Are Most YouTube Polyglots Lying? The Truth About Language Learning Experts

YouTube polyglots real or fake? It's a question lots of people have been asking me. So it's time to tackle it.

I’ll explore how polyglots become fluent in multiple languages and whether the viral YouTube polyglots are lying or if there's some truth in their claims.

By the way, if you prefer watching videos to reading, hit play on the video version of this post at the top of this page.

Do YouTube Polyglots Really Speak Multiple Languages?

In this post, I'm diving into the controversial world of YouTube polyglots—are they real or fake? Many of you have asked: Can YouTube polyglots really speak multiple languages fluently, or are they exaggerating their skills?

I’ll also explore polyglot language learning strategies and what makes them different from the way most people learn languages.

It's quite a charged topic and when you hear about YouTube polyglots, you're probably thinking to yourself either:

• “Olly, what are you talking about? I've never asked myself that question before in my life”
• ,or: “I've been watching all these people on YouTube pretending to speak languages and they're all full of it.”

If you're a long-term reader or listener, you may have an inkling as to where I'm going to come down to on it.

The Big Debate: Fluency vs. Conversational Proficiency

The elephant in the room here is, can a YouTube polyglot (God, I hate that term), create a post about YouTube polyglots lying, and would you believe me if I did? I'm going to try!

First of all, though, a bit of housekeeping. This is a controversial post that I almost didn't write. I'm still not sure if writing it is the right thing to do, but I wanted to address it, and I wanted to do it in my way. Here are three things to bear in mind as we address this topic.

First of all, I'm not going to mention any names. So those of you who are baying for blood aren't going to get that here. I'm not going to be exposing fake polyglot YouTubers.

Secondly, this post is going to be constructive. Most content I find on this topic isn't very helpful. My hope is that my ideas here are going to give you a new constructive take on polyglot YouTube.

Thirdly, I'm making this for a very specific person. It's for you if you're trying to learn a new language and you're looking for a way to navigate YouTube and the polyglots and language learners that you see there.

I'm not going to play a game of who is the best polyglot YouTuber. Those are the three rules.

As you'll see, this is going to be a fairly positive take. But there is one thing in particular which does make my blood boil somewhat, and you'll hear about that at the end.

How Do Polyglots Learn Languages So Quickly?

What exactly is a polyglot? We should define it. I personally prefer to focus on effective language learning methods rather than labels like “polyglot.”

People often ask:

• What’s the fastest way to learn a foreign language?
• How fluent do you need to be to communicate?

My approach is simple: learning a language through stories and immersion techniques is one of the most powerful ways to improve fluency. And it's how I learnt eight languages.

Despite speaking multiple languages myself, I'd never used the word “polyglot” in my life until one day I discovered the world of language learning on YouTube and polyglot YouTubers, and I thought, “That's interesting.”

I got used to it over time, but this word brings with it a lot of baggage. There's much air time spent discussing if you're a polyglot or not, and it's a royal waste of time.

There are people that say you're not a true polyglot unless you speak five languages to a C2 level. I really don't have strong feelings about this. I don't think it matters all that much.

I come from a background of learning languages to make my life better. I'm very resistant to labels. But it is relevant to know whether or not you can be considered to speak a language.

And personally, I have a litmus test for whether you can speak a language or not, and I call it the “pub test.”

And it is as follows: if we can go to a pub, sit down and speak in another language with a drink, and we can enjoy the conversation without either of us bending our language to cater to the other person too much, then you can say that you speak that language.

If you were to press me about what a polyglot is, I'd say if you can speak three foreign languages at a pub test level, then in my book you can call yourself a polyglot. And for the purposes of this post, that's the definition I'm going to use.

Moving on from the question of whether you're allowed to call yourself a polyglot or not, one of the most common criticisms you see of YouTube polyglots is that they're not fluent, because they only have a B2 level.

Are Polyglots Really Fluent?

One of the biggest debates in language learning is fluency vs. conversational proficiency. Some people believe you need C2-level mastery, while others argue that being conversational is enough. But is B2 level enough for real fluency? That’s what I’ll break down.

I come from a place where no one learns foreign languages. I started learning languages when I was 19 years old. French was my first language, and I was the only person amongst my entire friendship group that took the time to learn.

