Do polyglots just talk about language learning?

If we did, we’d probably bore each other very quickly!

I had the pleasure of meeting Richard Simcott and Luca Lampariello in Poznań, Poland earlier this month. We share six common languages (Russian, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian) and we gracefully switched from one language to another as we walked around the historical parts of the city and enjoyed each other’s company over various Polish dishes. We were very fortunate to have Michał Grześkowia​k, a local Polish polyglot, to show us around town and speak to us in Spanish.

It had always been a dream of mine to speak as I think and say what came to my mind in whatever language it happened to be. (I constantly have to censure myself to stick to languages the people I am speaking to can understand.) It was a relief to be able to just be me around these polyglots because I knew they’d understand me!

Here is our fun video in Spanish about our culinary discoveries in Poland. We do talk a little bit about language learning. Luca, Michal and Richard are three very funny and entertaining polyglots!

***You have to press the red CC button in the lower right corner to select English subtitles.***

4 COMMENTS

  1. Just left a comment on YT. It was fun to watch… Where is the rest? 😉
    I really enjoyed this video. Unfortunately there are so few of this kind on YT.

    • Mae, We will publish more videos, including ones where we discuss language learning. It takes a lot of time to manage the subtitles. Thanks for watching!

  2. I’m from Brazil and i could understand you speaking spanish, i never study it, but it’s easy to me. When native speakers are talking i understand less than when you are talking. This is curious. I have a question Suzanna, why did you learn all this languages? I’d like to learn some of these, but i don’t see a lot of function. I admire you and your friends, but it’s a lot of languages.

    • I probably speak slower than many native speakers and I don’t use a lot of slang. That probably explains why you can understand me better than native speakers.

      About why I learned all these languages, that’s a good question. The circumstances of life forced me to be a polyglot. I came to the US as a child and had to learn English. (Russian is my first language.) My parents made me take a foreign language when I was 11 years old. Once I realized I was good at picking up languages, I wanted to learn more. They are EXTREMELY valuable. I got many jobs only because I could speak a particular language.

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