This episode of the podcast is all about communication and building relationships with people. I regularly receive emals on the topic and it’s something I have to address often with those I work with as a life coach.

I share in today’s episode what I believe to be the foundation of all relationships in addition to strategies for improving the way we communicate.

Communication and building relationships are both big topics, so I’ll be recording a few episodes on the topic.

As always, your feedback and requests are welcome. I hope you enjoy today’s episode

Subscribe to The Lifelong Learning Podcast on iTunes

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I invited my friend Charles Rare from London onto the show to discuss the importance of positive thinking, what positive thinking is and the common misconceptions.

We both believe that positieve thinking – when done correctly – is a requisite for achieving all goals and ambitions.

This is definitely and important episode!

Charles’ Blog
http://rarethoughts.wordpress.com/

Charles Rare on Twitter
https://twitter.com/Rare_Thoughts

Subscribe to The Life-Long Learning Podcast on iTunes

Let me know what you think in the comments!

All the best,

David

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I’m happy to present the first episode of the life-long learning podcast. A new podcast by me where I talk about everything related to personal growth through constantly exploring and learning. In this episode I discuss what the podcast will be about, who it’s for and I also tell you about my background and why I think I’m the right person to guide you on your journey of growth.

As well as listening to the podcast here on my blog and you can also subscribe to the podcast on Itunes.

This podcast is about you the listener so please don’t hesitate to give me feedback so I can continue to improve  and give you what you need in each up and coming episode.

I look forward to receiving your feedback.

All the best,

David

Join my mailing list to receive more free ideas about learning and personal growth I don’t share on the site. Just click through to this article:The Lifelong Learning Podcast – Episode 1 – Introduction and sign up in the box at the bottom of the page.

When most people think about studying a language, they think about boring classes. We tend not to perform well when an an activity is boring, hence the reason a lot of people say they don’t have ’talent’ for language or that language isn’t their ‘thing’. But we all use language every day. We all need to communicate. Language is everyone’s ‘thing’.

So why do so many people fail to succeed at learning a foreign language?

The mistake most learners make is only focusing on one piece of the puzzle: studying. That’s because ‘studying’ is the traditional way of learning language in classrooms. But if that approach hasn’t worked for so many people, then it’s time to try something new, don’t you think?

I’m an average learner. I don’t have talent for language. It take me ages to remember a new word and even more time to master grammatical structures. And I don’t have the same passion for language described by some of the extreme language learners I know.

However, I do have something that helps me a lot: passion for exploring, learning and growing. Language to me is a means to and end. A tool. A vehicle that allows me to explore what the world has to offer. This works out great because my life is all about exploring and learning. Not language. Language is a means to an end.

So for me to make progress with language I have to have fun. I don’t know how to learn without having fun. Whenever I slip into a routine of more study and less fun I find myself getting bored and my motivation starts to diminish. I need people. I need culture. I need excitement.

Learning a language doesn’t have to be associated with really hard work and boring classes. If you’re like me and don’t have the sort of passion for language that allows you to study for hours, I encourage you to find something else you’re passionate about, combine it with language and watch your ability to learn language skyrocket.

It’s been said many times that passion is necessary for Mastery. However, few mention that it’s possible to use your passion in one field to drive you forward in another. I’m passionate about learning, exploring and communicating with people. How do I use my passions to drive me forward with Spanish?

• I watch cooking videos in Spanish
• I moved to Spain
• I’m looking for opportunities to work as a volunteer with homeless people and elderly people here in Spain.

These are just some of the things I do to improve my Spanish. I spend very little time studying because a lot of the time I find study boring. I like language, but it’s not my passion. So I play to my strengths and let my passions drive me forward. Studying language is only one piece of the puzzle. Language is a means to an end.

I’m just a guy passionate about learning and life. I’m not a language learning expert at all, but I do often have conversations about language learning with some language learning experts. You may want to check out some of the conversations I’ve had recently:

Video Links:

• How to Learn a Language in a Foreign Country ( Interview with Robert Bigler)
• How to Guarantee success in a Foreign Language (Interview with Luca Lampariello)
• The Art of Motivation in Language learning ( interview with Moses Mckormick)
• My Language Learning Philosophy (An interview I did with Aaron of www.everydaylanguagelearner.com)

Mp3 Links:

• How to Learn a Language in a Foreign Country
• How to Guarantee Success in a Foreign Language
• The Art of Motivation in Language Learning
• My Language Learning Philosophy

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I’m now living in Madrid, capital of Spain. I mentioned my plans to move out of London in my article ‘Confessions of a Mere Mortal’, so check that out if you want to know why I left.

I’ve only been in Madrid for a few days, but I’ve received a ton of messages from people wanting to know how I’m doing. I’m flattered that so many people are interested in my adventure. However I’m also little sad, because these messages give me the impression a lot of people don’t believe they can do what I’m doing.

Most messages I’ve received sound like this:

• I wish I could do what you’re doing.
• How could you just get up and leave London?
• Aren’t you worried about how everything will turn out?
• It’s always been my dream to live in another country, but I don’t have the courage.

I can relate. I know how scary it can be to wander off into the unknown, but at the same time I know it’s exciting. I know it’s daunting to approach a really big mountain, but I know reaching the top is rewarding. Just like you, I feel the emotions of fear and doubt. However I don’t allow them to control me.

I see human emotions as a system of feedback. Fear tells me I’m stepping into new territory, so I need to be a lot more alert. Doubt is an error checking emotion. Rarely are we one hundred percent certain about our decisions. There’s almost always an element of doubt. When we feel doubtful, we review our decisions, just to make sure they’re right for us. Emotions are a system of feedback.

