Polyglot English in 16 hours courses. Polyglot

The intellectual reality show of the Kultura TV channel is an intensive course in learning English. The teacher is a real polyglot, who speaks more than 30 languages. This is teacher Dmitry Petrov - psycholinguist, simultaneous interpreter, teacher, author of the book “The Magic of the Word”. There are 8 people in the group of students.

Participants: actors Vladimir Epifantsev, Anna Litkens, Daria Ekamasova, Alexandra Rebenok, Anastasia Vvedenskaya; jeweler-designer Mikhail Milyutin; art critic Alisa Gorlova; writer, screenwriter and presenter of the "Cinema Magic" program Oleg Shishkin.

Here's what Petrov himself says about this interactive course:

“To master the English language perfectly, even a lifetime is not enough. To learn to speak professionally, you also need to spend a lot of time, effort and energy. But in order to simply learn to understand people, to be understood, and most importantly to get rid of the fear that many people have that inhibits any desire and opportunity to express themselves in language, this requires no more than a few days.

What I offer you, I have experienced on myself and on quite a large number of people. I am a professional translator, linguist, I do professional translation in a number of languages, and I teach it to others. And, gradually, a certain approach, a mechanism, was developed. It must be said that there is such a progression - each subsequent language requires less effort and time.

A week is enough for any language. What is language? - Language is A New Look on the world, the surrounding reality. It's the ability to switch, to make a click. And just like in a receiver, we change one program to another, tune in to a different wave.

What is required on your part is motivation (the desire to travel, something related to the profession, learning and communication, it could be friendship or love)"

At each lesson, what has been learned is consolidated and new grammatical and lexical material is introduced. By the end, students have mastered basic grammatical patterns and can use them fluently in their speech.

Dmitry Petrov's method is not to start a language, but to penetrate it, to feel comfortable in a new language environment.

Click on the image to view the lesson

Lesson #1

Participants in the show begin a course of 16 lessons. Everyone's goal is to learn to speak English. To master a language perfectly, even a lifetime is not enough. But it only takes a few days to simply learn to understand people and to be understood, Dmitry Petrov is sure.

Lesson #2

The verb in every language is the stem. The list of verbs that every person constantly uses does not exceed 50-60 words. There are, of course, thousands of others, but they are used in only 10% of speech. We can talk about the present, the future, the past. We can affirm, deny, or ask something. The result is a table of 9 cells: tic-tac-toe.

Lesson #3

Most of us know a huge number of English words. Consciously or on a subconscious level. English words hover everywhere. But they can be compared to a scattering of beads, which themselves are scattered, but the systems are not. The lack of a system prevents them from being used effectively, so one of basic principles our system - to create a thread, a rod, where you can string all these beads.

Lesson #4

Dmitry Petrov suggests working on a list of the most important verbs most often used in English speech using a basic scheme and bringing it to automatism. This is the first step that needs to be taken in order to reach the level of fluent, relaxed language proficiency during the course.

Lesson #5

Do you think it is possible to learn 50,000 words in a minute? Each of you can make a bet with those who do not know what is possible. The situation is simple. In English, Russian and a number of other languages ​​there are a large number of words with the same ending. Thus, in the Russian language, about 50 thousand words end in -tsia or -siya. In English, most of these words have the same root and end in -tion or -sion. According to statistics, there are several tens of thousands of such words.

Lesson #6

Dmitry Petrov's students, using the structures and tables obtained in previous classes, begin to communicate in the language. With mistakes, with long pauses, but progress is noticeable. The main thing is to relax and remove the psychological barrier.

Lesson #7

Dmitry Petrov's method is not to cram the language, but to penetrate it in order to feel comfortable in the new language environment. Probably for this reason, the show participants decided to master professional vocabulary. Six of them are media persons - actors, directors, TV presenters.

Lesson #8

Dmitry Petrov and the show participants analyze the system of prepositions. First, students make sentences about the position of objects in space. Petrov then explains that some prepositions are added to verbs, and so-called phrasal verbs arise.

Lesson #9

One must speak without hesitation, with pleasure, figuratively, believes Dmitry Petrov. If you pay attention exclusively to grammatical structures and the number of words learned, then success is hardly possible. And if the language is perceived not as a textbook or dictionary, but as something living, changeable, filled with vivid images, these barriers disappear. This is exactly the approach Petrov follows when working with students in the studio.

Lesson #10

In the tenth lesson, project participants continue free and creative communication on topics that interest them. Of course, they don’t do everything accurately and correctly, but Dmitry Petrov is in no hurry to correct the grammatical mistakes of his students: he wants them to learn to enjoy speaking English, and they can always polish their speech. The main thing is to have something to polish.

