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Call me a skeptic, but... | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7159 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes  20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 9 of 25 11 February 2010 at 6:29am | IP Logged | ||
Knowing something about his background (born in Sweden, emigrated to Québec, Canada, posted to Hong Kong for government work, lived in Japan, entrepreneur in the lumber industry), it shouldn't surprise anyone that he's fluent in those languages. However I do agree that he doesn't seem very humble - especially when compared to other polyglots on the forum. His life circumstances have certainly been a big factor in his attaining multilingualism, and to be honest, many of us won't have quite the same opportunities as he had. Another thing to remember is that he's a businessman first, and polyglot second. He's pushing LingQ and its teaching/learning approach. When selling anything, it often doesn't pay to be very humble, no matter how repugnant or irksome his behaviour would be among some of us here who have no vested interest in a particular learning approach, subscription service or piece of merchandise. The language-learning business is no different and Kaufmann often has to tailor his YouTube clips to reassure an audience who usually have had disappointing experiences in formal language classes or are looking for the easy way out being taken in by grandiose promises from Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, Michel Thomas etc. Notice also how his clips talk about the irrelevance of traditional learning methods, and so point you in the direction of LingQ and its non-traditional, but more fun-sounding approach. Like any salesman, he broadly paints competing learning methods (e.g. drills, classes, grammar instruction) in the worst possible light in order to present the best possible contrast for his learning approach. Simplify the comparison so that the viewer/potential customer is most willing to go with what you want him/her to choose. 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6706 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 10 of 25 11 February 2010 at 2:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have just listened to Steve K speaking English, Portuguese, French, German, Swedish, Russian and a few more which I can't judge because I don't know them myself. I have also listened to a lot of his other videos earlier, mostly in English. It is fairly clear that he is speaking more freely in English than in the languages mentioned above, but in my mind there is no doubt that he can communicate without any problems in those languages. He doesn't sound truly native in anything but English (not even Swedish, which is strange), but these videos in other languages may not be a fair basis for judging his level. After all the series of introductions to that Lingq system are meant to have more or less the same content, so he can't just relax and say whatever pleases him - some of the 'stilted' character may be caused by this requirement.
I have pondered the possibility that he might be reading from a prefabricated text behind the camera, but frankly I doubt that he would need it. One reason is that he made a few errors that would have been weeded out from a printed text, - such as "ett bok" instead of "en bok" in Swedish (one book). Basically I trust that he is fluent in the languages he claims. Is he then advertising his own programs? Of course he is, - these videos are sales pitches, while most of those in English are like a blog which of course reflect his opinions. But he fashioned the Lingq site in a certain way because he had those opinions, and in a way that is more honest than just taking over the concepts of others. I didn't always agree with him, but find that it is a loss for us that he apparently doesn't write here anymore. Edited by Iversen on 11 February 2010 at 3:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5588 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 11 of 25 11 February 2010 at 2:17pm | IP Logged | ||
He is talented never the less, his Mandarin seems spot on. I guess my definition of fluency varies from other members here, and that's why I questioned it all. Besides, he can't be caught posting on this site when he owns one of his own, right? :D Edited by datsunking1 on 11 February 2010 at 2:18pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 magister Pro Member United States Joined 6606 days ago 346 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Turkish, Irish Personal Language Map | Message 12 of 25 11 February 2010 at 2:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you'd like to hear Mr. Kaufmann's German, Annik Rubens interviewed him in episode #483 of her podcast "Schlaflos in München." He handled the conversation with ease and fluency.* Clearly, he understood Annik without any problems, for there were no weird non sequiturs; his answers were relevant to the questions. The interview sounded natural and casual.
*My definition of fluency: His speech was "flowing" in this interview. That is to say, he rarely had to stop to consciously think about vocabulary or grammatical structures. His German, while certainly not error-free, was automatic and easily comprehensible. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6706 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 14 of 25 11 February 2010 at 3:33pm | IP Logged | ||
He is more than usually talented, no doubt about that. When I say that he doesn't sound truly native on these videos I add that he isn't speaking freely here, he is (probably) following a script. But in essence I think I could pick him out for instance among a group of native Swedes or Germans, - which in the case of Swedish is strange if he was born there. And he could certainly also pick me out under the same circumstances. As for being "caught out" he participated here for a long time under two names while having his own site, - I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5570 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 15 of 25 11 February 2010 at 3:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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He was indeed born in Sweden, but he moved to Canada at a very young age. He says he completely forgot what he knew of the language and had to learn it later in life.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5672 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 16 of 25 11 February 2010 at 3:56pm | IP Logged | ||
Excellent. "Flowing" is exactly my definition for fluency too. Where both parties feel very comfortable in the conversation, without unwanted pauses and discomfort. Just as we can say a small child is fluent even when they have a small vocabulary and make mistakes - since they feel totally at ease living in the language. Certainly, Steve does appear to come across as feeling at ease with his languages - and he freely admits that in many of them he still has plenty to learn. Contrast this with folks with massive vocabularies and well trained accents who struggle to string a few sentences together. Finally, in terms of him being "mistaken for a native" - he says in several of his videos that he has no interest in that, and believes that for most it is close to impossible. The most important thing, he says, is to understand and to be understood. He certainly appears to achieve that in many languages as far as I can tell. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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