So when I decided it was time to leave London, did I feel afraid? Did I feel doubtful? Absolutely, but I didn’t allow my emotions to control me. I had so many things going through my mind in the months leading up to my departure. What if I don’t find a job? What if I don’t like it there? What if my Spanish isn’t good enough? What if…? What if…? All of these questions share a theme: uncertainty. I’ve learned over the years that no matter how much I prepare I can never be certain of anything.

The hardest part of accomplishing anything in life is getting started. The anticipation of pain causes more suffering than actual pain. Set yourself free and get started.

In my case, getting started meant booking a plane ticket. I remember the moment clearly. I had just finished reading The Alchemist and I was about to get on the tube in London, but I stopped myself and in that moment decided I had to go on an adventure. I had to find a way to get started. I downloaded an app on my iPhone and booked a one way ticket out of London. The next step was selling my possessions. I remember thinking to myself: this isn’t so hard is it? All I had to do was get started.

I also remember thinking about learning Spanish for a long time. I kept telling myself I wasn’t smart enough, that I failed at German in school. And then I kept saying  I would get started next week. Then one day I got fed up of my own excuses and I decided to learn five phrases. I found an online chat room and practiced using what I had learned:

Hola!

¿Como estas?

¿De donde eres?

¿Cuantos años tienes?

¿Como has estado hoy?

Hello

How are you?

Where are you from?

How old are you?

How have you been today?

I remember typing those phrases to different people in chat rooms and thinking: ’Wow! I’m speaking Spanish. This isn’t so hard after all.”

The hardest part of doing anything you want in life Is getting started.

So my question for you is simple:

What could you start doing today to live that life you want full of adventure?

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Alex Is Britain’s most multilingual student, so I jumped at the chance to record an interview with him when we met at a multilingual conference in Italy. We discussed many different aspects of language learning i.e the psychological barriers students need to overcome, setting realistic expectations and different methods for reaching fluency.

I had a really good time speaking with Alex and this is easily one of the best interviews out in the series.

You can find Alex on the web by following the following links:

Alex’s Blog
Alex’s Twitter

If you enjoyed the interview please consider sharing it. I would really appreciate.

If you haven’t read the polyglot project click here to download.

View the complete list of interviews by clicking here 

Join my mailing list to receive more free ideas about learning and personal growth I don’t share on the site. Just click through to this article:The Polyglot Project Podcast – Episode #10 – Alex Rawlings and sign up in the box at the bottom of the page.

Update: for those that missed the event you can watch a recording below:

On Saturday the 15th December at 8pm GMT ( Find out what time this is for you by clicking here)  I’ll be hosting a free language learning discussion with some of the internet’s most popular authorities on language learning.

I’ve interviewed a number of different polyglots and it’s clear that there are many different ways we can succeed when we want to learn a language, so I thought it would be great to get this group of people together to speak about the part personality plays in the way we learn. I’ll be speaking to all of the people below for an hour on the topic and there will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end.

If you want to watch the event live you’ll need to subscribe to me on YouTube or Google+ and then all you need to do is turn up to one of these pages at 8pm GMT on the 15th for the live stream.

I’ll be speaking with the following people:

Steve Kaufmann ( I’m really sorry, but I forgot to include Steve in the video)

Benny Lewis

Jana Fadness

Robert Bigler

Susanna Zarysky

Luca Lampariello

Richard Simcott

This is an event you won’t want to miss so make you’re there.

Don’t forget to subscribe to me on YouTube or Google+  and please help spread the word.

Join my mailing list to receive more free ideas about learning and personal growth I don’t share on the site. Just click through to this article:Live Polyglot Language Learning Discussion and sign up in the box at the bottom of the page.

Yes, I’m a mere mortal, and I face the same challenges as everyone, but sometimes I can’t help but feel like a fraud because I tend to only talk about the positive things in my life. In my attempt to spread positive energy I think I send out the message that I’m a person with no problems.

I receive lots of e-mail from people telling me they really like my podcast, YouTube videos and writing; these messages always give me a jolt of motivation to sit down at the laptop to pour out my heart and write. For the past few months I’ve been trying to dig deep, I really have, but I found nothing, and every time I’ve sat down to write within minutes I’m pulling down the lid on the laptop and going back to bed. Sometimes people ask why I haven’t posted anything for such a long time. I still haven’t replied to any of those people, but If I had replied my response would have contained one word: Life.

You see, for the last few months I’ve been battling depression. It kinda of all started when I got back from Uganda. I had a really good time in Africa, but when I came back to London it was clear that something wasn’t working. I tried hard to keep doing things I knew made me happy like making videos for YouTube, writing, studying languages, reading, etc but no matter how hard I tried nothing brought back the motivation and passion I had before going to Africa. I started to doubt whether I had made the right decision by dropping out of university, then I broke up with my girlfriend of three years, then…and then… yeah, you get the picture. Life.

I did a lot of reading online to see if there were others out there experiencing the same thing as me, and I kept finding the same answer to my enquiry: depression. I went to a doctor and explained I was finding it difficult to get things done, and he tried to put me on anti depressants. No thanks. I’ll pass. Not for me. I’m not sure what I expected, I really don’t, but I know I don’t like the idea of taking pills for six months.

Thankfully, I’m a lot better. Sometimes we have to take time out to pause and reflect, and this process can be extremely painful. Looking back with hindsight it’s now clear that I spent a lot of time holding onto the past, a system that no longer worked and this resulted in depression. Sure, I really like studying language, writing, making videos for YouTube, reading, etc However when I went away to Africa I entered my element but then I came back to London which for me is the complete opposite. The old system I had no longer works and I have to update and face the music.

It’s time for me to leave London. This is something I’ve known I’ll have to do for a while, but I was so busy holding onto the past its taken a while to accept it’s time. Anyway, I’m in the process of selling all of my belongings in anticipation to start a new life in January.

