Spanish Learning Community and Resources

Who is Olly Richards?  

I grew up speaking only English in Cambridge, UK. When I was 18 years old, I moved to London to study music, where I met people from all over the world. At that moment, I thought to myself that I didn't want to be that British guy who can't speak any other languages. So, when I should have been playing music at university, I was studying French verbs instead. Then, I made good friends with some Spaniards and ended up speaking more Spanish than English for about two years. That gave me a lot of confidence to learn other languages. Eventually, I changed my career and became a highly qualified teacher. I started writing about language learning in a blog, and now I run StoryLearning, a company where we teach languages through stories. 

How many languages do you speak?  

In total, I have studied 10 languages to some degree, but it is always a moving target (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Cantonese, Arabic, German, Italian and Thai). Spanish, Portuguese and Cantonese are amongst the ones I use on a regular basis.  

How many languages do YOU speak? Let us know in this discussion topic.   

Why did you become interested in languages?  

I love people, so language has always been a way for me to communicate with them and experience a more interesting life. Once I get to the point where I can just talk, that is enough for me. It has never been about the languages themselves, but about the culture and the people surrounding them. 

Out of all the languages that you speak, which is your favourite one? 

The one that I like the most is Japanese, with which I have a love-hate relationship. In most situations, If you reach a level where you can confidently speak, you will never forget the language. With Japanese, I have always been pushing up against that level, but never done it for long enough to get through it. I have resigned myself to the fact that I am probably never going to be where I want with Japanese, since I am not going to go and live in Japan again, nor do I have Japanese friends here in the countryside. But that is OK. 

Where have you lived abroad?  

In Paris, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Doha and Cairo.  

What have you taken away from these places? What have you learned?  

Everything. It is a bit of a cliché, but the world is a big place, and we are only a tiny part. Living in other countries makes you realise that there are different ways of doing things. Fundamentally, I understand the world so much better.  

How do YOU maintain your languages?  

I might read some books, watch some films, but I am not doing very much to maintain my languages. That has been a pattern throughout my life. When I left the Middle East, I stopped learning Arabic because it was no longer useful for me. However, sometimes my interest takes charge. For example, when I moved out of Japan, I was very frustrated because I hadn’t reached the level I wanted to in Japanese. So, I kept studying for a long time and even today I consume more content in Japanese than in any other language. The point is, I follow my interests.  

How should ONE maintain a language? 

The way to maintain a language is to understand what you want to use the language for, and then do it on a daily basis. So, if you love reading in Japanese, you should do it every day. If you enjoy speaking Italian with your friends, meet them every week. I just feel that life is too short to get too technical about it, and we should concentrate on doing the things that give us the most joy and satisfaction. It is a lot easier if you have one or two languages to maintain, as opposed to six, seven or eight, which is impossible, unless you make it your full-time job. 

Can anyone be a polyglot?  

It is true that while some people may naturally have a stronger aptitude for languages, that doesn’t mean it is not possible for others. It is a bit like music. Take Miles Davis or John Coltrain. They are geniuses, but 95% of what they can do with their instrument is hard work and dedication. No one just picks up a language out of nothing. Whatever you might hear on YouTube or TikTok, it doesn't happen. Everybody has to work really, really hard.  

Which are the most important things when learning a language? 

Like with everything in life, consistency over time. The person who studies for 30 minutes every day will make more progress than the person who does it for three hours on the weekend. It is also important to acknowledge that it is going to take a few years and one should be willing to work at it every day. If you do that, no one and nothing can stop you. 

Choose one: reading, listening, speaking or writing. 

Depends on your goals. I think it is important to know what you want to gain from the language and then focus on the skill. It is easy to assume that people learn languages because they want to speak, which is not true for everybody. I often meet students, introverts, who are not interested in speaking, but they really love to read. If the question is how do you become most well-rounded and most advanced, then, it is a combination. I personally think that reading is the single biggest study hack because you have the entire language in the books. 

Why did you choose to study Spanish?  

My first contact with Spanish was when I spent some time in Paris. Back then, I had a girlfriend who was French-Colombian, so I became interested in the language. Then, I made friends with a guy from Tenerife when I went back to London to carry on studying at university. We played similar kinds of music, so we bonded over it. His English was terrible, and he had no interest in learning it. Within a few months of studying, my Spanish was better than his English, and we started speaking Spanish every day together. 

What was the process like? 

Spanish was the second language that I learned after French. I had gained some confidence, but I still didn’t really know what I was doing. At first, I was just going through grammar books, as this was what I was taught at school. Then, as I said, I would be speaking every day. However, at some point I hit the intermediate plateau, where I stopped learning. What I did was pick up some books and started reading. And that's where my level really shot up. Having people around me was a huge advantage, but it was a hell of a lot of work. 

Tell us about this intermediate plateau… 

When you reach an intermediate level, you feel that you are not making any progress. As a beginner, you can use every new word you learn, whereas when you are around a B2 level things are more nuanced. What's the difference between to perceive, to observe, to see? They are kind of the same, but there are differences. The terms that you learn don’t help you communicate better immediately, therefore you have this feeling that you are stuck. Progress is happening, it is just not visible. In this regard, the advantage of learning many languages is that you don’t get frustrated because you quickly recognise the intermediate plateau.  

Spanish has many different accents, and dialects. Which is your favourite one? 

This is funny! I learned Spanish from the Canary Islands because that’s where my friends were from. I love that accent, which is smoother than peninsular Spanish. However, I also lived some time in Argentina, where I picked the cadence. If I spend some time in any of these places, the way I talk will change. There's a linguistic phenomenon called accommodation. It is when we adapt the language to the person we are speaking to because we want to be part of that community. For example, English people who live in the United States inevitably start speaking with an American accent over time. 

Is artificial intelligence going to discourage language learning?  

Everyone talks about artificial intelligence, and to be honest, I don’t care. It is going to be very convenient for people that don’t want to learn anything, but those who do will always want to learn a language, for the same reason, people still read books. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! 

Will minority languages disappear?  

Small languages are dying out all the time, which is a real tragedy. I think we live in a world that is becoming more and more concentrated, for better or for worse. I just don’t think there’s much we can do about it, unfortunately. With the ever-increasing globalisation, English is fast establishing itself as the lingua franca of the world, although that may change over time. French is gaining a lot of ground thanks to Africa's population growth.  

Thank you so much for your availability, Olly. Good luck with everything :-) 

My pleasure.  

That’s all people! Which interview did you like better? Stefani’s or Olly’s? Do you have any comments? Tell us about it in this thread.  

Bernat, OLS Community Manager – Spanish