The Unconventional Polyglot: A Unique Approach to Learning Languages

In this episode, based on recent personal experience, I advocate maintaining a language study routine that encompasses all four major aspects of language: reading, listening, speaking, and writing.

In this episode, I rank the 18 Duolingo courses that I have personally worked through.

In this episode, I lay out the method I use to best ensure that I retain as much vocabulary as possible while I read materials in one of my target languages.

In this episode, I outline a method I use to organize and retain vocabulary into my long-term memory.  I am confident that if you follow the steps in this method, you will be able to add many, many new words into your target-language vocabulary.

In this episode, I look back at my goals for language-learning in 2022 and how well I met those goals.  Then I discuss what my language-learning goals are for 2023.

In this episode, I take a look at a question that any language-learner is likely to ask themself numerous times along the language-learning process, along with tips on how to measure progress toward fluency.

In this episode, I discuss, largely based on my own (extensive) personal experience, why it may or may not be a good idea to study several languages at once, depending on the language learner.

In this episode, I discuss the so-called 'intermediate plateau' in language-learning, its cause, and several ways to overcome it.

In this episode, I discuss the advantages and disadvantages of learning multiple closely-related languages at the same time.

In this episode, I recommend French Short Stories For Intermediate Level, a 3-volume series by Frederic Bibard, Intermediate French Short Stories by LingoMastery, Short Stories in French and 101 Conversations in Simple/Intermediate French by Olly Richards, Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, L'etranger by Albert Camus, and Harry Potter à L'École des Sorciers (French version) by J.K. Rowling.

In this episode, I cover five Youtube Channels (Easy French, Français Authentique, Parapluie French, French with Pascal, and C'est pas Sorcier) and four podcasts (Inner French, Français avec Yasmine, Français Authentique, and Français avec Fluidite).

In this episode, I discuss most of the apps that I have used to learn French.

In this episode, I discuss how feasible it is to achieve fluency in a target language using only apps.

In this episode, I discuss the inevitable frustration that occurs in language learning, and how that frustration can either be turned into motivation or it can lead to giving up.

In this episode, I discuss why I highly recommend using a variety of different resources to learn a language, rather than relying on one or two resources alone.

In this episode, I discuss some of the ways that overconfidence, particularly influenced by some apps and level-assessment tests, can arise.  This overconfidence can then easily turn into self-doubt once the reality of how much time and effort remains to reach fluency sinks in.

In this episode, I discuss the self-doubt that commonly accompanies the frustrations that arise during language-learning, and I offer a couple of ways to minimize that doubt.

In this episode, I give suggestions for speaking activities that you can do with nobody else around to help strengthen your ability to think more quickly and naturally in your target language, leading to better speaking.

In this episode, I talk about the importance of being patient as a language learner, and how a lack of patience can result in a lot of unnecessary frustration and self-doubt.