Lesson #11

At the 11th lesson, the group conducts a kind of revision of the acquired knowledge - repeats the grammatical patterns studied in the first lessons. Daria Ekamasova talks about how she went on an internship. At the end of the lesson, students continue to develop their communication skills.

Lesson #12

Dmitry Petrov tells what principle is best to form the basis of a language and explains with what mechanisms to gain the necessary vocabulary. Students describe the image they associate with learning English and eagerly wait for the teacher to reveal to them all 30 “magic” verbs with which they can talk about everything.

An intellectual reality show on the TV channel "Culture", an intensive training video course "Polyglot" consists of 16 lessons - English lessons, the goal of which is to learn to speak English. The developer of this unique system, as well as the teacher during all classes, is Dmitry Petrov, a well-known Russian linguist, translator, polyglot, who speaks thirty languages.

Polyglot. English in 16 hours.


The classes are attended by eight students (who are media persons - TV presenters, directors, actors) who practically do not know English, except at the level of first-graders high school. But by the end of the course, they will already be able to communicate in English using complex and correct expressions. Here's what Petrov himself says about this interactive course:

To master the English language perfectly, even a lifetime is not enough. To learn to speak professionally, you also need to spend a lot of time, effort and energy. But in order to simply learn to understand people, to be understood, and most importantly to get rid of the fear that many people have that inhibits any desire and opportunity to express themselves in language, this requires no more than a few days. What I offer you, I have experienced on myself and on quite a large number of people. I am a professional translator, linguist, I do professional translation in a number of languages, and I teach it to others. And, gradually, a certain approach, a mechanism, was developed. It must be said that there is such a progression - each subsequent language requires less effort and time. A week is enough for any language. What is language? – Language is a new look at the world, the surrounding reality. It's the ability to switch, to make a click. And just like in a receiver, we change one program to another, tune in to a different wave. What is required on your part is motivation (the desire to travel, something related to the profession, learning and communication, it could be friendship or love)

Watch all Polyglot lessons. Learn English in 16 hours for free on the Fascinating English website:

Polyglot English language Basic course is a simulator for teaching English, created based on the TV show “Polyglot. Learn English in 16 hours”, shown on the Culture TV channel.

The course “Polyglot English” consists of 16 lessons. Exercises require no more than 10-15 minutes a day.

The main thing is not the amount of time, but the regularity. At regular classes After the first week of training, you will easily be able to communicate in simple phrases in English. Even if you started training from scratch.

In a programme Polyglot English language special learning algorithms are laid down, which, through repeated repetition, literally imprint knowledge of the language into the consciousness.

Training takes place in game form and quietly fuels the desire to learn further.

How it works

The program offers you simple expressions in Russian with verbs in one of three tenses (present, past, future) and in one of three forms (affirmative, negative, interrogative).

From the words on the screen you need to make English translation. If you answered correctly, the program will praise you. If you suddenly make a mistake, it will tell you the correct answer.

As you compose your answer, the selected words are spoken out. Then the correct answer is announced.

To move on to the next lesson you need to score 4.5 points in the previous lesson. Until points are earned, lessons remain locked.

List of lessons

The program contains 16 lessons and an exam.

Hello! The reality show “Polyglot”, which was launched by the TV channel “Culture”, caused a great resonance in society. What caused the increased public interest in this project? Already from the title you can guess that we will talk about a foreign language, or rather about English. But first things first.

What is the value of the Polyglot project?

The format of this show provides the opportunity for viewers not only to observe the successes of the participants, but also to actively learn English themselves during the same 16 lectures. That is, you can also watch the video, read additional materials, complete assignments and start speaking English in a few weeks.

The developer of the “Polyglot” system and the teacher of 16 English classes is a famous linguist, polyglot (30 languages!) - Dmitry Petrov. The goal of the project is to teach English in 16 hours. Petrov’s method is to penetrate English and feel comfortable in this language environment.

A group of 8 students, most of them famous people, participate in the intellectual show. All participants in “Polyglot” either do not know English at all, or have a vague understanding of it from school.

In any case, they will have to learn English from scratch in 16 lessons. Already in the first lesson, students begin to learn new words and try to communicate in English. With tension, long pauses, with mistakes, but still progress is immediately noticeable.

16 killer hours of English

In all 16 lessons, which last no more than an hour, participants recall and consolidate what they have learned, then learn new group words and phrases. New lexical and grammatical material is introduced. By the end of the “Polyglot” course, in 16 hours, students master basic grammatical patterns, are easily explained in English, and use complex word patterns correctly.