Whenever I came across someone, especially a British person who also learned languages, it would be like meeting a soulmate. I would have so much respect for anyone that had taken the time to learn a language.

And then afterwards, later in my life, when I went off and used my languages all around the world, the idea that you should be criticised for your level in a language is just harmful and toxic.

My starting point is always that anyone who puts effort into learning a language is a good thing, and we should not be criticising people about their level.

This seems to be something that is purely a YouTube phenomenon. You don't see this out in the real world.

It's only on YouTube where you'll see someone who's highly fluent in a language getting comments saying, “You're not C2, you… I don't think you'd be able to talk about nuclear physics or whatever.” It's really unfortunate.

It's true that the Dunning-Krueger effect exists. People think they have a higher level than they actually do in a language. Yes, people exaggerate their language level. But who really cares?

The conclusion I've come to from investigating this is that most people don't care. The internet's a funny place because people who shout the loudest get the most attention, and often people who criticise polyglots online will get the most airtime.

But I've also noticed that people are often inspired by watching videos of others learning languages, even if they exaggerate about their level of fluency. It's just that the people who are inspired about this aren't moved to leave gushing comments on YouTube.

Yes, there are shenanigans about level but most people who object do so on a linguistic pride level.

Someone who, for example, has invested years into learning Korean, probably isn't going to appreciate a video of someone standing on a street corner interviewing strangers in pidgin Korean that they spent two weeks learning.

No, they're not fluent, fine, I grant you that, but you don't need them to be fluent. You're fine just the way you are. You don't need to project these opinions onto other people.

It's always a good thing that people are making videos about language learning, and there's a silent majority out there who are inspired by this.

My advice for you around this is to focus not on other people but on why you are learning your language and what you want to achieve, because that then frees you from caring about what other people are up to.

Some people prefer to speak three languages to a very, very high level. Others prefer to learn 15 languages, all to a basic level. To each their own.

My basic position on this is that all language learning is a good thing. Who was it that said that a foreign language is the only thing in the world worth knowing badly? I completely agree.

Don't let anyone tell you what you should be doing, and don't listen to anyone who criticises you for your level in a language.

Except, of course, it's not quite as simple as that because we're not just talking about people who are learning languages for themselves and uploading videos.

If you do want my take on how fluent do you need to be to communicate, take a look at this post about language levels. And if you want a realistic assessment of the time it'll take to get to each level, check out my post on how long does it take to learn a language?

Who Is The Best Polyglot YouTuber?

Polyglot YouTubers are trying to achieve something on YouTube. They're trying to:

• influence people
• get views
• make money
• or whatever other nefarious motive you want to ascribe to them.

And people watching YouTube videos are looking for a source of information and advice that they can trust, and people want proof. And this leads to a common criticism of YouTube polyglots:

• If you say you speak the language, then why don't you make lots of videos in the language?
• Where's the proof?
• How do I know I can trust you?
• How do I know you speak those languages?

There are armies of people out there on YouTube claiming to speak a lot of languages with no proof. I don't spend a lot of time watching these videos. I certainly have seen some, I know they exist.

But ultimately, if you're demanding this of people, then why is it that? Why is it that you have this need to see people demonstrating their language skills?

Most people I see demanding this are playing this game of “who's the best polyglot YouTuber?” It's a big popularity contest and I have absolutely no intention of playing that game.

That's not why I make YouTube videos. I understand it might be different for others. I respect content creators who choose not to play to the crowd in that sense.

But more importantly, looking for the best in a language,

• the best polyglot,
• the best Chinese speaker,
• or whatever,

as your source of advice is the wrong game to play if what you're interested in is improving your own language learning.

There's an assumption here, which is that the person who is best at the language therefore has the best method, therefore is the most credible, and therefore is the person that you should learn from.

That is not the case. In my experience, the best speakers of the language or the best polyglots are often not the best educators, far from it.

In order to achieve great things in a language, you have to generally be a quite unusual person. You have to devote extreme amounts of time or effort into doing something which is not what most people can do or should do.

I would really caution you against seeking out proof of prowess in a language with the expectation that that is going to lead you to the best method that you should use to learn your target language.

Instead, look for the best educators, those who are able to help you at the stage that you are at.

If you walk into a bookshop and browse books, you choose the book you're going to buy based on the content and what you see there, not on the person that wrote it. You probably have no idea who wrote the book that you're about to buy.

