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People from Canada who are fluent in Thai | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6920 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 57 of 64 09 November 2010 at 3:32pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Cesare,
First of all, I think that you are awesome. My advice would be to simply forget the whole fluency thing. When people ask me how many languages I am fluent in, I say "zero", but I am studying Arabic, Spanish, German, etc. In my own head, I know that I speak German way better than Russian, but I no longer feel the need to share this information with others. If you say you are studying a language, people are very supportive. However, any time you make a claim to be "fluent", there is always someone there to challenge you - even if you are not autistic. When we choose to study more than one foreign language, we always have to divide our time and have less time to study than someone who only studies one or two foreign languages. We do it because we love it, not because we are seeking fame. If you say you are studying a language, then you leave yourself room for improvement - yes, he/she makes some mistakes, but they are just studying the language and certainly will improve over time. If you say you are fluent and make mistakes, people will judge you. Which brings me to my second point. I know that you have probably struggled all your life to distance yourself from the autism label, but being autistic AND studying multiple languages is one thing that makes you unique. To me, one of your most inspiring videos is the one where you talk about your struggles with autism. If I were you, I would re-create your YouTube space or start a website where you record a 10-20 minute presentation in English about autism and learning languages and then translate that message into several languages and then record and post them individually (e.g. www.autisticlinguist.com is available). I envision people from Italy, Russia, etc. watching the videos and being inspired by you (both people with and without cognitive/learning disabilities - a "if he can do, then so can I" type of thing). Even if their "thing" is not languages, it would inspire them to do other things. No need to mention that you speak fluent Arabic, you just post a video in Arabic speaking about autism, your life, how you like to learn languages, etc. I think a site or a YouTube space like that would honestly have a chance to go viral and could possibly make a big change in a lot of people's lives. Just my thoughts. Please don't be mad at me. Edited by translator2 on 09 November 2010 at 3:34pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cesare M. Senior Member Canada youtube.com/user/CheRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5171 days ago 99 posts - 135 votes Speaks: English* | Message 58 of 64 09 November 2010 at 3:45pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I am not mad at you, I sent you a private message back, and I forgot to say several more things. I really want to be fluent in languages because I really love to do a whole lot with those languages, it's not for seeking fame. Now even the languages I am not fluent in, I am still very happy that I can still speak them. So do not worry. I am for sure not going to forget the fluency thing, but I am not doing it to seek fame, so do not worry. :) In fact right now I am improving my Turkish through LiveMocha. But that's just an example. Oh and one more thing, and this is just what I have learned reptitively through other linguists, polyglots, and other language learners, fluency does not have to mean high level in the language, and even when it does, it's not going to be perfect 100%. For example, there are 15 other languages, that I may have a good chance at being fluent in, and I want to find out from other natives from LiveMocha, etc. If it is approved that I am not fluent in any of those 15 other languages, or any one, etc, that's fine with me. If I am not fluent in a language, it's fine with me. I can still speak it. Another thing I have learned is that sometimes you can be fluent with a small amount of vocabulary, because you know how and when to use the vocabulary in a fluid way, along with sentence structure, grammar, etc. Pashto is a great example. In my opinion, I might have a good chance at being fluent in Pashto, because despite the small vocabulary, I am able to still speak comfortably without many mistakes because I know the spoken part well enough to do it. There's a lot more to explain but it's kind of hard for me to do that right now. Thanks so much for being considerate and I know my fluency and the rest of my language abilities are very hard to understand. I am glad you love me! Thanks. :) Edited by Cesare M. on 09 November 2010 at 4:02pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6920 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes Speaks: English* | Message 59 of 64 09 November 2010 at 4:05pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I did not mean to say that you are not fluent or that you/we should not strive to become fluent, of course we should! What I meant was that I do not need to tell other people that I am fluent (I do not need to use that specific word). I know that I am fluent and if other people want to call me fluent, so be it, but I do not like to call myself fluent as 1) everyone's definition of fluent is different and 2) some people may view this as boasting. I prefer to show them that I am fluent.
By the way, you have posted a lot of videos about speaking languages. It would be interesting to hear you speak about understanding them when other people speak because that is a different skill. Which language is the most difficult for you to understand (verbally, not written), etc.? Edited by translator2 on 09 November 2010 at 4:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| flydream777 Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6492 days ago 77 posts - 102 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: German, Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Greek, Hungarian, Armenian, Irish, Italian | Message 60 of 64 10 November 2010 at 11:51pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Basic fluency in Tatar, hmm? I had to check you out. Luckily, your videos cleared up any misconceptions :-)
1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cesare M. Senior Member Canada youtube.com/user/CheRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5171 days ago 99 posts - 135 votes Speaks: English* | Message 61 of 64 11 November 2010 at 1:29am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Yes that's right. I may be advanced fluency in Tatar but since I am not completely sure if I am fluent in Tatar or not, and I feel I have a very good chance at being fluent, I placed Tatar under basic fluency. In fact I started up a Tatar thread on this forum if you want to go and check it out. I can also teach you Tatar too if you want to learn it. Thanks. Edited by Cesare M. on 11 November 2010 at 1:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cesare M. Senior Member Canada youtube.com/user/CheRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5171 days ago 99 posts - 135 votes Speaks: English* | Message 63 of 64 11 November 2010 at 1:41am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Thanks. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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