Alan and Last updated: 17 Amazing Polyglots Who Are Happy to Show You How They Do It
Polyglots, people who are wise in the ways of foreign tongues, are uniquely dedicated people.
We’ve taken it upon ourselves to scour the far reaches of the internet to find the best blogs written by polyglots. They are chock-full of compelling material, lessons learned firsthand and specialized learning tricks.
By reading about the experiences of these clever folks, you’ll be sure to avoid major mistakes and pitfalls while delivering a massive boost to your overall language learning skills.
Contents
- John Fotheringham, Anywhere Immersion
- Donovan Nagel, The Mezzofanti Guild
- Benny Lewis, Fluent in 3 Months
- Simon Ager, Omniglot Blog
- Susanna Zaraysky, Create Your World Book
- Olly Richards, StoryLearning
- Sam Gendreau, Lingholic
- Conor Clyne, Language Tsar
- Kerstin Hammes, Fluent
- I Kinda Like Languages
- Randy Hunt, AutoLingual
- Teddy Nee, Nee’s Language Blog
- Lindsay Dow, Lindsay Does Languages
- Gabriel Wyner, Fluent Forever
- Steve Kaufmann, The Linguist on Language
- Richard Simcott, Speaking Fluently
- And One More Thing...
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
John Fotheringham, Anywhere Immersion
This outstanding blog by John Fotheringham (who speaks Chinese and Japanese) has wrapped up a lot of knowledge into a neat series of posts that help the language learner with advice, guidance, tips and strategies. They resonate with his belief that languages cannot actually be taught and that fluency is dependent on listening, speaking, reading and writing a language.
The articles are thoughtful and comprehensive, packed with lots of useful information. Previous topics have included a look at the habits of highly successful language learners, reviews of language products and the obstacles that prevent people from becoming fluent. Some of the posts include John’s podcast interviews with other language bloggers, teachers, polyglots and linguists.
We are all hard-wired to pick up the languages around us (even as adults) if you get enough input and output. The key to staying the course is actually enjoying the process by picking materials, topics, and activities that are inherently enjoyable.
– John Fotheringham
Donovan Nagel, The Mezzofanti Guild
The blog’s intriguing name comes from Giuseppe Gasparo Mezzofanti (1774-1849), an Italian polyglot and priest who spoke more than 35 languages.
Behind this blog is Applied Linguistics graduate Donovan Nagel, who speaks several languages including Korean, Irish Gaeilge, Egyptian and Classical Arabic.
His personal goals are to learn one language each year and to help other language learners. He does so with plenty of informative articles such as “How to Improve Language Fluency When You’re at a High Level” and “11 Unmistakable Characteristics of a Damn Good Language Learner.”
Benny Lewis, Fluent in 3 Months
Language guru Benny Lewis has a deep canyon of knowledge that thousands of students have enjoyed exploring. The well-known Irish polyglot has filled his popular Fluent in 3 Months website with a plethora of language hacks designed to accelerate your learning of any language. There are tons of lessons and articles about how to learn better and an active forum with lots of questions and answers.
In addition to posts that apply to all language learners, there are some language-specific articles. For those who are thinking about packing their bags and traveling, there are some useful travel ideas too.
Simon Ager, Omniglot Blog
Simon Ager’s Omniglot Blog is a fascinating and entertaining mix of language-learning goodies. He includes personal experiences, articles, tips, formal lessons and explanations of idioms.
One of the most interesting features is the regular language quiz he offers here. Readers have to guess the mystery language and where it is spoken, after hearing a short audio clip.
In the “Favorite Words” section, you can learn about Simon’s favorite words and phrases. They interest him either because of their sound or meaning. If you’re wondering about the term “omniglot,” it was coined by Simon to describe someone who has a command of all languages.
Learning a language is a way to make connections with others. Even a few words can open doors, hearts and minds, and the more you know of a language, the deeper and more meaningful those connections can become.
– Simon Ager
Susanna Zaraysky, Create Your World Book
Susanna Zaraysky’s insightful blog has a unique selling point: many of the articles are focused on using music and media such as TV and radio to learn languages.
As someone who has studied eleven languages and speaks eight of them, Susanna has a deep pool of knowledge from which to draw. Some of the posts feature her travel experiences and many include music videos and clips from her TV appearances and presentations as well as interviews with fellow polyglots.
Among the blog category topics are the benefits of multilingualism, multilingual women and how to learn languages with songs and other media.
Note: The blog was last updated in 2021.
Olly Richards, StoryLearning
While there aren’t any super easy shortcuts to attaining real fluency in a foreign language, Olly Richards’ inspirational blog posts cover topics and tips designed to get you there quicker. He’ll help you reach your destination ahead of schedule, but nothing will be missed along the way. The polyglot can speak seven languages and his posts touch on principles for learning, personal experiences and salutary lessons.
The crisply written articles are well-structured with short, sharp paragraphs, and they make good use of big images. Among the previous blog posts are titles such as “The Psychology of Speaking Another Language” and “8 Ways to Apply the 80/20 Rule to Language Learning.” Many of the articles attract comments and Olly is an active correspondent.
In addition to following his blog, you can benefit from Olly’s wisdom by checking out his StoryLearning, where you learn languages through stories instead of rules.
Language learning really isn’t any more difficult than acquiring any other skill, whether it’s playing the piano or cooking. A small amount of consistent daily practice, over time, plus a willingness to communicate and spend time with native speakers, is most of the battle.”
– Olly Richards
Sam Gendreau, Lingholic
Fun, compelling and incisive are just a few of the adjectives that aptly describe Lingholic. The exceptional blog is your regular fix of language learning treats from polyglot Sam Gendreau. There are priceless tips, valuable lessons, powerful strategies and expert advice that are drawn from his own experiences as well as conversations with other polyglots.