We will provide you with 16 video lessons intellectual show“Polyglot”, as well as auxiliary test materials that will help you consolidate the material faster and more effectively, as well as tips with the correct pronunciation.

Each lesson is discussed in detail in a separate article.

Watch a series of 16 Polyglot English lessons

Have you already completed training in the Polyglot system? Have you managed to learn English from scratch? What was the most difficult thing during these 16 hours?

The project participants proved by their own example that this system is effective, that you can learn English from scratch in just 16 lessons! The main thing is desire, perseverance and a lot of work. But is the result worth it?!

Download Additional materials to the lessons at the link below.

Please share your opinions and feedback in the comments.

In 2012, the first season of the reality show was released on the Culture channel - Polyglot - English in 16 hours. Ambitious goal announced immediately, in the title of the program.

8 participants with different levels knowledge: from elementary to zero.

16 lessons with an experienced teacher, during which you had to:

  • compile a basic dictionary;
  • master the basics of grammar;
  • and ultimately speaking.

The purpose of the program “Polyglot - English in 16 hours”

– to help students enjoy their classes and make it clear that achieving tangible progress in learning a foreign language is not a fairy tale, but a reality.

Not to be intimidated by deliberate complexity, but to open up new spaces: so as not to suffer over the next exercise or stack of words, but to live the language, take the most desired, necessary for:

  • communication with foreigners: in in social networks, on forums, while traveling abroad;
  • viewing films and TV series in the original;
  • access to information sources.

In 16 hours it is possible:

A person who has a more or less decent command of his native language is, by definition, capable of speaking another language. At least for basic level. The only limiting factor can be a lack of motivation. Dmitry Petrov

Dmitry Petrov

- the person who took on the task:
  • Linguist and part-time polyglot. Known to varying degrees in more than 30 languages.
  • Simultaneous interpreter. Works with major European languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish and German. And, not so revered by the masses, Czech, Greek and Hindi.
  • Lecturer at Moscow State Linguistic University.
  • Author of the book “The Magic of Words”.

But Petrov’s main merit is not in his titles, but in the methodology voiced in the program “Polyglot - English in 16 hours.”

Many simply do not need to delve very deeply into all the richness of the language. They want faster, more practical results. Actually, for this reason I tried to formulate the basic principles of the methodology.

Its essence boils down to the following: there are a number of basic algorithms, a certain matrix, a “multiplication table” of the language, which must be brought to automation as quickly as possible. Dmitry Petrov

Personally, I identified two main advantages of Petrov’s lessons, which are 100% consistent with the main theses of the program itself:

  • increased motivation;
  • presenting the basics in a concise, concise form.

Let's consider these points in more detail.

Polyglot - English in 16 hours - reality!

Many people need language for travel, study or work. But how many people actually acquire the skills?

Most people perceive any foreign language as a sealed secret. Something so complex that only a select few, gifted from birth (with excellent memory, a special way of thinking), can master it.

Memories of school hardships do not help progress either. Memories:

  • about the porridge in the head after classes;
  • about the thick fog that obscures the vision when trying to cope with homework.

So is it possible to overcome disbelief and change the perception of English as a kind of Holy Grail that everyone has heard about, but few have seen?

Polyglot comes to the rescue, promising the impossible - to teach a language in 16 hours? It turns out that it’s time to pack your bags and prepare for the tour according to the scheme - Suitcase → Moscow → London, New York, Sydney?

No!

This is impossible, despite the promises of pseudo-linguists, neither in a week nor in 3 months. In such a short period of time, the only thing you can really master is the alphabet.

And Dmitry notes that he did not intend to teach everything in less than a day (two full working days):

No one has ever set out to teach a language in 16 hours. It's about about overcoming the psychological barrier, helping students experience the comfort of learning a language and understand that it is real. Dmitry Petrov

It helps a lot when a person with many years of experience in studying and teaching languages ​​(he knows more than one) assures that you are able to understand, master and speak a foreign language. This is why the cherished 16 hours are needed - to open your eyes.

And before we move on to the second point, firmly remember one simple but important idea - Each of us has already mastered one language.

In my case, it is Russian.

An integrated (volumetric) approach to studying

What does this mean?

Let's formulate the question differently: How do they teach at school, and what is Dmitry Petrov's approach?

School program

Familiar to most and looks something like this:

  • first we teach Present Simple and a long list of nouns;
  • in the next lesson Future Simple and a little irregular verbs;
  • a week later - Past Simple and try to read;
  • at the end - a test on Simple tenses.

And so in a circle: Simple → Continuous → Perfect → Perfect Continuous, flavoring the times with interrogative and negative variations, stacks of words and reading texts, most of the meaning of which remains a mystery.

