Different types of learning styles among sophisticated second language learners are described. Excerpts are presented of interviews with four adults who were gifted in acquiring command of foreign languages. Each of the respondents used a different approach to second language learning but considered that approach to be the one naturally appropriate way to learn a language. Two of the subjects reported that they just absorbed the language through contact with native speakers, a third engaged in extensive memorization and practice of drills, while the fourth used a two-step process of gaining intellectual understanding of a feature of the language and then using it in a communicative setting. The one common feature among the four learners is that they apply a whole system rather than a set of practices to the task of language learning. These findings have implications for the issue of whether successful language learning approaches can be taught. (RW)