The Dark Side of Polyglots

Hi, everybody! I am Luca and this is an Italian learning channel.

If you prefer, you can turn on English or Italian subtitles.

In my videos I usually talk about the Italian language, but in this case I would like to do something slightly different and talk about the amazing world of polyglots and the process of learning a foreign language.

Some time ago I watched a very interesting video published by a famous polyglot named Luca Lampariello. If you haven't seen it, I'm going to add a link below, because that video is really interesting.

Actually, the video is in English, but the title could be translated into Italian as follows: "Non parli 14 lingue! Come gestire le critiche, i troll e quant'altro quando si impara una lingua straniera".

In his video this polyglot, Luca Lampariello, makes some very interesting observations about the language learning process. He specifically focuses on negative criticism which will inevitably receive someone who decides to study or learn one or more foreign languages.

Basically, Luca Lampariello, from what I gather, suggests not to worry that much about negative comments and criticism.

Oddly enough, he lumps together trolls, mean comments and negative criticism in general. And he explains that, in his opinion, most of the time people make negative comments because they are envious.

From his point of view, if you publish a video in which you speak a foreign language and someone makes a negative comment, or criticizes you, - well, in Luca's opinion, this person is doing that because they are envious.

Basically, in Luca's opinion, this individual envies you because you speak a certain language better than they do and therefore, given that they envy you, they make a negative comment.

Quite frankly, I find this explanation a bit reductive. Because, although on the one hand it's true that there are people like this, who make nasty or mean comments just because they are envious, on the other hand it's also true that there are people who make "negative" remarks which in reality are absolutely valid and are not due to some form of envy.

Judging from what Luca Lampariello said, it seems that the community of polyglots and language learning enthusiasts is full of mean and envious people.

In his opinion, most negative remarks are due to envy. Or rather, he explicitly says that envy is the proverbial elephant in the room, that is, an obvious problem which nobody mentions and everybody pretends not to see.

In my opinion, though, the elephant in the room are not the trolls who intentionally make mean or nasty comments. And the elephant in the room is not envy.

These things undoubtedly exist, I would never deny that, but in my opinion they are secondary and peripheral.

I have watched dozens of videos by real and supposed polyglots, gurus, experts in foreign language learning, etc., and to be honest I got an idea. And in my opinion the problem is something else.

As I see it, the real elephant in the room in the community of polyglots and language learning enthusiasts is a widespread and toxic positivity.

I am referring, for example, to those people who say, or rather claim, that they can speak more than 15 languages, for example 20 languages. But then it turns out that they speak some of these languages (Italian, for example) on a level which is more basic than level A1. But they don't realize that, because they mostly get toxically positive comments.

I'm referring, in particular, to those who present themselves as polyglots. For example, those people who study 12 foreign languages at the same time and then publish a number of videos to show off.

I've watched dozens of such videos. In most cases, there's a young man or woman who says 4 or 5 sentences in a dozen languages. In some cases, it may be 8 languages, in others 9, in others 10, in others 11, in others 12, etc.

This is typically presentend as an extraordinary, amazing feat and it's clear that the individual wants to show off.

And these videos have titles such as, for example: Young man shocks the world speaking 12 languages! Or: Young woman blows the universe speaking 30 languages and reveals her secret!

And these polyglots often add Italian as well in the series of languages that they (quotation) "speak". I've watched countless videos like this and in the vast majority of cases the individual in reality speaks Italian worse than someone at the A1 level. Although they say just 4 or 5 sentences in Italian, many of these people make pretty bad mistakes.

Obviously, the problem are not the errors themselves or the level reached by an individual who is studying the Italian language. When we start, we all make mistakes and there's nothing wrong in making mistakes. In fact, while learning a foreign language it's inevitable to make mistakes. Errors are part and parcel of the process of learning a foreign language. So, let me repeat, the problem are not the errors as such.

The problem is the desire to show off and look like a genius at all costs. That is, saying: "Look how cool I am, I can speak 12 languages!"

But the truth is that almost all these polyglots in reality speak, for example, A1 level Italian - in the best-case scenario.

Honestly, as I see it, there's nothing exceptional in speaking 20 languages on the A1 level. I'll tell you a secret: speaking several languages poorly is relatively easy. If you can say some twenty sentences in 20 different languages, that doesn't impress anyone, you will not shock anyone.

In particular, I remember that I watched more than one video where the supposed polyglots said something along these lines: For me learning Italian has been easy, I learned it in a week. That's because I already knew Spanish and Italian is similar to Spanish.

The problem is that this individual essentially spoke Spanish and occasionally added few Italian words. But, apart from that, they also made pretty bad mistakes which A2 level learners of Italian don't usually make.

Well, I for one think that the elephant in the room, the biggest problem in the community of language learning enthusiasts is exactly this.

Sometimes, everything looks like some kind of travesty where these supposed polyglots pretend that they can speak 20 languages and nobody says anything. Due to the toxic positivity which permeates the polyglot community, I mean, not wanting to criticize, because if you make a negative remark you are considered a bad person.

In my opinion, this positivity is in fact just harmful. As I see it, one of the biggest risks for polyglots (and those who wish to become a polyglot) is precisely setting unrealistic goals, such as reaching the C2 level in 20 languages.

And in this sense negative feedback, while unpleasant, could actually help these people get back down to earth and set realistic goals.

In this sense, I for one think that negative feedback is less harmful than this toxic positivity which consists for example, in saying to someone: "Yes, you can learn all the languages that you want! You can study 20 languages and reach the C2 level in all these 20 languages!"

Alright! I would like to conclude this video with a question.

Let's pretend that, for example, Tizio says, or rather claims, that he can speak 20 languages. Let's pretend that Tizio boasts about this. Let's pretend that Tizio publishes a few videos in which he (quotation) "proves" that he can speak 20 languages.

However, let's pretend that Tizio, when speaking language X, makes quite a few mistakes.

If Caio makes a (quotation) "negative" comment, does it necessarily mean that Caio is envious? Is Caio unjustly mean and nasty? Or, given the situation, is Caio simply providing objective feedback?

Well, in the comments below please let me know what you think!