How to Patrick Chew Learned to Speak More Than 20 Languages!

Patrick Chew is self-taught polyglot who speaks over 20 different languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Bhahas Indonesian, and more.  

In this episode Patrick talks about how he became interested in learning different languages, what motivated him, and what techniques he used to accelerated the learning process. He also shares his views on learning more than one language at a time, neural plasticity in adults, and what are the essential ingredients in any successful language acquisition plan.

Chapters

• 0:08 Introductions
• 9:52 So How Many Languages Does Patrick Speak?
• 11:14 What is Fluency?
• 14:51 Patrick's Initial Motivation to Study Languages
• 25:00 What is a Dialect?
• 30:55 Learning Multiple Language at Once
• 38:19 Studying Linguistics vs. Learning Languages
• 43:09 Strategies for Learning a Language
• 51:17 Dealing with Honorifics
• 55:30 Should You Study Languages in the Same Language Family at the Same Time?
• 1:00:30 Neural Plasticity in Adults
• 1:02:50 Phonetic Alphabet vs. Logographic Systems
• 1:20:00 Mark Puts Patrick on the Spot!
• 1:31:20 What's Next for Patrick?