I’ve had to really look in the mirror and stomach up a lot of courage to decide it’s time to get what I want from life: adventure. In my head a hear three words ringing:

Life is short.

Plagiarised, simple and profound; they lifted me out of depression and motivated me to buy a one way ticket out of London.

What could they do for you?

Join my mailing list to receive more free ideas about learning and personal growth I don’t share on the site. Just click through to this article:Confessions of a Mere Mortal and sign up in the box at the bottom of the page.

This episode of the podcast is with an amazing polyglot going by the name of Vlad Skultety. Vlad speaks more more than 10 languages, however in our conversation we speak primarily about his acquisition of Mandarin. Most of the advice is relevant to learners of all languages and I’m certain you’ll learn lots!

Vlad also has a blog where you can find some great articles and podcasts aout language learning:

Vlad’s blog: Forever a student 

Remember: if you want to receive updates for new episodes of the podcast and have the opportunity to send in questions for our up-and-coming guests, then make sure you sign up to the newsletter below.

If you haven’t read the polyglot project click here to download.

View the complete list of interviews by clicking here 

Join my mailing list to receive more free ideas about learning and personal growth I don’t share on the site. Just click through to this article:The Polyglot Project Podcast – Episode #09 – Vladimir Skultety and sign up in the box at the bottom of the page.

Scott is one of my favourite bloggers, and like me he has a passion for learning and self-education; he’s currently pursuing the MIT challenge where he aims to complete an entire four year MIT degree in just one year, without attending any classes!  Scott was a big inspiration in my pursuit of The big Self-Education Project  so I decided to ask him a few questions to see how his challenge is going:

Why did you decide to pursue computer science through self-education?

It’s always been a subject that’s interested me. I loved computer programming when I was younger, so I always had lingering regrets that I’d never be able to study it in school further. That’s when I got the idea to study it on my own, using the actual curriculum for MIT.

What do you plan to do with what you learn?

I’ve been running online businesses for nearly a decade now, so programming and computer knowledge in general is never a bad asset to possess. More than that, I wanted to be competent in the technical end if I ever decide to do a start up.

What has been most difficult about your MIT challenge so far?

Surprisingly it’s gone fairly well according to plan. Obviously there are going to be challenges and limitations in doing something like this, but what’s surprised me is that it wasn’t too much more difficult than just taking the classes in a regular school. The material from MIT is very good.

Do you think anyone can pursue degree level self-education?

I think if you’re capable of doing a degree at a regular school, and you are motivated, you can definitely do a near equivalent online.

What sort of person do you think it takes to succeed with degree level self-education?

Motivation, initiative, patience, intelligence. The things it takes to succeed with any endeavor.

 How important do you think it is to have a degree in today’s world with so many free high quality resources available online?

Look degrees definitely matter in a lot of disciplines–you simply can’t get a job without one. But, that being said, I think it’s possible for many people to learn nearly exactly the same material of a formal program without going to school. So I feel the next 5-10 years are going to have increasingly more people doing similar DIY education programs.

 Do you think universities will become less important as more high quality resources appear online?

Yes and no. Universities, particularly high-end ones, will always have great advantages for networking, credentials, etc. But I think the expensive schools that aren’t as prestigious will suffer more, since the advantage they offer is comparatively weaker when someone can replicate the educational content for free.

 If you had to give one piece of advice to someone thinking about pursuing self-education what would it be? 

Have fun! Learn things that interest you. It’s not like school where you’re forced to learn things you don’t like, in a way you dislike. Pick courses that interest you and go through them.

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I encourage you to head over to Scott’s blog and check out the MIT challenge.  Also, here’s a talk he did at Tedx recently – enjoy!

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I received a few e-mails after I posting about the ‘The big self-education project’ from a few readers who said that successfully learning so much on my own is almost impossible and that I’m at a great disadvantage for not going to university. These readers had my best interest at heart and I appreciate their concern.

Learning everything on your own is difficult. Extremely difficult.

But I have to ask this question:

Does self-education really exist?

That might sound like a strange question, but honestly think about it.

What have you learned without assistance?

I know I haven’t learned much on my own, if anything.

When I go to the gym I learn from those with more experience.
When I search google I rely on information published by others.
When I read a book the author presents me with new facts and ideas.
When I study languages I have friends who correct my mistakes.
As I learn to draw I’ll be guided by other artists.
As I learn to program I’ll seek wisdom from other programmers.

I agree that learning on your own can be difficult, but I don’t agree that means you need university.

Why do we ‘need’ University when the world is a bigger classroom with teachers around every corner?  We don’t.

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How much can one person learn without going to an institution? Can we be ‘successful’ without academic credentials? Is there a limit to how much one person can learn? These are all questions that have occupied my mind for some time and I’ve decided to explore the answers.

For as long as I can remember I’ve had the belief that academic institutions are overrated and that most people limit their potential by focusing on becoming an expert in just one field.

I’m going to challenge the status quo. I decided to drop out of university to pursue self-education. Over the next few months, or perhaps years, I’m going to teach myself a number of different skills and I’ll share my journey. How much can we learn and how far can we go without an institution or qualifications? That’s just what I’m going to find out!

Why pursue self-education?

There are a ton of positive reasons to pursue self-education and I could write many books on the subject, but here are three of the most important:

A) There are no more guardians of knowledge. When most people decide to learn something new like a language or how to play an instrument they usually first think about finding a class or getting themselves a tutor.

We’re living in the information age where practically anything we want to know or learn is available at our fingertips. Once upon time the only way to learn how to fix fix your car, program a computer or maybe fix your kitchen sink was to attend a class or get someone to teach you. Those days are behind us. There are no more guardians of knowledge. Information is free, it’s flowing in abundance and it’s up to us to grab as much of it as we want.

Surprisingly, the idea that universities are not as relevant as they once were hasn’t caught on as much as I would like, and I intend to help spread the idea that we can learn anything we want, whenever we want, without signing up for lifelong debt.