Most people that buy my Short Story books in shops have no idea who I am. They only find me later on my website or on YouTube.

By the way, there's also the clickbait. Nobody likes it, everybody hates it, and yet you click it, don't you? You click it, and then you watch it, and then you go in the comments and you complain about it, don't you? You do that. I know because I do it too.

Clickbait is the price that we pay for all the free stuff. Facebook, YouTube and Instagram work because creators get people to click stuff, and then as a result, advertisers get to show ads and they make money.

It is an unfortunate development in the world of the internet. But newspaper headlines have been doing the same thing for hundreds of years.

And the irony here is that the internet is full of content that presumably you don't get angry about. As an experiment, open up YouTube in incognito mode, have a browse, and see the trash that people are watching.

You don't spend your days deliberately watching flat Earth videos and then complaining about them, I'm guessing.

For us, language learning is personal. We care about language learning, and we therefore don't like videos that use shock tactics about the thing we care about or somehow exploit national stereotypes, which are things that you do see.

But clickbait videos are just entertainment. It's nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't need to be taken seriously. The mature approach here is to recognise this is what it is and move on.

The Truth About Viral Language Learning Claims: “Be Fluent In 7 Days”

Now, you might think that I've been rather kind to polyglot YouTubers. And I guess this is mostly because I remember life before YouTube.

I was learning languages before the internet was a thing. I find it quite confusing when I'm confronted with all this anger that people seem to bring to it on YouTube.

What I'm talking about here though is the outlandish claims:

• I learned French in 7 days.
• Here I am speaking fluent Spanish after 6 weeks.

These are a different category of problem to people exaggerating their level or maybe not giving proof that they speak the languages that they say they do.

To make active claims that you can learn to speak a language or you can learn to be fluent in 7 days or 6 weeks is a different thing.

I do take a libertarian approach to this. People should be allowed to make videos about whatever they want, providing it's not violent or aggressive.

But as a language learner, I deeply dislike these videos because I consider them to be barefaced lies. But beyond that, I've become aware of the harm that these videos are doing to language learners.

Best Ways To Learn A Language Without The Hype

Earlier I talked about how I don't believe that the best speaker of a language is necessarily the best teacher.

That's because method isn't king, and method means a different thing for everyone. Different people need to use different methods and need to understand what those methods involve. (Listen to two polyglots geek out on out teaching methods if you want to learn more.)

And for the same reason, people making outlandish claims about what is possible can cause absolute misery.

My inbox is flooded with people sending me clips of someone who says, “I learned French in seven days.”

And then they write underneath: “Olly, I've been learning French for two years, and I still can only just about understand a movie. What's wrong with me? What am I doing wrong? Please, I need help.”

I want to give these people a big hug, and I want to tell them these are lies. This is not true. And even if they find a way of making it technically true, it is so exaggerated as to not be any representation of what's possible or realistic in real life.

I confess I'm only recently becoming aware of the scale of this problem because I do think it's easy for me to say as someone who has already learned a lot of languages.

I don't need to take these claims seriously, but I understand that people coming at language learning for the first time are looking for help and looking for advice. And they're seeing this and taking it seriously, which is a real problem.

YouTube Polyglots Real Or Fake? FAQ

Final Thoughts: What Actually Matters in Language Learning?

As you would have gathered by now, I do have a lot of time for people who are just trying to make cool content on the internet. I do.

But I also believe that content that makes outlandish claims about what's possible in the space of seven days or 6 weeks can genuinely be damaging.

But I have to admit that even on those types of content, you will still see people in the comments saying, “That's inspiring. Thank you for making this video. Now I have more belief in what I can do.”

It really is a mixed bag, and this topic needs to come with a healthy dose of nuance. It's not black and white.

But this is generally why I come down on the side of it's a good thing, but there are a few things that you need to know/do:

• First of all, language learning is a positive thing and a force for good in the world wherever it occurs.
• Second, develop a strong sense of why you are learning so that you can develop the ability to trust yourself and trust your own judgment.
• Learn to acknowledge and recognise what is simple entertainment and to accept that entertainment for what it is.
• Have healthy skepticism of claims that sound a little bit outlandish because they probably are.
• Spend a little less time on YouTube!

For a more realistic vision of how polyglots learn languages, without the clickbait, take a look at my post about polyglot weaknesses.

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.