Sam’s writing style is fresh and energetic with a nice lightness of touch. There is a lot of good material here with an archive that goes back to December 2012. Diving into the website will lead to such topics as how to think in a foreign language, memory strategies to supercharge your learning and what actors can teach us about learning a foreign language.
Conor Clyne, Language Tsar
One thing about polyglots is that they can easily impress the socks off you with their ability to speak like natives in numerous languages. Conor Clyne’s proficiency in almost ten languages is on display here through videos and articles in several languages including English, Russian, Italian, Spanish and Dutch. He is the self-titled Language Tsar who travels the world writing about his experiences.
Not only does he open a nice window on other cultures and destinations, but his illuminating blog also features lots of good, common sense advice as well as the language learning tips he has developed that have served him well.
Note: The blog was last updated in 2022.
Kerstin Hammes, Fluent
You can be, with the help of this informative and entertaining blog written by Kerstin Hammes, a native German speaker fluent in several languages. Her posts introduce readers to new ideas, offer motivational tips and review resources and techniques. She takes special care in detailing her own experiences of learning to speak and write in foreign languages.
Her engaging writing style is a powerful magnet that draws in the reader. There’s a reason why she’s gotten so popular—readers really profit from her vast experience and savvy advice.
I Kinda Like Languages
Beyond the blog’s cute title is a rich world of resources for students of foreign languages. Currently, the site features over 20 free online introductory courses to get the beginner up and running with the basics of their chosen language. Among the currently available languages are French, Dutch, Japanese, Afrikaans and Norwegian.
Each course features a small handful of lessons that use such techniques as mnemonics and creative explanations. Additionally, I Kinda Like Language has an active blog with a series of articles that review techniques, tools and books, as well as provide handy language learning tips and plenty of fresh motivation. They also feature personal experiences of getting to grips with a new language.
Randy Hunt, AutoLingual
Randy’s aim is to become the citizen of the world he always dreamed of being. The articles are easy to follow, and while many are useful to every language learner, some are about a specific language.
Randy’s enthusiasm and vast experience are among the blog’s key selling points, but so too are some of the attention-grabbing article titles such as “Brute Force Greek” and “How Can You Learn When All You Do is Study?” Clearly there’s a lot of thought at work here.
Teddy Nee, Nee’s Language Blog
Taiwan-based Teddy Nee speaks no fewer than six languages and has turned his large reservoir of knowledge into a wonderful learning resource. Nee’s site encompasses numerous sections such as videos of polyglots in action and interviews with language learners.
Knowing more languages lets you explore other parts of the world from different perspectives.
– Teddy Nee
Lindsay Dow, Lindsay Does Languages
Lindsay Does Languages arrived on the internet with a bang in 2014, a colorful, entertaining and informative blog (and now coaching program) devoted to all things language learning. The site is operated by UK native Lindsay Dow who speaks several languages including French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Italian and Portuguese. There are tips, lessons, reviews of apps and other tools and lots of guidance on how best to learn languages.
The reader is instantly drawn to her prose style which is informal but thorough, and her videos are as entertaining as they are instructive.
Gabriel Wyner, Fluent Forever
Fluent Forever offers an immense collection of language-learning riches to happily spoil the student. Classical singer, author and language expert Gabriel Wyner started Fluent Forever to give language students a big step in the right direction on their path to achieve fluency in their target language or languages. His posts are informed by the learning methods he developed when gaining fluency in French, Italian, German, Russian and Hungarian.
Gabriel’s writing style is fresh and engaging and his articles cover such topics as hacks for difficult to pronounce words, efficient ways of learning vocabulary and reviews of language learning resources. There’s a lot of good stuff to dive into here as the archive goes back to March 2012.
Steve Kaufmann, The Linguist on Language
Steve Kaufmann is a former Canadian diplomat and co-founder of LingQ, an online language-learning system. Until the age of 17 he could only speak English, but today he can speak 12 languages and shares his passion and enthusiasm for language learning via the Linguist on Language. He writes about his experiences and offers tools and resources that the language student will find useful.
Articles vary greatly in length, from a single short paragraph to lengthier pieces, and many of them feature videos of Richard speaking directly to the camera. Most are in English, but a handful of posts and videos are in different languages.
One of the most exciting aspects of this blog is the 90-day challenge, a period of incrementally increasing learning. Richard originally developed this to improve his Korean fluency. Although it is now over, readers can delve into the archive to watch videos, read articles and learn lessons from his experience. The challenge was shared with some of his followers who also scaled up their target language learning progress for 90 days. In fact, thousands of people took part and the most popular languages studied were English, French, Spanish, German and Russian.
Richard Simcott, Speaking Fluently
Polyglot Richard Simcott describes himself as a lifelong language learner. Publisher HarperCollins describes him as one of the most multilingual people from the United Kingdom. In short, he has a lot of skills and experience to offer the language student, and his captivating and perceptive blogs draw the reader in with useful learning strategies, tips and plenty of personal experiences.
Occasionally, they are interspersed with videos where he either talks directly to the camera or interviews other polyglots, language experts and bloggers. His articles are thorough and cover a lot of ground, with clear explanations that lead the reader gently through the topic that’s being addressed.
Note: The blog was last updated in 2023.
Enjoy these blogs, but don’t forget to get out there and start learning yourself! Language learning apps are a convenient option for learning multiple languages. Try signing up for programs that allow you to use more than one language at once, such as Memrise, Duolingo, and FluentU.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
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Wherever you begin your journey to polyglot status, the blogs above will hopefully inspire you on the way.
But the most important thing is to get started!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing...
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You can learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU's "learn mode." Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning.
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