James Altucher, Scott H Young and the guys over at Expert Enough are already doing a great job.

B) Learning is a lifelong process. There’s no one-stop solution for learning anything. Institutions promise to teach you everything you’ll need to survive in your chosen field; that’s false, fake, deceiving and downright fraudulent! There will always be more to learn and there isn’t a single source that can teach you everything you need to know.

That’s why I promote the importance of learning how to learn: so you’re ready for any and all challenges that lie ahead. Self-education is a great tool for learning what methods and techniques work for your personality, and once you know how to learn you’re ready to teach yourself ANYTHING.

C) Self-Education is cheap. I don’t have much to add. We all like to save money. Money is one of those things we can never have enough of. The cost of going to university today is ridiculous, and as prices rise so does the incentive to educate ourselves – and let’s not not forget all of those unemployed graduates…

What am I going to learn?

I’ll be teaching myself how to build and design websites, computer programming, how to draw, Spanish, Italian and Japanese.

Why have I decided to learn these skills specifically?

Web-design and programming

Computers and the internet is the future of education. I have many ideas for how technology can be used to change the way we educate ourselves and I want to bring these ideas to life; it only makes sense that I become more knowledgeable and skilled in the building of applications and websites.

Learning to draw

I’ve always wanted to learn how to draw. I’ve tried before but I didn’t succeed. I think that’s because I wanted to learn for the wrong reasons. But now I have different reasons: I want another way to communicate my ideas and I want a more personal way of capturing the beauty I see in the world.

Drawing is also one of those skills commonly believed to require talent. I don’t believe in talent and I certainly don’t have talent for drawing. Every artist I’ve met has worked extremely hard at developing their skills. By learning how to draw I’ll demonstrate that with hard work and dedication we can achieve anything.

Spanish, Italian and Japanese

I’m already a student of these languages but I’m including them as part of this project because I’m not going to stop studying them and they’ll continue to take up my time.

Edit: I moved to Spain to improve my Spanish! 

How will I measure success?

Mastery of any skill is a lifelong mission so It’s important to have clear defined goals.

These are my targets:

• Web design: Design and build an education based website for public use.
• Computer programming: Publish an application in the Apple appstore.
• Drawing: Get a stranger to pay me to draw their portrait.
• Spanish: Pass a C2 examination.
• Italian: Pass a C2 examination.
• Japanese: Pass a JLPT 1 examination

Learning is about the journey rather than the destination, so I’m going against conventional wisdom by not setting myself a deadline; it may take one,two, three or more years to hit every target, but we’ll see.

If you’re interested in following along remember to subscribe to the RSS Feed and Join me on Facebook and Twitter.

What do you think about self-education? Is it going to one day replace universities?

Artwork by the amazing Anne Ballaran

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Note from David:  The following is a guest post from Susanna Zaraysky, a polyglot with an inspiring story of what I would call self-education. I think there’s a lot we can learn from her story, so I’m delighted she’s sharing with us –  over to Susanna!

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A common misconception about getting a good education is that you have to have money.

This is simply not true.

It’s about motivation. Sometimes, you have to break the rules. It’s about jumping through the hoops of the system and completely avoiding the system when necessary.

I want to share my story of how I circumvented the horrible educational system in the US so that others can find alternatives to their educational reality if they find that they are not learning much in school and are bored.

This is not meant to brag. I am telling my story so you can see that it is possible to navigate a horribly faulty educational system and rise ahead.

From preschool for the retarded to early college graduation

I went from being put in a preschool for the retarded and developmentally disabled in the former USSR to graduating from a top US university at the age of 20 with honors in my major.

This leap did not happen because the educational system challenged me and pushed me to reach high goals.

It’s because I was bored out of my mind in school and either I or my parents found a way for me to skip a grade or to do independent study.

Skipping a grade in elementary school

In elementary school, I skipped the 3rd grade. (Around age 8-9.) I had to take tests or somehow prove that I knew the material that would be covered that year in order to go from 2nd to 4th grade.

No teacher or school administrator suggested I skip a grade or study on my own because it’s not in the school’s best interest to have students skip grades. Schools receive their funds from the government based on how many pupils are enrolled. When a student skips a year and moves from elementary to secondary school a year early, the elementary school loses one year of funding for that pupil. Plus, it’s extra work for the school administrators and teachers to test kids wishing to jump ahead.

Neither I nor my parents were interested in school funding issues. If you or your child is ahead of the class and could be learning more in a class with older students, then you have to make your case and ask to be moved ahead.

You have to speak up for yourself or your children.

Don’t expect the school to do it for you. If my parents hadn’t responded to my complaints of finding school to be too slow, I would have been stuck in classes where I was barely learning anything.

It’s not about money, it’s about motivation

My dad barely speaks English. My parents were often unemployed and we didn’t have health insurance. They didn’t have much money. But they wanted my sister and I to get an education. I was a latch-key kid starting at the age of five in Kindergarten, when I had to walk myself to school. My parents couldn’t afford after-school day care for me.

Who was my babysitter after school?

The library.

Almost everyday after school, I went to the library and the community center next to my elementary school, which I rode to alone on my bicycle. I read many books at the library and attended dance and gymnastics classes at the community center. My voracious reading at such an early age helped me skip a grade in elementary school and kept me busy.

Elementary to Middle School: You’re not ready yet for foreign languages

My monolingual 6th grade teacher in elementary school had to approve me to take a foreign language class in middle school. She thought I wasn’t ready yet. What did she know? Did she know I already spoke two languages, Russian and English?

My parents stepped in again. They photocopied the permission slip where the teacher had marked the “No, the student is not ready for foreign languages”, used White Out and changed her answer to “Yes”.

The next school year, I was learning French.

