neighborhood. For example, Doner thinks about Union Square, a park near his house. When he wants to practice, he imagines himself walking to Union Square Park, and he thinks of the Japanese word for walk, iku. He imagines coming to a tree and he remembers the Japanese word for cut, kiru. He continues his imaginary walk, and he focuses on different words for each place. When he connects new vocabulary to pictures in his mind, he remembers it.Now Doner is famous. People in the media learn about his ability and they want to interview him and hear him speak. Doner has mixed feelings about his fame. He does not like performing in languages for entertainment. However, he enjoys talking about countries, culture and people around the world. He says many languages are going away, and this is sad. When a language disappears, it loses its history, art and ways of understanding. Many people agree with Doner’s message. Some immigrants say they want to study their native language more. Others want their children to learn it. American English speakers say they want to study other people’s languages. Doner is happy to hear these promises, and he often uses the words of Nelson Mandela, to encourage them.“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”DiscussionHow are Tim Doner’s language learning strategies similar to or different from your ideas about the best way to learn language? ................
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