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Rating the accents of youtube polyglots | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Cammela Tetraglot Newbie Senegal Joined 5052 days ago 28 posts - 31 votes Speaks: French*, ItalianC2, Spanish, GermanB2 | Message 1 of 62 26 January 2011 at 10:29am | IP Logged | ||
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On a scale of 1-10 how much would you give each youtube polyglot's accent?
4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6918 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 2 of 62 26 January 2011 at 5:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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In my opinion, as long as the person is not blatantly boasting about their language talent (there is a difference between feeling proud of your achievements/progress and being narcissistic) or making outrageous claims, I really do not see the need to overtly criticize or categorize language learners, be they successful ones or not.
I feel that it would be more appropriate to point out those polyglots who are amazing as a whole (for their overall accomplishments, their efforts, etc.). For example, Moses is the one of the most enthusiastic language learners on YouTube and you get caught up and inspired by his excitement. Luca's English accent gives me goosebumps because it is so good; Glossika's Chinese is amazing; Mr. Kaufmann has inspired more than his fair share of language learners and is always interesting to watch; Vlad and Stu-Jay are also amazing. (And I know I have unintentionally left out several others). What all these people have in common is that they enjoy and are passionate about learning languages, they enjoy sharing their experiences and discoveries with others, they are proficient in at least one foreign language, they are confident in their abilities (and able to take criticism without throwing a temper tantrum) and never once have they tried to place themselves on a pedestal above any other language learners or claim to be "the best" or know "the most languages". It seems that the more humble people are, the more genuine their abilities. All this to say, in the absence of outrageous hubris, we should encourage, not judge. Edited by translator2 on 26 January 2011 at 5:24pm 18 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5380 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 3 of 62 26 January 2011 at 6:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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Before the age of polyglots showing off on Youtube, I always assumed that polyglots would have to be particularly gifted at accents too, that they'd be able to pass off as native speakers at least some of the time, or that they'd have an excellent accent at the very least. However, reality is quite different and many polyglots have terrible accents. Some actually have little interest for pronunciation. I can't help wonder whether they have terrible accents because they don't care, or if they don't care because they're not good at it. Perhaps it's the ultimate frontier.
Actually, I have yet to hear a video where the polyglot sounds native. Can anyone point to one? I really like Steve's French accent -- although it's slightly odd that a Canadian would have a European accent. On the other hand, when I asked about Japanese pitch accent, he admitted that he'd never even heard of it, despite having lived in Japan for many years. Listening to him, though I'm not as advanced as he is, I can hear pitch errors. He is still very easy to understand, but it could be better. I also really like Sprachprofi's French accent. I personally spend a lot of time thinking about pronunciation and it's quite possible that it's taken away from my studying other aspects of the language, but since my goal is to speak like a native, I consider that I have no choice but to work on it now, as I should avoid setting bad habits as much as possible. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cammela Tetraglot Newbie Senegal Joined 5052 days ago 28 posts - 31 votes Speaks: French*, ItalianC2, Spanish, GermanB2 | Message 4 of 62 26 January 2011 at 6:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's just a game;D
In French, Italian and Spanish, this is my rating: Loki 9 Luca 8 Arguelles 7+ (Italian 5) Stu-Jay 6-- Kaufmann 6 Moses, Glossika <5 Edited by Cammela on 26 January 2011 at 6:24pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zerothinking Senior Member Australia Joined 6371 days ago 528 posts - 772 votes Speaks: English* | Message 5 of 62 27 January 2011 at 3:03am | IP Logged | ||
Funny. A native friend of mine said Luca sounded exactly native in Spanish. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Faraday Senior Member United States Joined 6117 days ago 129 posts - 256 votes Speaks: German* | Message 6 of 62 27 January 2011 at 3:39am | IP Logged | ||
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To my ears Luca sounds native in French as well.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Leurre Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5424 days ago 219 posts - 372 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Korean, Haitian Creole, SpanishC2 Studies: Japanese | Message 7 of 62 27 January 2011 at 3:57am | IP Logged | ||
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I think Lucca knows very good French, and that's clearly reflected in his accent. I
wouldn't call it a native accent though; I can still pick up a distinctive 'something' that isn't native. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5380 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 8 of 62 27 January 2011 at 4:30am | IP Logged | ||
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As a native speaker of French, I would call Luca's French as close to native as you can get. I'm not
European, but I'd certainly believe that he was a native from somewhere in Europe. Now, if I'm being really picky, I would say there were a few odd sounding expressions, and in terms of actual pronunciation, he tends to resort to an Italian e when you'd expect a French e, such as when he is hesitating. It's by far his best accent, at least if I compare with English or German. I would give him a 10 for his French accent, for sure. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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