By the age of 24, I spoke seven languages (Russian, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Bosnian/Serbo-Croatian).

That 6th grade teacher had no idea that she was about to delay a polyglot from flourishing.

Am I saying that everyone should forge their teacher’s signature and disobey their direction?

No.

But I have no regrets about my parents having done so!

If your school doesn’t have the class offerings you want or you are barred from entry, study on your own. Find free language learning podcasts on I Tunes. Listen to foreign language radio, watch foreign movies. Get language books from the library. Don’t let the school system stop you. Listen here for my interview with David Mansaray and Claude Cartaginese on the Polyglot Podcast (http://www.davidmansaray.com/the-polyglot-project-podcast-episode-4-susanna-zaraysky). You can read more about my language learning journey on my website (http://createyourworldbook.com/author-bio ).

Public high school: Doing homework in front of the TV and getting As

Even though I was a year younger than the rest of my classmates, by the time I got to high school when I was 13 years old and my classmates where 14, I again found myself utterly bored by my classes.

My parents, with their limited means, managed to buy a home in a neighborhood known for its high-ranking public schools. Real estate agents loved to boast about the great schools so they could sell overpriced homes. But the “great schools” title was a load of garbage. The test scores and college acceptance rates for these school were high but it wasn’t because the schooling was spectacular. It’s because the majority of the kids were from Asian families who, rightly so, sent their kids to after-school tutoring and college entrance examination preparation classes. My parents didn’t have the money for these classes.

My grades were mediocre in my first semester in high school because I was bored. My parents and their friends told me that being bored was not an excuse for not doing well in school. So I reformed myself and got better grades.

Low to mediocre grades don’t really represent the intelligence or potential of a student.

Kids get lost in the system because their marks aren’t high but they still may be really smart. But school does not light up their world.

I could do my homework in front of the TV and get As (the highest marks). All I had to do was memorize and regurgitate whatever information was in the book. Thinking was not required.

When I complained to the guidance counselor that I wanted to be in classes that challenged me and made me think and explore what I was learning about in history, literature and other subjects, she told me to wait until I was a junior or senior (aged 15-17) and would take Advanced Placement classes that would give me college credit.

What?

I had to wait to use my brain for another two years and spend my current time in class just listening to the teacher lecture and then memorize facts from the book?

I wanted to use my brain then and not wait.

I took inexpensive classes at my local junior (community) college in the evening so that I could jump ahead. I kept reading a lot. But this did not satisfy me.

There was a program called Middle College for underachieving kids who, like me, were bored in high school, but were smart. These students took community college classes at no cost to them and got both high school and college credit for them. Still maintaining a US high school student’s social life, the Middle College kids could attend sporting and social events at their high school.

Problem: I didn’t qualify for Middle College because my grades were too good. I was smart but I wasn’t an underachiever, so I was stuck in my bland classes doing homework in front of the TV and learning little.

The system was not supportive of a student like me who sincerely had a drive to learn, got good grades and whose needs were not met.

My choice was to continue to take classes in community college in the evenings and summer and graduate high school a year early, at the age of 16 and go to college or apply for scholarships at private schools.

Neither my parents nor I were keen on Option #1 because I was already a year younger than my classmates and enrolling in a university at age 16 would have made me two years younger than the other students, perhaps creating awkward social situations.

With the help of a family friend, I went back to my local library and found brochures for prestigious boarding schools on the East Coast and one in Santa Barbara. The odds were against me. First, my parents couldn’t afford the astronomical tuitions of $20,000 a year. (This was in the early 1990s, the tuitions may be more than twice that amount now.) Second, I was applying to be a junior year boarder. Most boarding schools fill up their dorms in the freshman (ages 14-15) and sophomore (ages 15 and 16) years. Third, my first semester high school marks were lackluster.

Something in my essays, interviews and grades shined through and I got a two-year scholarship to a famous boarding school near Boston, where two Governor’s daughters were in my dorm and the surnames of the Boston Brahmin, the local political and financial legacies, graced the names of buildings. I was one of the few immigrants kids in the school.

My two years in that boarding school kicked my butt. I am serious. Most classes had only 12 students and we sat around an oval wooden table discussing our subjects. There was no hiding. I could not get away with memorizing and regurgitating information, I had to process it, defend my arguments, write long essays, do research projects and THINK. I was speechless at my first history class debate about the American Revolution.

Plus, I was alone with no parental support. Boston winters are bleak. I was used to mild California winters.

I had to work super hard to catch up to kids who had been in super prestigious private schools their entire lives. My first semester grades were average but then I caught up.

College

My two years in boarding school near Boston made college fairly easy.
I finished the University of California at Berkeley in three and a half years instead of the regular four or more years, including a semester abroad.

There was no “Italian for Spanish speakers” class so the Beginning Italian course I was enrolled in started from zero for people with no background in Romance languages. As I already knew French and Spanish, I once again found myself bored. I pleaded with the teacher and the head of the department to allow me to only show up to class once a week, instead of everyday, just to take the tests. Reluctantly, they agreed. I got a lot of help from the Italian students with whom I practiced my Italian in my international dormitory. I listened to Italian music and I learned the rest of the grammar book on my own and was ready to read short stories, plays and poetry in Italian. By the next semester, I was in an Italian literature class.

Was my path in the Italian Department typical?

No.

Did anyone pave the way for me?

No.

In a perfect world, your education would meet your needs.

As you can see, my education only met my needs when I made it do that. Yes, it takes effort to challenge school administrators. But if my parents with their limited English and limited financial means could do it, then there are few excuses left for others to just sit and complain about how bad their school is without making their education better.

Although the circumstances of my story may be very different from your own and you may be from a different country, the moral of the story is universal: make education work for you.

With all of the resources available now on I Tunes University with free podcasts from universities worldwide to free documentaries available online, it’s easier now to do what I accomplished than it was when I did it.

