Timothy Donner, a 17-year-old high school student living in New York City has earned a lot of respect these days at his high school and has become quite famous. But he is not a teen idol or even the head of the student council . So why has he become so famous? He can speak French, Dutch, Japanese, Chinese, Swahili…and as many as 23 languages! He is what is called a hyperpolyglot – someone who can speak six or more languages fluently.
So how did he go about learning 23 languages ? According to Timothy,, it wasn’t language that interested him at first; he was more interested in the history and the politics of other countries. He says his first language to study was Hebrew. As he listened to songs in that language, memorized their lyrics , imitated their singing , and some self-study, he could start having conversations with people in Hebrew. He also says using the Internet to communicate by email and chathas been a big help to his language studies. But he says probably a multicultural city like New York has helped his language studies the most.
But even if you don’t live in New York, there are still many ways to enjoy learning English. So keep on trying!!
