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People from Canada who are fluent in Thai | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7222 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 33 of 64 05 October 2010 at 2:09am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I saw some of the videos also. The only one I paid attention to was Spanish. It did not sound fluent to me and I was filling in the gaps of what I thought he was trying to say. I do not claim advance fluency, maybe basic, but I prefer to say I am a beginner just to be on the safe side.
Even though Cesare M. is not fluent probably in all the languages he listed, (Exception English) I do admire the passion he has for languages, like the other members in this forum. The main advice on my part is to keep on learning, since nobody ever truly can reach the end all and be all of any language. (Perfection) @Cesare M. Have you looked for a Thai community in or around your city for practice. Nothing beats conversation with a native speaker. IMO 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| skeeterses Senior Member United States angelfire.com/games5Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6619 days ago 302 posts - 356 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Korean, Spanish | Message 34 of 64 05 October 2010 at 2:15am | IP Logged | ||||||||
With those non-written languages, you really would have to be fully immersed in the native culture to have any hope of getting fluent. In general, the idea of speaking a second language well without being able to read in it is the exception, not the rule. In fact, one of the reasons why so many indigenous languages are in danger of dying out is because of a shortage of literature. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6440 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 35 of 64 05 October 2010 at 2:40am | IP Logged | ||||||||
It's probably pointless to address him here, given that his account is 'not active'. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7222 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 36 of 64 05 October 2010 at 3:00am | IP Logged | ||||||||
The thread was started not long ago, but who knows he could be reading without signing in. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5431 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 37 of 64 05 October 2010 at 6:49am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I strongly disagree with these two ideas. It is my view that there is considerable evidence many people around the world speak a second language without being able to read or write it. Any time languages come into contact people spontaneously learn other languages. This applies to languages that are primarily oral and even to some extent to languages that have strong writing traditions. One can speak an excellent creole without being able to read it or write it. Could one be able to speak Mandarin without being able to read it? Of course! Where I live in Montreal, Canada, I see examples every day of people who can speak either English or French well without being able to read or write either language. What I have said earlier about being a sophisticated speaker holds entirely true. If you want to be a articulate, cultivated and sophisticated speaker of a language with an important written literature, you have to have to be literate. The source of the confusion is the fact that most of us learn foreign languages through reading. For us it is inconceivable that one could learn a language orally. Many adults such as immigrants do exactly that. And children do it all the time. As for language loss, I don't think languages disappear because of a lack of a written tradition. I would certainly agree that an abundant literature does does make preservation easier because there is tangible record. But I think the real cause is simply the domination of more powerful languages. French is seriously threatened in parts of Canada. English has nearly disappeared from much of rural Quebec. Some people forget that even Quebec City was very English-speaking right up till the Second Word War , Edited by s_allard on 05 October 2010 at 12:40pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Old Chemist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5174 days ago 227 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 38 of 64 05 October 2010 at 7:40am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I'd just like to say I agree with Volte, and this is what this post is about. I agree I think it is commendable that Cesare attempts to speak 39 languages. Even if some could do with a bit of improvement - this certainly applies to me with a much more modest "bag" of languages. To try to answer the question, I would imagine there are quite a few people in Canada, who can speak Thai fluently; I don't mean the trivial case of being ethnically Thai, second generation, etc, I mean Canadians who have learnt Thai at university. I doubt that this would be a massive number, but perhaps 50 - 100. There must be the foreign service personnel who are fluent. As a suggestion, why not send emails to some Canadian universities. Sorry as I'm sure you realize, I don't speak a word of Thai. Just trying to be helpful, that's all! ... also it seems a little like most people posting are being critical of the poor man.I think it's truly impressive he is trying to learn all these languages. Perhaps a little less criticism of self-proclaimed super-/hyper-/mega- polyglots and maybe a little more modesty from those in the category is in order! Edited by patuco on 09 October 2010 at 12:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5694 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 39 of 64 13 October 2010 at 10:40pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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If anyone is still interested in the developing story of Cesare the polyglot... the latest news is that he says he has deleted all his language videos and reposted them, and he now wants everyone on YouTube who has ever expressed negativity toward his abilities to remove all evidence of said negativity, i.e. to delete all their response videos and negative comments about his "fluency." He has also changed his claims of fluency, and now claims to only be fluent in five languages. I have no comment on any of this myself, just sharing it in case anyone here doesn't follow him on YouTube and wanted to know what the latest developments were. :)
7 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5431 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 40 of 64 14 October 2010 at 4:17pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Thanks, Jinx, for the update. I would also like to state that I support Cesare's efforts despite all my criticism of the use of the word fluency.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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