Please, if your school is bad, educate yourself. If you don’t have money, like I didn’t, find ways to learn. The resources are there. It’s a matter of using them and standing up for what you need.

Susanna Zaraysky (http://createyourworldbook.com) is the author of Language is Music (http://createyourworldbook.com/my-books/language-is-music (El idioma es música (http://createyourworldbook.com/my-books/el-idioma-es-musica )in Spanish) and Travel Happy, Budget Low (http://createyourworldbook.com/my-books/travel-happy-budget-low ) (budget travel guide). Her passion is to get people to be multilingual using music and the media. She speaks seven languages and has been to over 50 countries, all on a limited budget. On her segment, El idioma es música on the Spanish language Univision channel in San Francisco, she gives tips and lessons on learning English through music and the media to Spanish speakers.

Follow Susanna on Twitter, Facebook, Picasa and on YouTube

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In the episode of the podcast Claude and I spoke with Michael Erard, author of Babel No More: The Search for the World’s Most Extraordinary Language Learners.   Michael had some great things to share about hyper-polyglots, but I don’t want to give to much away so I’ll let the interview speak for itself.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

If you haven’t read the polyglot project click here to download.

View the complete list of interviews by clicking here 

Remember: if you want to receive updates for new episodes of the podcast and have the opportunity to send in questions for our up-and-coming guests, then make sure you sign up to the newsletter below.

Join my mailing list to receive more free ideas about learning and personal growth I don’t share on the site. Just click through to this article:The Polyglot Project Podcast – Episode #08 – Michael Erard and sign up in the box at the bottom of the page.

It’s been two weeks now since I’ve arrived home from Uganda. I’ve not published anything since I got back because I’ve been trying to find the right words to describe the experience loaded with everything from laughter through to tears. Honestly, I looked through the whole English dictionary and I’ve come to a conclusion: either words in English aren’t beautiful enough or I don’t have the skill to arrange them. No matter how much I try, I won’t be able to capture Uganda’s beauty so I’ll just give you a small snippet:

The Surprising Priest of the Catholic Church

The trip started with two days in Rwanda. A beautiful country tainted with a gruesome past. I’m not about to give you a history lesson, but for those who don’t know: Rwanda went through a genocide in 1994 and an estimated 800,000 people were slaughtered. Did you see those two numbers? 1994 and 800,000. That was in my lifetime!

Old Church in Rwanda

As you would expect, during the genocide people were afraid. They weren’t sure if they’d live, and they’d wonder if they were going to get slashed with a machete or blown up with a grenade. I bet you don’t have to worry about anything of the sort?

Anyway, Rwanda’s an extremely religious country, so during the genocide people would pray; they’d pray to live; pray for safety; pray for things to get better.

The priest had a solution! They should all take shelter under the house of the lord. He assured them they’d be safe. The lord would protect them. So quickly the church filled up with men, women and children. The church wasn’t very large but somehow they managed squeeze in 5,000 people. I guess when it’s a matter of life and death you can make anything work.

But then the priest did something surprising: The bastard called the killers. 5,000 people had trusted him with their lives, and before they knew it they were being slaughtered. These innocent men, women and children were slashed with machetes and had grenades thrown at them. They trusted the priest, and because of it they died.

The church still houses all of the skeletons and clothes of the people who died. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures inside, but I managed to get a snapshot from the outside looking in:

I’m not sure how to describe how I felt walking though the church. But what I saw was pain, agony and torture. 5,000 skulls laid out in rows accompanied with skirts, trousers and baby shoes…

The Awesome Orphans

The rest of the trip was spent in Uganda. What stood out  most was when I taught English in an orphanage.

children from the orphanage in Uganda

These children had either been dumped as babies, or their parents had passed away. They had few resources, no money and no parents. But they were incredibly happy. They worked *extremely* hard, and not one of them made an excuse for why they couldn’t learn. They just did it. I’ve never seen a group of children so eager to learn.

Teaching those less fortunate than myself was an incredible experience. I now believe stronger than ever that with passion and dedication anyone can learn anything and these children have given me even more reason to continue what I love doing: helping others learn.

Here’s a dance they performed to say thank you:

The Breathtaking Lake Bunyonyi

This lake was amazing and It’s hard to believe that I actually swam in it! It’s the second deepest lake in East Africa with the shallow end being 45m deep and in some parts it goes as deep as 900m! I tried to take fancy photos and I think they came out all right, but technology just isn’t advanced enough to capture what I saw. These  photos perhaps capture 1/1000 of the beauty:

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I just finished packing my bags and I’m about to head to the airport – I’m excited! Travel is a great tool for personal development, and that’s what I’m all about.

My trip last month to Italy inspired me to start learning Italian; this time I’m going to Uganda, and I’m wondering what I’ll learn.

I’ll be working in a few schools helping to improve the way lessons are taught. To my understanding, their methods a largely based on rote memorisation and lack any sort of interaction. I’m not sure that’s too different from what education is like in western schools, but we’ll see…

If you’re a regular reader of this site then you’ll know how close education is to my heart – and I’m absolutely thrilled to be in a position to travel halfway across the world to help those less fortunate than myself.

I’ll be gone for two weeks and I doubt I’ll have much access to electricity let alone the Internet, so it’s safe to assume that for a while you won’t hear from me.

Nevertheless, I’ve got my notepad, laptop and trusted camera, so you can expect lots of writing, photos and videos when I get back

Lastly, a reminder, I run this site because I want to encourage you to continue to learn and to push yourself into new domains for the purpose of adventure and living life to the fullest.

I do hope I’m setting a good example.

Join my mailing list to receive more free ideas about learning and personal growth I don’t share on the site. Just click through to this article:I’m Travelling Across the World to Help Some Children and sign up in the box at the bottom of the page.

