...
Teacher: Start with the simple stuff: everyday objects, body parts. After nouns go to verbs, make sentences. Listen to the sounds.
Student: How long does it take to learn a new language?
Teacher: An hour for the essentials. A week for the complex grammar of a difficult language like Dutch.
Student: Any tricks?
Teacher: Use tools. Film subtitles are good. Oh, and leverage your resources. If you are learning one language, learn two or three others at the same time.
__________
Voiceover
Kenneth Hale put his language gifts to humanitarian use. He learned languages that were dying. Some he could rescue.
He reckoned that when we lose a language we lose “intellectual wealth, a work of art. It’s like dropping a bomb on the Louvre.”
...
