How Italian Polyglot Luca Lampariello Learned 11+ Languages

Luca Lampariello has language skills that most people can only dream about. 

Polyglots are usually fluent in several languages. Suppose you can only speak one or two languages. In that case, it's a little awe-inspiring to hear someone switching from French to Spanish to Mandarin without skipping a beat. 

But to speak eleven-plus languages fluently? That's seriously impressive! 

So, how did Luca Lampariello, an Italian, learn to speak English, Dutch, Swedish, Mandarin, Russian, German, French, Hungarian and the rest on top of his native Italian?

And why would anyone go to all the trouble of learning and maintaining 11+ languages?

Luca explains it like this: 

“I see languages as a tool and a means to be a better version of myself. Every day I think that language learning is great in and of itself.”

Luca Lampariello

So let's discover his polyglot secrets!

If you prefer watching videos to reading, hit play to watch the video version of this post below. Otherwise, keep scrolling to read about Luca's language learning methods.

Luca's Pivotal Experiences: Learning How To Learn

Many polyglot language stories include a pivotal early experience — some person, event or thing that set them on their journey. Luca has had several such moments. And he credits his family with fostering an interest in learning from an early age.  

First, Luca's grandmother was passionate about learning, and she made sure that she took young Luca along for the ride. 

“If you learn this stuff now, and you learn how to learn,” she told her grandson, “then you're going to have a great life.”

Luca may not have seen the bigger picture when he was 12, but he took her words to heart.

So, when his aunt presented him with a Hardy Boys book in English, it ignited a fire in Luca's soul. In fact, he was so desperate to read and speak English that his parents hired a private tutor to help him learn. 

It's one thing to learn languages with the help of a course or tutor. It's entirely a different experience when you're teaching yourself a new language. Luca says that no one method can guarantee success for everyone. 

Still, his next pivotal moment came when he discovered bi-directional translation, also known as back translation or reverse translation, a learning method that worked superbly for him. 

What Is Bi-directional Translation?

Luca found that working back and forth between your native language and the one you're trying to learn helps you get to grips with the basics. 

The method has three fundamental steps: 

1. Understanding 

Find the same text in your language (L1) and your target language (L2). Read both together in parallel to completely understand what the text is about.

2. Translate The Text From L2 To L1

Take the L2 version of the text and translate it so that you end up hand-writing the whole story in your native language. 

3. Translate Back From L1 To L2  

The final step involves taking that L1 translation and converting it back to Language 2. 

This back and forth with the languages may seem like an awful lot of effort, but the result is a real deep dive into your new language.

You get a deep understanding of the nuts and bolts, not just the words and phrases but how you communicate meaning. Because when you're translating back and forth, you have to get the grammar right and accurately convey what you want to say. 

“I believe in principles rather than methods. If you follow principles, then the method will come as a consequence of that.”

Luca Lampariello

So, Luca cautions against getting too hung up on a particular method. Still, he does have some crucial advice for anyone who wants to learn a language. 

How Languages Are Learned, Maintained And Mastered

When you stop to think about it, it's mind-boggling to imagine all the processes and pathways your brain goes through to master a language. 

And yet, the human brain can learn easily if you feed it the right way. After all, did you think about these complexities as a child? Of course not! You knew the language because you heard and saw it all around you.  

“Let your brain do the work without stressing too much. Don't let your prefrontal cortex fight against the rest of your brain.” 

Luca Lampariello

To put it another way, don't be fooled by that complexity into thinking that language learning has to be challenging too.

So, what's the critical secret to language learning? 

INPUT!

The more language you put into your brain, the easier you will learn it.

What Is Input?

Input is all the stuff you put into your brain. Here at StoryLearning that looks like reading stories in your new language.

In language learning terms, input is all things you read, listen to and watch in your target language. 

However, not just any input will do. If you're learning French, there's no point in listening to a podcast when you can't understand a word the host is saying. That just goes in one ear and straight out the other.

Equally, there's no point in reading Tolstoy in Russian if you can't stand long-winded texts and would rather be reading about planes and trains. 

Your language learning input should be stuff you're interested in, and you must understand it. Those two vital factors put your new language into your brain. 

We call it comprehensible input.

Comprehensible Input Is Luca Lampariello's Secret To Success

There's no magic fountain of comprehensible input material in the real world (although my Uncovered courses do a pretty good job), so you often have to adapt texts that are somewhat harder than you need.

