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Benny Lewis | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4718 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 9 of 164 05 April 2012 at 6:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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As I said before, his Brazilian Portuguese is really good from what I've seen in his videos. His accent is a little funny, I can't explain why, but that doesn't matter at all since his flow is excelent and also, being Brazil such a wide country, the accents are very diversified all around it.
His Italian seemed also good to me! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4718 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 10 of 164 05 April 2012 at 7:04pm | IP Logged | ||
The main difference between Tim and the rest of us, mortals, is that he has no problem whatsoever in studying his target language 15 hours "non-stop" in a single day. Imagining an average of 10/12 hours a day, 6 days a week for 3 months (i.e. 90 days), how good would he be after it? Certainly better than me in a whole year. I'd most likely collapse if I ever tried it =P 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6922 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes Speaks: English* | Message 11 of 164 05 April 2012 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think Benny has found a fun way to take all the negative criticisms and turn them to his advantage. Sometimes negativity from others can serve as a motivation to learn a language. Example: A: "You cannot learn Chinese in three months."; B: "Just watch me!"
I believe that by using the title "fluent in 3 months" he means to motivate people to start learning now and that they do not need (unless they want to) spend a lifetime learning a language in order to benefit from it and be able to use it. (Whether this was his original intent when he started the site, I cannot say, but I believe that to be his position now). He has an amazing personality and you just want to sit with him at the pub and talk for hours. I must say that I am enjoying the new trend of the so-called "YT polyglots" of posting videos of them speaking in real, unrehearsed conversations with other speakers of the language. (In addition to Benny, Steve Kaufmann and Richard are currently doing this and they are amazing!) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5563 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 12 of 164 05 April 2012 at 7:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think I'll sneak in a quick post before it gets closed too.
The main criticism of him is that his claims are exagerated and/or that he uses wording that leads to misinterpretation. I think the reason that people find him so irritating, is because he is very skilled at arguing, and he never concedes anything. My own frustration with him is that despite his voluminous blog and commentary output, he is a bit reticent about what he actually does on a day to day basis. As far as I can interpret, he actually does a massive amount of conventional studying, but all he ever talks about is the speaking. I don't think he actually talks from day 1, but starts after a couple of weeks, and gradually increases it so by the end of the 3 months, the whole of his study is "interacting with the natives". But I may be wrong. I do still think he is an inspiration, and it's interesting that some people on this forum are starting to think more about using the language more actively during the learning process. Funnily enough, I find the most impressive thing about him is the quality (and quantity) of his (English) writing. That blog is pretty impressive. edit:I find Benny's achievements impressive, irrespective of what level he has actually attained (I am not in a position to judge it). I wish I could do the same. But I suspect that for most people it would be unrealistic, without some serious therapy and/or training beforehand. Edited by schoenewaelder on 07 April 2012 at 1:58pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tmp011007 Diglot Senior Member Congo Joined 6072 days ago 199 posts - 346 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese | Message 13 of 164 05 April 2012 at 8:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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http://www.fluentin3months.com/possible/
posted by Benny on Apr. 4 2012 "... I’ll quickly mention where I’m at: I won’t be speaking C1 Mandarin this month, .... So now I can follow B2 level conversations and get the general gist, ..., and follow B1 conversations almost entirely. ... So in general I’d say I’m a comfortable B – a very safe B1, and dipping my toes into B2 on occasion, i.e. “intermediate” speaker. Whether I’m fluent or not depends on your definition. My ultimate goal of “high level fluency” of being able to do what I do in English in the language, is still a bit off, .... I’m very proud of what I’ve done in this time – if you decide that the 3 months is a “failure” because I didn’t get the C1 target, then that’s your own sad problem ..." I am really sad 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4718 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 14 of 164 05 April 2012 at 9:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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In my opinion, having set such a high goal is not reason to be made fun of. If I aim for a 10 in an exam and get an 8, it's still better than aiming for a 6 and getting either a 7 or a 5. Although 7 > 6, still 7 < 8. Edited by fabriciocarraro on 05 April 2012 at 9:15pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5133 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 15 of 164 05 April 2012 at 9:21pm | IP Logged | ||
And when you aim for a 10 and get a 3? Would you accept any suggestions from others on what you could change or improve upon? Or would you cover your ears and sing "la-la-la-la - I caaaan't heeeear you"? R. == 13 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4718 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 16 of 164 05 April 2012 at 9:34pm | IP Logged | ||
You would be right and I'd agree with you, if that was the case here. Putting C1 as a 10, Benny's gotten himself a 6/7 in the mission. In my opinion, that's great anyway. If a normal person would keep saying "Mandarin is too hard, it'll take me years to reach a fine level la-la-la", would that person be speaking in a B1+ level after 3 months? I highly doubt it. 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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