Discussion with Benny Lewis Discussion avec Benny Lewis Беседа с Бенни Льюисом Дискусія з Бенні Льюїсом

Last week I spoke with Benny Lewis the Irish Polyglot, famous globetrotter linguist and general cheerleader for language learning around the world who has touched many people with his enthusiasm. Na semana passada, conversei com Benny Lewis, o Poliglota Irlandês, famoso linguista global e líder de torcida geral para o aprendizado de idiomas em todo o mundo, que tocou muitas pessoas com seu entusiasmo.

We talked about the Polyglot Conference in Montreal that we both attended and gave talks at, as well as language learning in general. Conversamos sobre a Conferência Poliglota em Montreal, da qual participamos e damos palestras, bem como sobre o aprendizado de idiomas em geral.

I had never been to one of these polyglot symposiums before. I prefer to call it the Language Festival “Festival de Langue”. Benny Lewis told me that he has attended various Polyglot Gatherings and Polyglot Conferences, and that they are not just get togethers for people who speak multiple languages. Benny Lewis me disse que participou de vários Encontros Poliglotas e Conferências Poliglotas, e que eles não são apenas encontros para pessoas que falam vários idiomas.

“If somebody does not speak four languages, five languages or more, they don’t have to think, okay, I’m not good enough to attend. There are a lot of people who are aspiring language learners and they go to meet people that they know from YouTube and get to know them in person.” Benny sees these events are more of an opportunity to get to know the language learning community face-to-face.

There might be picnics, game shows, movie screenings but the best thing is just getting to talk to the people who engage with him online and share his passion for languages. The language learning community is truly extraordinary.

I had never met Benny, I’d never even shaken his hand, but we were always very much aware of each other, as we were of other people on the internet who talk about language learning. Eu nunca tinha conhecido o Benny, eu nunca tinha apertado a mão dele, mas sempre fomos muito conscientes um do outro, assim como de outras pessoas na internet que falam sobre aprendizagem de línguas. I sometimes get concerned that we are this little ghetto of people. I wonder what the hundreds of millions of people who, at some level, want to learn another language and, yet, for a variety of reasons, hang back, feel uncertain or lack confidence can get out of an event like this. Eu me pergunto o que as centenas de milhões de pessoas que, em algum nível, querem aprender outro idioma e, ainda assim, por vários motivos, ficam para trás, se sentem inseguras ou sem confiança podem tirar de um evento como esse. The first thing they come away with, Benny explained, is the actual talks that take place because they are about the process of learning languages or sometimes specific languages. A primeira coisa que eles fazem, explicou Benny, são as conversas reais que acontecem porque são sobre o processo de aprendizado de idiomas ou, às vezes, de idiomas específicos.

If someone has a passion for a lesser studied language like Welsh or Scottish, they might find a talk on that language. Se alguém tem paixão por um idioma menos estudado, como galês ou escocês, pode encontrar uma palestra sobre esse idioma. It’s an opportunity to learn about those things and also meet others with the same interests. These people can get a lot of inspiration from others like themselves who have that special interest. The meet ups that I have tend to attract language keeners. Os encontros que tenho tendem a atrair os aficionados da linguagem.

Not necessarily people who have an internet presence or following, but people who speak three, four, five languages. I think part of the LingQ mission is to get the monolingual or unilingual person to take the jump because it’s such a wonderful thing to be able to speak other languages and connect with people. Acho que parte da missão do LingQ é fazer com que a pessoa monolíngue ou unilíngue dê o salto porque é uma coisa maravilhosa poder falar outras línguas e se conectar com as pessoas. There’s something about this language learning world where we’re connected.

It’s that warmth of other people trying to do the same thing as you. É aquele calor de outras pessoas tentando fazer a mesma coisa que você. It just generates that level of enthusiasm and energy that a person needs to take on a language. It’s a long haul, so you meet people that you might be friends with going forward and they will keep you motivated, energized and can be an inspiration. É um longo caminho, então você conhece pessoas de quem pode ser amigo daqui para frente e elas o manterão motivado, energizado e podem ser uma inspiração. Plus, you might pick up some tips that work for you. Those tips can help you a great deal, but at the end of the day it comes down to the work you’re willing to put in. Essas dicas podem ajudá-lo muito, mas no final das contas tudo se resume ao trabalho que você está disposto a fazer. It’s amazing how much hard work will do for you. It’s easy enough to say, “he’s talented. I could not do that”, but in fact you can. Benny has found the most success with two tools: italki and Teach Yourself courses. Benny encontrou o maior sucesso com duas ferramentas: cursos italki e Teach Yourself.

In fact, he’s been busy over the past year making new language courses with Teach Yourself. “The kind of stuff I focus on, because I generally like helping people, as you said monolinguals, is for absolute beginners and those are going to be coming out in September. “O tipo de coisa em que me concentro, porque geralmente gosto de ajudar as pessoas, como você disse monolíngues, é para iniciantes absolutos e eles serão lançados em setembro. We’re starting with Spanish, French, German and Italian, so the four big languages. After that, when the series is established, I’m going to be able to start titles for languages that have been neglected in language learning courses. Depois disso, quando a série estiver estabelecida, poderei iniciar títulos para idiomas que foram negligenciados nos cursos de aprendizado de idiomas. So I’m going to be able to make an Irish language learning course that can go around the world. I can work with translators to make these courses work well for immigrant communities. Posso trabalhar com tradutores para que esses cursos funcionem bem para comunidades de imigrantes. So we can translate the German course to Kurdish and make it dialect friendly for Arabic for the Syrian immigrants in Germany, for instance.” I have used Teach Yourself to get started on a number of languages, and I’ve used italki when we didn’t have tutors at LingQ, for example for Polish.

The idea that a person has bought this Teach Yourself and it’s chapter five and now they actually have to go and use it so they can connect with someone, I think that’s a very good use of the internet. A ideia de que uma pessoa comprou este Teach Yourself e é o capítulo cinco e agora eles realmente têm que ir e usá-lo para que possam se conectar com alguém, acho que é um uso muito bom da internet. I’ve certainly found those local resources very, very good, so I’m sure it will be successful. Eu certamente achei esses recursos locais muito, muito bons, então tenho certeza que será um sucesso. We also encourage people to speak at LingQ.

We don’t necessarily push them to speak right away, although the opportunity is there. Nós não necessariamente os pressionamos a falar imediatamente, embora a oportunidade esteja lá. We are working on a new version right now, which I am using. It seems a significant improvement over what we now have, in particular the mobile app. I think it is becoming easier and easier to learn languages.

An example is my discussion with Benny, and the way he’s working with Teach Yourself. They found out about him through the internet, and Benny connected italki with what they’re doing and what he has been doing on his blog. Eles descobriram sobre ele pela internet, e Benny conectou italki com o que eles estão fazendo e o que ele tem feito em seu blog. This is the new world, so people can learn languages a lot more easily than 50 years ago. So the message at an event like the North American Polyglot Symposium, or the Festival de Langue, is it’s easier than ever to learn languages.

All you really need is the inspiration and the motivation, and that you can get big time by attending a language event like this. Tudo o que você realmente precisa é de inspiração e motivação, e você pode se divertir muito participando de um evento de idiomas como este.