Trying to learn a language? This polyglot’s tips will help

Arieh Smith is a YouTuber and content creator with almost 10 million subscribers across his channels.

Arieh, also known as @Xiaomanyc, lives in New York and is best known for his videos surprising people with his language abilities. And it’s not just your classic French and Spanish - though he does speak excellent Spanish. Arieh has mastered Mandarin Chinese and dabbles in Yoruba, Navajo, Fuzhounese, Wolof, Hindi and countless more.

So what’s his secret?

Arieh grew up in your average family. Just one language was spoken at home and he wasn’t particularly interested or successful in the languages offered at school.

After he finished high school though, Arieh was looking for something interesting to do during the summer and found a flyer for free Mandarin Chinese classes. After learning some basics and practising in New York’s Chinatown, he was hooked.

“I think the reason why I continued studying it to the extent that I did was [...] I got very positive feedback from Chinese people, very early on,” Arieh tells Euronews Travel

While in college, Arieh continued his studies and earned a scholarship to spend a year studying in China. This included a two month programme with other American students where they were forbidden from speaking to each other in English.

“I tried to create a true immersion environment for myself... I was at a university in Beijing that had a lot of foreign students but I really tried to segregate myself and I said, right, I’m only going to hang out with Chinese people,” explains Arieh.

“If I did hang out with foreigners, I tried to hang out with people who didn’t speak very good English.”

Learning a language not only opens the door to easier travel , it also creates a deeper understanding of a country and its