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Moses McCormick’s admirable achievement

 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery Post Reply
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hribecek
Triglot
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Czech Republic
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 Message 129 of 221
14 April 2010 at 8:29pm | IP Logged 
To Budz

None of my questions were even slightly out of his territory, let alone 'ridiculously out of his territory', they were all about him so well within his territory!

As for the video, I'm not trying to learn anything from watching it, I'm just very interested in hearing Polyglot stories and especially language stories so there is a big point in it for me, just like somebody might like watching a documentary or whatever, it always has a point for them.

I'd even be interested in listening to/watching your language story, seeing as you're also obviously very talented. Are you willing to share it? I'm happy to take your word for it on your levels etc.


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goosefrabbas
Triglot
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United States
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 Message 130 of 221
14 April 2010 at 11:41pm | IP Logged 
Budz wrote:
Yeah it's funny. First we had the 'professor' and he was treated like a god and everyone had to ask questions as if he knew all the answers. Well, the professor really was a god because he wouldn't even allow frivolous comments.


Are you implying that our Professor is a mere mortal?
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Budz
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 Message 131 of 221
15 April 2010 at 12:15am | IP Logged 
I too find the videos interesting... but usually the pace is a bit slow for me. When you're trying to learn 10 languages or so at a time, it's hard to give up 9 and a half minutes to watch a video that doesn't really contain that much information. Though yes, I do watch a few of them and I'm always interested to see what the new ones are about as I've picked up a lot of useful info from them... mainly on resources that I didn't know about.

I'd be more interested in making some videos out 'in the field', speaking to locals on actual trips to these countries, but it's so difficult to get me or them to be really natural. Making videos is a real art.


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Rout
Diglot
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 Message 132 of 221
15 April 2010 at 4:15am | IP Logged 
Budz wrote:
Yeah it's funny. First we had the 'professor' and he was treated like a god and everyone had to ask questions as if he knew all the answers. Well, the professor really was a god because he wouldn't even allow frivolous comments.

Now it's Moses. Yes, he has a good knowledge of a huge number of obscure languages and if you want to know some sources for how to learn some of them, then his videos are a must. But people are asking him questions that are ridiculously out of his territory.

I'm sure Moses would agree. If you want to learn a language... give it a go and work at it. That's how you bloody learn. There's no point asking someone else how they did it. You know how they did it? By working at it. There's no magic.



Well, Budzy, I think the point that some of the members were trying to make is that, though your intentions may good, it's not your responsibility to police who asks him questions and what the questions are about.

I also disagree that a native speaker of a language is the best judge of another person's abilities in the language. A native speaker can't judge you on things like comprehension, reading ability, retention (yes it does matter if you can not use the language for a month and then pick it back up without effort). These are the internal mechanics of language ability and they cannot be accurately judged by anyone but the learner himself. The only problem with self judging is that some may be inherently bad at judging; some more critical of their abilities and others perhaps a bit too confident with their abilities.

One aspect related to language learning that I think gets too little attention is etiquette. Social norms, those 'unsaid rules' that we all know but don't talk about, can betray a foreign speaker even through written correspondence. As I've said, I'm sure you're intentions are good and your grammar seems impeccable, but, based on your disagreeable and hubristic mode of writing, this native speaker of English would have to rate you at about an A2 (European scale) on your ability to use English tactfully and in a culturally appropriate manner. I'm not sure about where you're from, but reticence can be a virtue in any place I've lived.

One last Point: people who love hockey treat Wayne Gretsky as a god; people who love basketball treat Michael Jordan as a god - don't be jealous just because you're Scottie Pippen.

Edited by Rout on 15 April 2010 at 4:21am

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Budz
Octoglot
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Australia
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 Message 133 of 221
18 April 2010 at 2:14am | IP Logged 
Well, I just thought that this was an open forum, the topic being Moses' admirable achievement. It doesn't seem to be a closed forum with only Moses allowed to reply.

Anyway, I've taken note of your comment... and accept that there is some validity in it. Oh and thanks... at least Scottie Pippen could play basketball pretty well... I'd certainly be happy to speak a few languages as well as he could play basketball.
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Rout
Diglot
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United States
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 Message 134 of 221
18 April 2010 at 4:57am | IP Logged 
Budz wrote:
Well, I just thought that this was an open forum, the topic being Moses' admirable achievement. It doesn't seem to be a closed forum with only Moses allowed to reply.

Anyway, I've taken note of your comment... and accept that there is some validity in it. Oh and thanks... at least Scottie Pippen could play basketball pretty well... I'd certainly be happy to speak a few languages as well as he could play basketball.


Haha. No hard feelings. I can speak languages about as well as Shaq can throw free throws. =P

Cheers mate.
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Spanky
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 Message 135 of 221
20 April 2010 at 6:36am | IP Logged 
Rout wrote:
   I can speak languages about as well as Shaq can throw free throws. =P


Ouch!
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Deji
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 Message 136 of 221
22 April 2010 at 7:40pm | IP Logged 
I have been learning Bengali for about 4 years. I watched Moses' Bengali U-tube. I have to say that I speak better
than he does accent and style-wise (which isn't exactly something to brag about after 4 years, especially
considering I think he had about 8 hours of instruction) BUT his analysis of what words to learn first and how to use
them were brilliant and I've gotten a lot of help out of them and used them in our class. The big issue for many
language learners is how to start TALKING to actual PEOPLE. Inshallah.


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