The Hyperpolyglot Handbook. A Gigachad's Guide to Language Learning

by Language Simp

This book is your definitive strategy guide to conquering the gigantic task of learning a language or, for the daring, multiple languages. I know firsthand that getting started can be confusing, and that the road is filled with potential traps and pitfalls. I have also found that so many resources out there are needlessly technical and confusing, bombarding our feeble human minds with nerdy nonsense that is totally unnecessary for a beginner.

So, I've put my years of language-learning experience to work and manifested this handbook into existence through my gigachad willpower, in order to guide you away from those easily avoidable mistakes and towards the coveted life cheat code we call "polyglotism" which is sure to unlock tons of DLC for you on this cute little floating ball of rock we call Earth.

I'm not here to sell you on some cheap hack and I can't promise you that you'll finish your quest instantly like you downloaded a complete save file off a sketchy forum, but I can promise you that the insights in my book can help you make it fun and rewarding. If you're ready to graduate from monolingualism, this is the book for you.

Genres: Nonfiction

137 pages, ebook

Published January 1, 2025

Reviews

[Holdon Son · Rating 3 out of 5]

Estoy haciendo un viejo a Puerto Rico este mes con mi novio, so I decided to read a book from a Youtuber I'm subscribed to. He 'reviews' languages in sort of a Gen Z humor way. They don't always make me laugh but I never regret watching them. This book is about his strategies for learning languages.

Some of the advice is silly (he repeats one 'new' word a day in his head, a bit too slow of a pace for me), and a lot of the advice I've already heard elsewhere, but I did get some takeaways. The value of talking to others in your target language online. The value of soap operas in learning Spanish. Comprehensible input and having fun being more important than doing things that make learning a chore like grammar and practicing a 'native accent'.

I did join his discord to get language practice the first time he recommended it in the book (he ends up doing so like 3-4 times?), but it's not very active and even the author hasn't posted there in nearly a month. I joined a more active one only to see a bunch of B2 Spanish speakers intimidate my 'advanced A1' ass.

Sticking to my regimen of Busuu, comprehensible input (currently Telemundo news and the Dutch show 'Extra', but maybe a soap opera next?), and chatting with ChatGPT.

[David M · Rating 5 out of 5]

surprisingly helpful and full of sarcastic humor.

[Sean Swanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The prose is silly (and expectedly so after having watched Language Simp’s Youtube page for awhile now), but there were truly a lot of good nuggets of info in this read. I think the advice is very actionable which is nice, as it’s practical/doesn’t reinvent the wheel. I also like the emphasis that you really don’t need to spend money on classes or programs to learn a language unless you actually want to.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read. Some good points with a comedic tone.

[Alexander Mynzak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Натрапив спочатку на ютуб канал автора. Потім знайшов цей посібник, але не купляв. Знайшов так. Спочатку я скептично ставився, бо думав, що це псевдополіглот, але прочитавши впевнився в протилежному. Чомусь я помилково думав, що він буде надавати дуже конкретні поради та підходи, але були висвітлені загальні вказівки. З більшістю висвітленого я вже був знайомий й можу погодитись. Є інші посібники, які розкривають проблематику ширше, але ця для початку як раз норм.

[Ned · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book covered everything I can think of to do with language learning and the author gave his opinion on each one with no pressure to follow it. Very good if you’re someone who’s unsure on how to start learning a new language.

I also liked his unique perspective on having learned multiple languages, balancing them and his tips on how to learn each one the best.

[Ty Harm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute fantastic read if your looking into the world of language learning captivating funny yet serious and goes against the status quo by other language influencers

[Hicham · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely awesome book. I recommend every language learner to read this book it'll be 100% worth it and an eye Opener.

[Juan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish I would have read this when I started learning languages

[Humberto Liann · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Pinche libro todo hermoso! I've followed Language Simp for a year now and read this book in a sitting. I'm at a point of my learning journey where you feel like you don't need any advice (I'm so awesome, I'm adding my 4th language) and reading this types of books makes you realize how wrong you are. It's a book that covers all bases of language learning and a bit more, there were (at least for me) lots of novel advice on mindset and practicality. It's a book that can be misinterpreted as "you have to take it slow" when he's actually defending that, if you can, you MUST have fun while learning a language (for example: to me, it is fun grinding and learning like 30 words a day), but he also acknowledges that it isn't going to be like that at all times. The silly writing is what made me love the book, not a pretentious beta writing, just pure alpha-male jokes about imploding natives and backflipping mandarin speakers after hearing you say "Yo, ni-hao" and I'm all here for it 😂 Totally recommended!!

[Kevin Pinili · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most sustainable method of language learning I read about. The book is full of funny content but Language Simp's method can work for almost everyone. It paints language learning as a fun thing to do but also has loads of benefits after successfully learning your target language. I'm using it right now to learn Spanish and I'm gonna use it to learn other Romance and Asian languages. For all of Language Simp's comedic videos, his book may be seriously one of the best language learning books you could ever find.

[Nicholas Decarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought it because I like his satirical content on YouTube and I use an ad blocker. It's a lot of his general tips and advice. Much of it can be gleaned from his YouTube videos in-between the layers of irony and alpha-moging YouTube polyglots. However, there is some genuinely good advice - a lot of which I'll be applying.

There were a few of his takes I disagree with, but he's not writing for my circumstances he's writing for a mostly American audience and approaching this as more of a hobby than an important life skill.

[Novikov_Konstantin]

Золотое пособие по получение удовольствия, пока учишь язык. Рабочая стратегия для вещей за пределами лингвистики.

[FungiM · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simple guide for anyone trying to pick up a new language, spiced up with the author’s unique humor. Definitely recommend it.