The Simple Language Technique I Learnt from An Elderly Sikh Polyglot
How To Get Started With a New Language
Are you bilingual or a polyglot?
Can you speak a second language? If you can you are part of the 43% of people who are bilingual. A third language? If you can speak three languages then you join a select group of 13% of the world’s population who can master three tongues. Polyglots, people who can speak five languages or more, make up just one per cent of the population.
I had the pleasure of working with an elderly Sikh gentleman in the Southall area of London who was a polyglot. He spoke seven languages. This is what he taught me before I went off to work as a tour leader in Turkey.
The 100-word method
I was working in a day centre for people with dementia in Southall. I asked my polyglot friend and work colleague what his advice might be for my pending travels in Turkey. Much to my surprise, his advice was short and sweet.
Imagine you are in Turkey, doing what you will be doing. Think of 100 words that you will need to know. Learn these 100 words well and you will be able to get by in your new language.
Not only was this method super simple, it was achievable. He told me to start with just ten of the most common words I would likely need. So I started with the pleasantries and greetings. Hello, how are you, thank you.
Then he said with every new list of ten words make them specific to your job in Turkey. As a tour leader in Turkey I would be on a bus with a driver, about 16 passengers and would be covering thousands of kilometres touring around the big cities and tourist attractions of Turkey. So I learnt the words for bus, driver, stop, toilets, left, right, petrol and so on.
Learning just 100 words in a new language came quickly. It is a relatively small number of words to learn, particularly if you chunk them into groups of ten.
My first three weeks speaking Turkish
I travelled for one week in Turkey on a pre-tour recce. No passengers, just me and my backpack quickly checking out some of the sights on the tour I would be taking with the paying customers. The 100 words I had learnt back home had a few days to be practically grounded as I met people and got past the awkwardness of speaking my first few words of Turkish.
By the time the passengers started arriving I had built up some confidence in my limited range of Turkish words. At the end of the two week holiday, I collected the feedback forms. The central part of my personal feedback was how much the guests appreciated having a ‘Turkish speaking tour leader.’
I couldn’t fluently speak Turkish of course. But to their untrained ears, my limited but targeted and context-specific range of Turkish words sounded fluent enough. I was able to direct the driver and ‘get by’ in Turkish sufficiently to do my job. Importantly, I enjoyed my time in Turkey all the more for it.
Start your next language with just 100 words
Follow these simple steps to get you started with your fluency in a new language:
- Pick a language where you are going to be with people who speak it as their first language. This could be because you are holidaying or working in a different country or region for example.
- Identify the lifestyle you will be living when you get there. If you are on a traditional holiday then it is likely you will need words associated with hotels, travel and restaurants. If you are working then there will be words specific to your job, industry and sector that you will need.
- Learn the ten basic words for greetings and pleasantries to get you started such as hello, thank you and goodbye.
- Learn ten more words that you are going to need once you have got past the first awkward step of saying hello and introducing yourself.
- Once you have got to 20 words you will find it easier to carefully pick the next ten words to learn. Repeat until you have mastered ten lists of ten words.
- Try your 100 words out with a native or fluent speaker in that language to make sure you have the pronunciation clear and correct. It is better to speak 100 words clearly than 200 with the wrong pronunciation or emphasis.
Remember that only 7% of what you communicate is through words, 38% is conveyed through the tone of your voice and 55% through your body language. The words themselves are of course important but how you say them is far more important.
Coming back to my Turkish example there are two words for No in Turkish. The formal Hayir and the more common Yok. But a simple backward flick of the head, slightly raised eyebrows and a click of the tongue can often accompany the word for no and sometimes is enough on its own without the word at all.
Do take time to carefully watch for and copy non-verbal gestures which might support your 100 words.
Conclusion
Often we can feel embarrassed and awkward attempting to speak another language. This can stop us from even trying to learn. Starting with a simple method and an achievable goal of learning 100 context-specific words can be enough to unlock a language for us. Once unlocked we can develop our initial clunky grammarless words and begin to develop our fluency.
Learning a language needn’t be impenetrably difficult. Try the 100-word method for your next work trip or holiday to a country where you don’t speak the language. It can open up a completely new experience of the place.