And the problem is not only the complexity of the subject or the incorrectness of the methods.

Speed ​​of material absorption

Each person has an individual speed of mastering the material. This applies not only to English: to all disciplines. Students gather in one class:

  • capable of getting ahead syllabus;
  • coping with the load;
  • who are hopelessly behind and, ultimately (years later), simply “give up” on the subject.

This situation in education was revealed at the panel Sal Khan, offering to teach not for the sake of passing tests, but for gaining knowledge and developing skills.

English subtitles are available in the video.

Sal Khan. “Learning to improve, not to pass tests.”

English difference

What's special? That:

  • half of any textbook is written in an unknown language?
  • Parents who studied German at school are not able to help with the analysis of the next rule?
  • Despite the deep penetration of the English language into our lives, a learning culture has not been formed in Russia (in comparison, for example, with the Scandinavian countries)?
  • our fellow citizens do not have the opportunity to travel around the world (to places where knowledge is required foreign languages)?
  • Is society inert and we need to be patient?

Who knows. Perhaps a little bit of everything.

But what does Polyglot offer as an answer to the silent question?

What does the course “Polyglot – English in 16 hours” include?

First, let's look at the time tables:

Times Present

One table contains the basis of all Simple time. For comparison, in the tutorial that I used, this time is scattered across three chapters 6, 11 and 12.

Negative and interrogative forms - the same story - chapters 8 and 9.

So you either have to invent your own general table times, or shovel the entire textbook every time.

Continuous tenses

A similar scheme applies to extended (long) time.

Certainly, English Times cannot be reduced to two tablets. There is the universally hated Perfect, the terrible Perfect Continuous, and then the completely incomprehensible one. But:

Firstly, these two tables present most used tenses.

Secondly, these times are the basis that will take the weight of other knowledge.

Course vocabulary

The next thing you should pay attention to is vocabulary.

The average English speaker is able to actively use 20,000 words. 8,000-9,000 is required for free communication and reading non-specialized literature in the original.

90% of human speech consists of 300-350 words, regardless of a person’s age, his level of education and the language he speaks. Dmitry Petrov

Below I will leave lists of words that were used in the course “Polyglot - English in 16 hours”. Total 300 lexical units:

I did not include some expressions that were mentioned in class. They were not given as frequency or importance, but simply came up in conversation or were part of the topic. For example: surrealist (surrealist), whim (whim), cuisine (kitchen: about cooking).

Nouns, adjectives, adverbs

Pronouns

Time indication

Traveler's Concise Dictionary

This selection can be compared with two others:

The main difference between Dmitry Petrov’s program and the school course

– minimum (basic) volumes grammar and vocabulary are given immediately, in the first hours of class. And the main work is carried out in bringing their use to automatism (the level of freedom of proficiency in the native language).

Your speech will not become refined and varied. The sentences will be of the same type and bland in sound. But there will be:

  • ease and fluency of pronunciation;
  • ability to convey a message.

Believe me, understanding what is written in a book or newspaper, heard in a film or video on YouTube is much easier than starting to write and speak yourself.

Perhaps that is why the program participants immediately begin to construct proposals.

Use of acquired knowledge

How long does it take before a student can (should) speak English?

According to Dmitry Petrov, less than an hour. Without putting it aside, in the very first lesson, students (even those who have never studied the language) begin to construct simple sentences. Just subject + predicate:

  • I'm open.
  • I will open.
  • I opened.

An elementary thing, but like the first step on the surface of the Moon, it is a huge leap for that part of humanity that wants to master the English language.

Practice colloquial speech not only develops the most difficult skill, but adds confidence from the first steps. You realize that you are able to speak. And this is a huge plus for motivation - the only critical parameter for the development of any skills.

In conclusion

I advise you to immediately start practicing the grammatical structures and words you are learning:

Do this every day. Find an hour, half an hour, ten minutes, but don’t stop making progress. As the author of the course advises, find a couple of free minutes several times a day:

  • lunch break;
  • travel by bus;
  • going to the store.

The minutes that make up the hours on which your success or failure depends.

There are always exceptions

But don't be afraid to say what's for you school years were not in vain. That after graduation they could easily go to Britain and talk to a passerby without tension or a shadow of doubt. I believe that such people exist and for them the program “Polyglot - English in 16 hours” is a long-gone stage.

But from personal experience studying at a Russian school and looking around right now, I also understand that you are an exception. Most people (in terms of foreign languages) are still wandering in the dark.

Everyone can dispel this darkness. You just need to start stepping in the right direction - the one that Dmitry Petrov has already suggested with his “Polyglot”.

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