Benny Lewis, world traveler and language connoisseur, visited the Johns Hopkins Barnes & Noble on Sunday to sign copies of his book, Fluent in 3 Months. As part of his book tour, Lewis is visiting every state and province in the U.S. and Canada, but Hopkins has special significance for the author.
“I actually was a teacher for Johns Hopkins — a mathematics teacher at their summer camp, Center for Talented Youth, so I have a connection with the University,” Lewis said. “So the idea of actually presenting my book in the bookstore by the University was really important to me.”
At the age of 21, Lewis, an electronic engineer, could only speak English.
“I studied Irish for 11 years and couldn’t say ‘my name is,’” Lewis said.
After living in Spain for six months, Lewis was unable to speak conversational Spanish. He considered himself to be a failed language learner who had become frustrated with conventional language acquisition methods.
In Fluent in 3 Months, Lewis, after studying thousands of different language learning methods, synthesizes the commonalities between successful language learning techniques in order to overcome his personal linguistic failures.
Lewis considers people’s mentality to be their primary barrier to learning a language. Age, lack of time and other excuses may pile up, but Lewis lives by an old adage by Henry Ford: “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t — you’re right.”
Lewis said that everyone has the time to learn a language; If you are driven, you will find the time. Once, he studied a language during his three-block walk to lunch.
“You find ways to make a few sacrifices to make the time to learn your language,” said Lewis. “One thing I highly recommend to people is to speak the language from day one.”
Lewis compared language learning to riding a bicycle. No one buys books titled Bike Riding for Dummies, completes a myriad of exercises, spends hundreds of dollars on Rosetta Bike Riding and studies bike riding for two years before getting on a bike. Lewis encouraged language students to begin speaking the language as soon as they begin learning it, regardless of their limited vocabulary or imperfect grammar.
“I have a goal of making 200 mistakes a day when I am learning a language,” Lewis said.
Lewis uses context clues to begin speaking a new language and advocates learning grammar later.
“The purpose of grammar is to tidy up your language; you can’t tidy up an empty house,” Lewis said.
After summarizing his book, Lewis opened up the floor for questions.
Jonathan Lewis, a high school sophomore from Sharptown, Md., has studied several languages including French, Spanish, Farsi and Italian. He has recently become acquainted with Lewis’s book and blog and previously attended a Fluent in 3 Months book signing in D.C.
“Benny’s philosophy is all about actually speaking and using the language. I have met quite a few people from around the world, and I have gotten a chance to practice my languages. He is a polyglot celebrity,” Lewis said.
A polyglot is a person who knows and uses several languages, and Lewis has earned an esteemed position in the polyglot community. Jonathan even sported a shirt designed by Lewis. The front reads “Polyglot,” while the customizable back lists the languages that the wearer is fluent in.
A group of Hopkins freshmen who were intent on learning Portuguese also attended the book signing event.
“I came because I’m really interested in spending time in Brazil, and I want to meet other people who speak Portuguese and learn more about how to learn languages,” freshman Sophie Eidelman said.
Lewis did advocate immersion as the best way to learn a new language.
“Immersion is open to you right here. There are amazing ways to immerse yourself in a language without ever buying a plane ticket,” said Lewis.
As a closing exercise for the group, Lewis encouraged his audience to reach out to their neighbors, converse in different languages and begin bilingual relationships. The linguaphiles at the book signing spoke Spanish, Portuguese and a myriad of other languages.
In an increasingly English-driven world, the merit of learning another language may seem to be diminishing. Lewis, however, views multilingualism as a valuable professional skill. His language abilities have helped him in his career and feels that it could help others as well.
“It’s rather lazy to get [people from non-English speaking countries] to learn your [language],” Lewis said. “Having learned languages opened up my résumé and made me way more employable compared to any other engineer.”
Lewis feels that fluency in additional languages is not a dying talent, but rather a highly valuable and attainable skill.
“Languages are a lot easier than people think they are. You just have to think about it the right way,” Lewis said.
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