In this episode of the podcast I speak with Luca Lampariello, an extremely talented polyglot from Italy. The interview is filled with lots of great tips, lots of laughs, and I managed to find out a few things you won’t find anywhere else

Follow these links and you’ll find Luca on the other side:

Luca’s blog

Luca’s YouTube Channel

Luca’s Facebook page

Luca’s Twitter

If you haven’t read the polyglot project click here to download.

View the complete list of interviews by clicking here 

Remember: if you want to receive updates for new episodes of the podcast and have the opportunity to send in questions for our up-and-coming guests, then make sure you sign up to the newsletter below

Join my mailing list to receive more free ideas about learning and personal growth I don’t share on the site. Just click through to this article:The Polyglot Project Podcast – Episode #07 – Luca Lampariello and sign up in the box at the bottom of the page.

Gangster? Alpha Genius? Honestly it’s all true, I’ll explain:

I grew up in a place called Hackney. A small but dangerous part of London where gangsters and poor people live. Education is bad, police don’t always turn up and the fear of getting robbed is a given. Oh, and I can’t forget gun shots, lots and lots of gun shots!

Growing up In Hackney

I remember a friend telling me he stabbed another guy in the stomach five times. He said it casually, extremely calm and I couldn’t help but feel he was proud. That was scary. Someone I knew was telling me he stabbed another human.

He described everything in detail, from how he psyched himself up, to how the knife slid in like knives cut through butter. He intended to push the knife through once. But he got a kick out of it, so he did it again, and again, and again.

I didn’t know what to say… or think. Just the the other day we talked and he said it’s not something he’d do.

But now things had changed, and now he carried a knife. A butterfly knife, It was the same knife he used for the stabbing.

Admittedly, I thought it was cool. Not the stabbing. No. But the knife? Yeah, that looked cool as hell!

-

I remember when another friend had his new trainers stolen. That sounds funny. Well, at least it did at the time… But what’s funnier is they were yanked from his feet – that day he literally walked home on the cold filthy concrete. I felt sorry for him. As you can see, Hackney was a cold place to live.

-

But to my surprise things could get colder…

It was cold friday night. I was out with the lads, and we were on the hunt for chicks.

We stood in the line outside of the club, acting as mature as we could. I think at the time I was sixteen.

I looked over and locked eyes with a young lady, my best friend, but we had for some reason fallen out so she turned her head away quickly.

We got to the front of the line, but then the bouncer asked for ID. We pleaded, but nothing. All he kept saying was, “No entry without ID”. There was nothing we could do, so unfortunately we had to leave.

A big group of teenagers were now marching down the street looking for somewhere to go. Someone knew of place twenty minutes away on the bus, so we stood at the bus stop and waited.

It was cold. Really cold. But things were about to get colder…

“Pst…”,

“Pst….”,

“PST…!!!”

I turned my head and there stood a group of twenty guys. I knew who they were and this was of course bad news.

“I hope they’re not calling me… I hope they’re not calling me… I hope they’re not calling me” I whispered while trembling and turning. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, but then:

A cold husky voice bellowed, “You with the black hat, come here!”

I looked around to see who they were calling, but I knew I was the one with the hat.

I turned and I looked, then he signalled he wanted me to walk over.

I was scared, my heart was beating, my palms were sweaty, but for some reason my legs took me towards them.

Something was going to happen. These guys were always up to no good.

I looked around for my friends; they, alongside everyone else were stood watching.

As soon as I got close they tugged me forward. I was now standing in the middle, surrounded.

In one quick scuffle they took off my hat, jerked off my chain, tugged off my jacket and ripped off my shirt; they pushed me, slapped me, kicked me and punched me. I think it lasted 30 seconds, but honestly it felt like a life time.

The guys all dispersed; they had taken my stuff, and left me on the street humiliated.

I was now standing with my torn t-shirt. But surprisingly pleased to not be bare feet.

I wanted to cry. I couldn’t believe it. My best friend – her name was Zalika – ran to me, hugged me and started to cry. Whatever we had argued about the other day no longer mattered.

“Why did they pick you David”, she sniffled. I whispered that everything was ok.

I looked over her shoulder and saw everyone watching, including all of my so called friends.

I was cold night.

Extremely cold.

Hackney was a cold place to live.

In Hackney, people getting robbed and beaten up was just something that happened, and often for no apparent reason.

After the above incident I felt both embarrassed and angry. I didn’t want anything like that to happen again – I’m ashamed to admit it, but can you guess what I did? I started to carry a knife…

My ‘friends’ said I was crazy. I screamed they were stupid. Like, I never actually wanted to use it.

Carrying the knife made me feel somewhat powerful and I felt that no one would harm me.

After going through an unhappy cycle a few times, I think it’s normal to want to do something.

What Happened Next?

Well, you’ll be happy to know I never stabbed anyone, and I never got into a situation where I wanted to use it.

When you’re surrounded by negativity, eventually it has an effect on you. In my case, I went from an innocent kid to one who carried a knife.

More than a handful of my peers went to prison – for everything from drugs to violence.

I moved from hackney to a nicer part of london – which on it’s own didn’t bring a new mindset.

I really changed when I started picking up books. I read everything: self-help, business, travel, fiction ect, ect.

I can’t stress how much books and learning has changed my life…

They’ve made me into a brand new person.

Sharing this story was tough, but all I really want to illustrate is that no matter where you are in life you can change things around.

I grew up in a place full thugs, but today I’m a real big geek. I’m addicted to learning, developing new skills and traveling the world as often a possible.

I’m proof that your past doesn’t dictate the future.

Now, why do I call myself an ‘alpha genius’? Well, besides that I think it’s catchy, I think I have the potential.

In all my reading, and speaking to people commonly considered ‘genius’, I’m yet to see anything that made them different from everyone else.