Some adaptation strategies are: 

• Listening to audio with a transcript — seeing the words as you hear them clarifies what the speaker is saying.
• Watching a video with subtitles (not translated) has the same effect.
• Slowing the audio speed to make it easier to take in
• Listening to the same audio many times, with and without a transcript, so your brain becomes adapted to hearing and understanding the words at speed
• Read a digital text with a function that lets you look up and translate words quickly so you understand what you're reading without breaking up the flow.

Don't Miss A Day

Reading and listening to learn a new language can only work if you do it regularly. It won't help if you only look at the material once a week or put in a marathon session and then procrastinate for weeks because you're too busy.

Instead, commit to inputting your new language for one hour every day without fail. 

You'll be stunned by how that pays off. 

The effect is called the Law of Accumulation. Think about it: one hour a day over a whole year is 365 hours of language learning. That's a lot! 

And although you won't notice the daily gains, you'll be amazed at your improvement when you look back over time.

We at StoryLearning understand how vital it is to get comprehensible input and how difficult it is to find. That's why we created our Short Stories series. 

We've written a bunch of unputdownable stories and translated them into multiple languages — Russian, French, Japanese, Icelandic, Arabic — 15 languages in all.

These work perfectly with Luca's bi-directional translation method. And they're an excellent collection for comprehensible input. 

But, let's get back to Luca. How does he manage to stay fluent in so many languages? Surely he doesn't speak them all every day? 

Well, yes, he does! A lot of them, anyway. Luca says it's all about building habits.

The Vital Next Step: Automate Your Language Habits

Luca dedicates certain times in his day to getting input in particular languages. For example:

• Shower after a workout — Listen to Polish.
• Cooking dinner — Do it in Russian

And, of course, Luca reads books, magazines, newspapers and blogs in all the languages he speaks.

“I don't even think about it; I just do it,” says Luca. It's just part of his daily life. 

Can habit-building work for you?

Absolutely it can.

If you're just learning one language, you'll find heaps of time that you can use for comprehensible input. Try making a list of your regular activities — especially your downtime — and see where you could fit some language input into your schedule.

E.g. 

• Your daily commute: ideal for podcasts if you're driving, or YouTube on the train
• Breakfast: read a book instead of flicking through your emails or social media
• Fitness time: add a podcast when you're walking, running or in the gym
• Evenings: relax with a book or article instead of blobbing in front of a screen all night

And remember, you don't have to complete the whole hour at one time. Luca doesn't spend an hour listening to Polish in the shower after his workout. 

2 x 30 minutes still equals an hour each day, and it can be easier to work several smaller time chunks into your routine. 

The important thing is first to build the habit and then maintain it. 

Learning languages takes time. You're in this for the long haul, so to become fluent, you'll need to keep those habits up for years.

Not weeks, not even months but years! 

When Should You Start Speaking Your New Language?

Naturally, you want to speak your new language — that's the cool bit for many of us. 

Speaking is the most visible part of language learning to be sure. Still, it's actually the end product of a lot of prior work.

You don't see the hidden part — all the reading, writing, thinking and life experience you've done to build those skills so that you can talk successfully. 

Luca cautions his YouTube followers not to rush into speaking straight away. As he puts it, “If something doesn't get inside your ears then it can't get out of your mouth.”

In other words, you can't say something if you don't know it first. So talking in your new language will be easier if you have had lots of input first. 

The Four Skills Of Language Learning

“When you want to speak you have to develop four skills at the same time so that they create a compound effect.” 

Luca Lampariello

Reading helps with speaking; speaking helps writing. Writing helps thinking, and so it goes on. 

E.g., you're talking to a friend in your new language, and you realise that you made a mistake or have a knowledge gap.

The next time you read, you can be on the lookout for examples of that to see how it's done. Do that often, and take every opportunity to use it correctly the next time you have a chat. 

If you want to take language learning to the next level, you have to use a strategy that has all four skills. You must be reading, writing, speaking and thinking in that language. 

Why Does Luca Lampariello Keep Learning Languages? 

“We're all able to become a much better version of ourselves if we know how to do it, and if we know why we do it.” says Luca. 

“Language learning has changed me as a person, as a citizen of the world. I see all these barriers that we have — misunderstandings among countries, of cultural differences. I truly believe that when you speak a lot of languages, they become bridges, not barriers.”   

Luca Lampariello

That's why he does it because learning languages has fundamentally changed Luca's life for the better. 

What's more, Luca firmly believes that language learning will benefit everyone. Each of us can learn multiple languages if we build successful learning habits that work for our personality and lifestyle. 

So, let's give the final word to Luca.

“If you can speak your native language well, you can learn ANY language well.  Your beliefs about your language -learning ability are what will ultimately decide whether you succeed or fail.”

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.