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The text highlights her adult pathway into language learning, her pragmatism shaped by professional interpreting and translation, and her ongoing practice across many languages. It frames key questions about what languages to study, how to study them, and how reading, vocabulary, pronunciation, and conversation support mastery. Rich in anecdotes and cross-cultural considerations, it connects personal narrative with broader insights into multilingualism.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":15,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/polyglot-how-i-learn-languages-2nd-english-edition/424295/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/polyglot-how-i-learn-languages-2nd-english-edition/424295.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Margaret","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-31","2026-09-28",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":39},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why is Lomb’s account considered unusual among polyglots?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Lomb acquired most of her languages as an adult, and the book is a collection of anecdotes and reflections from her personal learning experience.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What role did professional work play in Lomb’s language development?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Her career as an interpreter and translator supported sustained language practice, including revisiting skills and studying materials tied to the languages she worked with.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How does Lomb address the challenge of knowing many languages at the same level?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"She states that it is not possible to know many languages at least not at the same ability level, and she describes how different languages coexist with her native Hungarian while enabling easy switching.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},424295,1790946995,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":14,"category_name":15,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":39,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},137451207643,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","POLYGLOT  \nHOW I LEARN LANGUAGES  \nKATÓ LOMB  \nPOLYGL OT  \nHow I Learn Languages  \nKATÓ LOMB  \nTRANSLATED FROM THE HUNGARIAN BY ÁDÁM SZEGI  \nKORNELIA DEKORNE  \nEDITED BY SCOTT ALKIRE  \nTESL-EJ  \n[http://tesl-ej.org](http://tesl-ej.org)[ ](http://tesl-ej.org)Berkeley Kyoto  \nThank you to Elizabeth Collison Elena Smolinská Sylvia Rucker Professor Thom Huebner for their help with this project.  \nThe review comments of Dr. Larissa Chiriaeva, Maria Çomsa, MA, and Dr. Stefan Frazier were invaluable in the preparation of the manuscript.  \n—ScottAlkire  \nTranslated by Ádám Szegi The first two Forewords, Introduction, and Chapter 20 were translated by Kornelia DeKorne.  \nPublisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data  \nLomb, Kató , 1909–2003.  \nPolyglot : how I learn languages / Kató Lomb.—1st English ed.  \n[p. cm](p. cm).  \nLibrary of Congress Control Number: 2008907032 ISBN 978-1-60643-706-3  \nCopyright © 2008 by Scott Alkire. All rights reserved.  \n1. Language learning. I. Title  \nCover: The Tower of Babel Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1563)  \nTESL-EJ  \n[http://tesl-ej.org](http://tesl-ej.org)  \nBerkeley Kyoto  \n10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2  \nContents  \n≈  \nPreface vii  \nForeword to the First Edition xvii  \nForeword to the Second Edition xix  \nForeword to the Fourth Edition xxi  \nIntroduction 23  \nWhat Is Language? 35  \nWhy Do We and Why Should We Study Languages? 37  \nThe Type of Language to Study 39  \n“Easy” and “Difficult” Languages 41  \nHow to Study Languages 49  \nWho This Book Is and Isn’t For 51  \nLet’s Read! 67  \nWhy and What We Should Read 73  \nHow We Should Read 85  \nReading and Pronunciation 89  \nWhat Sort of Languages Do People Study? 97  \nLanguage and Vocabulary 103  \nVocabulary and Context 107  \nHow to Learn Words 113  \nAge and Language Learning 121  \nDictionaries: Crutches or Helpful Tools? 127  \nTextbooks 131  \nHow We Converse in a Foreign Language 133  \nHow We Should Converse in a Foreign Language 139  \nHow I Learn Languages 147  \nGrading Our Linguistic Mastery 165  \nThe Linguistic Gift 173  \nLanguage Careers 183  \nThe Interpreting Career 187  \nReminiscences from My Travels 199  \nWhat’s Around the Linguistic Corner? 209  \nEpilogue 215  \nPreface  \n≈  \nIF multilingualism is indeed one of the “great achievements of the human mind,” as Vildomec (1963, p. 240) claims, it is regrettable that few linguists have studied polyglots and what it is they know about language learning.1 For their part, polyglots have not provided us with much information either; in the 20th century, texts by polyglotson language learning, in particular texts that relate how they actually learned their languages, are rare.  \nOne text that relates personal language-learning experience is Dr. Kató Lomb’s Polyglot: How I Learn Languages (2008; Hungarian: Így tanulok nyelveket [1995, 4th ed.]) . A collection of anecdotes and reflections on language and language learning, it frequently recalls the pragmatism of similar texts by polyglot linguists such as Bloomfield ( Outline Guide for the Practical Study of Foreign Languages, 1942), Pei (How to Learn Languages and What Languages to Learn, 1973), and Pimsleur (How to Learn a Foreign Language, 1980) . The text is further distinguished by the fact that it is the document ofa learner who acquired most of her languages as an adult. But the most remarkable aspect of Polyglot: How I Learn Languages may be its rich, wide-ranging meditationson ideas about and related to language learning, in writing ranging from the warmly personal to the high-culture style of a Central European polymath.  \n1. Linguistic definitions of multilingualism/polyglot vary. Nation, in a study of “good” language learners, defines a multilingual person as being fluent in four or more languages (1983, p. 1) .  \nviii / POLYGLOT: HOW I LEARN LANGUAGES  \n“The most multilingual woman”  \nDr. Kató Lomb (1909–2003) has been called “possibly the most accomplished polyglot in the world” (Krashen, 1997, p. 15) and “the most multilingual woman”(Parkvall, 2006, p. 119) ","cbCaihzK2akltVou","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaihzK2akltVou","pdf",858218,217,"English","# Preface\n## Foreword to the First Edition\n## Foreword to the Second Edition\n## Foreword to the Fourth Edition\n# Introduction\n## What Is Language?\n## Why Do We and Why Should We Study Languages?\n## The Type of Language to Study\n## “Easy” and “Difficult” Languages\n## How to Study Languages\n# Let’s Read!\n## Why and What We Should Read\n## How We Should Read\n## Reading and Pronunciation\n# Language Learning Topics\n## Age and Language Learning\n## Dictionaries: Crutches or Helpful Tools?\n## Textbooks\n## How We Converse in a Foreign Language\n## How I Learn Languages\n## Grading Our Linguistic Mastery","[{\"question\":\"Why is Lomb’s account considered unusual among polyglots?\",\"answer\":\"Lomb acquired most of her languages as an adult, and the book is a collection of anecdotes and reflections from her personal learning experience.\"},{\"question\":\"What role did professional work play in Lomb’s language development?\",\"answer\":\"Her career as an interpreter and translator supported sustained language practice, including revisiting skills and studying materials tied to the languages she worked with.\"},{\"question\":\"How does Lomb address the challenge of knowing many languages at the same level?\",\"answer\":\"She states that it is not possible to know many languages at least not at the same ability level, and she describes how different languages coexist with her native Hungarian while enabling easy switching.\"}]","Polyglot - How I Learn Languages - 2nd English Edition | PDF",1790633666,334]