I always see hard work, dedication and passion.

If that’s what it takes – and I believe that it is – then I’m on my way to becoming a genius

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About one month ago I visited Italy and I announced my new adventure: to conquer the Italian language.

Since then I’ve made steady progress studying for approximately one hour, three days a week. Ideally I’d like to study more but I’m fitting Italian in with my other languages and interests and it’s challenging to give it more time.

I’ve learnt from Spanish and Japanese that it’s effective to take things slow and allow things to settle in the mind. Moving too fast can mean having to go back to relearn the basics, and that’s a frustration I don’t want to deal with again.

So far I’ve learnt how to say simple things like what my name is, where I’m from, what I do for a living ect, ect. I’ve not tried to communicate with a native speaker, but I’m pretty sure I can hold short conversations but we’ll see.

Learning Italian has been extremely pleasurable, partly because the language requires a lot less work than Spanish and Japanese. It’s the second romance language I’m attempting to learn and I’ve noticed I’m putting in less effort while making the same progress I did with Spanish.

As I go through this language learning process again, It’s become more apparent that language learning is not difficult, and it seems to be getting easier.

When I started learning Spanish a lot of my time was spent trying different techniques and figuring out what works and what doesn’t; fortunately that’s not something I have to do this time.

I know what type of resources I like and how to use them effectively.

Resources

Over the next few months I’ll be reviewing each these resources, explaining my likes, dislikes and how I use them to learn. I’m reluctant because I don’t consider myself a language blogger, but I can’t ignore that I get asked to recommend resources often.

I usually mention a few, but I never communicate my thoughts with much detail, so I thought hey, why not review what I’m using to learn Italian so I can have something to send to those who ask for advice.

Watch out for for my next update, I’ll have a go at speaking Italian

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I’m a real Jack-of-all trades. I study Spanish, Japanese and Italian. I’m currently writing a book about effective learning. Just for fun, I recently picked up programming. I like to take photos, record videos and I also write music. Next week I’m picking up Salsa. At University I study Linguistics and Anthropology, but I used to go to film school. I really like yoga and I can touch my knees with my forehead I could keep going, but I think I’ve made my point. I’m extremely curious and I love to learn. I’m a real Jack-of-all-trades.

The Problem with Being a Jack-of-All-Trades

The expression ‘Jack-of-all-trades, master of none’ comes to mind, which suggests that a person who is involved with many areas will spread themselves thin and become a master of none.

For obvious reasons, this is something to be concerned about, especially if you’re trying to become an expert in a particular field. However, It’s important to realise that the need to become an ‘expert’ is preached to us by society, and it’s not something we have to accept.

If you’re a jack-of-all-trades like me, then one of your biggest concerns at some point will be how you’re going to find a career and make money when you have a number of different skills, a wide span of knowledge, but you’re just not ‘great’ at anything.

Trust me, I understand.

The problem isn’t with you, it’s with society’s poor ability to cater for all types of personalities.

But don’t worry about that. We don’t need permission to live life the way we want.

Society excludes us and makes us feel cursed, but actually, being a Jack-of-all-trades is a blessing.

The Advantages of Being a Jack-of-All-Trades

Studying a wide range of subjects and learning different skills means you’ll develop a unique way of looking the world. Unique perspectives are important. In fact, Innovation often comes from connecting unrelated ideas; this is also the case for creativity.

I’ll go as far saying that in-order to innovate you have to be a jack-of-all-trades.

But more on this later.

Commitment vs Flirting

Whenever I take on a new subject or try to develop a new skill I like to think I’m starting a new relationship. After all, I’ll need to spend a lot of time and make a lot of effort. That sounds like a relationship to me.

While relationships can be complicated, to illustrate my point I’m going to over simplify and assert that there are only two types: serious relationships and relationships for fun.

Serious relationships are all about depth, understanding the small details and developing a strong personal connection. However on the flip side we have not-so-serious relationships. Imagine a relationship two people have based on flirting. They don’t pay each other much attention but they have fun and they’re not committed. When the flirting gets boring they stop giving each other attention and the relationship becomes a distant memory.

Looking at new endeavours as relationships can be helpful for a jack-of-all-trades. You won’t develop a serious relationship with everything you try to learn because most of the time you’ll be flirting, testing the waters, exploring something new. You’ll often lose interest and want to move on.

After going through this cycle a few times it’s normal to start feeling worried. Maybe you’ll jump onto google and search for things like ‘is it bad to be a jack of all trades ?’ or ‘why can’t I focus on one thing’ if you did that then that may be how you ended up here.

This is the advice I have: serious relationships are extremely valuable, but as jack-of-all-trades we’re always going to want a bit more, something on the side.

It’s ok to start new relationships and there’s nothing wrong with dropping them when they’re no longer interesting. When this happens it means they’ve served their purpose and it’s time to move on.

Not everything you flirt with has to become serious.

How to be a Successful Jack-of-All-Trades

Success here is defined as being able to pursue your interests, being happy and making money. If you want to be a ‘successful’ jack-of-all-trades then you’ll need to pursue something that enables you to constantly learn and explore new areas.

Again, Innovation and creativity is driven by those who are able to bring together unrelated ideas in interesting ways.

I’ve found my wide range of interests to be helpful when writing. My knowledge of different areas allows me to connect interesting dots which I would not have been able to do otherwise.

I’m also drawn to entrepreneurship and documentary film making.

Entrepreneurship because of the uncertainty, the adventure and all of the different aspects involved.

Documentary film making purely because it’s centred around learning about the world.

These are the directions I’m heading and they may be of no interest to you, but the idea here is simple: find something that requires you to have knowledge of different areas and possess a number of skills.

This what I believe it takes to be a successful jack-of-all-trades

What will you try to pursue?

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