I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How

Re:I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How by _pferreir_ on Thursday April 19, 2012 @04:18PM (#3864922)

It doesn't cost me to believe that (if you are good and dedicate a lot of time to it) you can get to B1 or B2 in 4-5 months. C1 is a completely different story though. I work for an international organization and people around here are naturally predisposed to learn new languages. It's amazing to see how much you can learn from native speakers, however C1 would require many more hours of interaction than 5 months can provide.

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Re:I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How by eric_bullington on Thursday April 19, 2012 @06:33PM (#3865530)

Why don't you ask some of the people you work with who are naturally good at languages if they've ever learned a language to a C1 level in 5 months? I imagine some of them will not only confirm that they learned a language to a level equivalent to C1 in that amount of time, but some may also tell you that they learned a language to C2-level fluency in around that amount of time.

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Re:I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How by acqq on Thursday April 19, 2012 @06:45PM (#3865574)

We obviously have different ideas what C1 and C2 are. I'm sorry, I know only what exams look like here in this German speaking country for the purpose of obtaining B2 in order to get the right to study and I know how much harder C1 is (as much that a lot of native speakers not trained to write organized texts wouldn't pass it without targeted preparations), and it matches the specification I've linked, see the top post.

Can you please specify your reference for that what you consider a "C1" level? Also please note that once we relax the starting conditions, allowing two years of preparations and avoiding a formal C1 exam, we can't really call it "C1 in five months."

I believe you that you sounded awesome, I believe you you've received a lot of praise for your ability, we just don't agree if that was a C1 as defined.

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Re:I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How by eric_bullington on Thursday April 19, 2012 @07:13PM (#3865692)

If it really matters to you, you see my real name. Get in touch with me, and I'll put you in touch with university professors from Europe who will vouch for my progress in the language. But only if you promise to come back on here with your real name (like I'm using mine) and admit you were wrong.

Otherwise, I'm sorry we've both lost this amount of time arguing past each other, when you've clearly made up your mind that no one can learn a language fluently in 5 months, to and even beyond the C1 level as described in the standards posted (the CEFR had not yet been adopted when I was in school).

PS -- And to be clear, I'm not unique, or particularly unusual in my abilities. I've known many other language learners who have learned a language fluently in under 6 months. In fact, most of my translator and interpreter colleagues probably can learn a language in about that amount of time.

PPS -- I'm offline to play with my kids. Good luck.

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Re:I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How by acqq on Thursday April 19, 2012 @07:21PM (#3865717)

You admitted you haven't learned French in five months but in at least two years and five months and you're a top 1%. I never doubted you progressed and the results were really good.

You never wrote clearly, have you passed any exam immediately after these five months in France? If so, how was it categorized then?

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