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How many people can actually speak? | ||
Tags: Youtube Polyglot | Speaking | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5433 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes  Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 1 of 45 14 January 2013 at 7:27am | IP Logged | ||
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O.K., I'm kind of peeved. I just saw a number of youtube interviews with some very well known polyglots. They were talking about tips and techniques for learning languages and sometimes promoting their book. What irks me is that, like all those methods and software packages, most of these polyglots do not say that a) exposure at the earliest age and b) spending time in the country (preferably with a host family) are by far the two most important success factors in achieving high proficiency.
I say this because I'm gobsmacked by the number of websites, videos, books and software for learning languages in addition to the millions of people studying foreign languages formally in North America. At the same time, I don't see any great results. Where are all the speakers of French, Spanish and Mandarin, among others? I have never ever seen a video from somebody saying "I used method X or did a degree in language X and now I'm going to speak it." Sometimes I look at all this and think that there is a whole industry that is selling hype and telling people that learning a language is easier than it really is. I wonder is anybody else feels the same. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 6128 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 2 of 45 14 January 2013 at 8:18am | IP Logged | ||
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I suspect it's a common 'delusion of successful language learners' that they have 'the system' and if anyone follows their method, they'll become fluent. Maybe they do have some good ideas, or maybe they are actually talented, but whatever the case, a lot of people believe in the power of 'their system.' They often have a lot of ego invested in this.
The rest of us want to believe in the 'right method' so we rush around trying this and that, it provides an audience. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Majka Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic kofoholici.wordpress Joined 4660 days ago 307 posts - 755 votes Speaks: Czech*, German, English Studies: French Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 45 14 January 2013 at 9:48am | IP Logged | ||
Of course there is. And some language schools aren't as much teaching languages as cultivating everlasting students :) Teaching languages is a business like any other. You need the hype. Most people don't want to hear that language learning is ... perhaps not hard per se, but it does need persistence. And it isn't a sprint but a marathon. Perhaps even better said, it is walking the Appalachian trail. It takes time and effort. And even half done it is an achievement. There are some excellent teachers. Yet, they need to meet motivated students to be really successful. And a motivated student needs to find good teacher to get better quickly. Another point is that some learners were successful with their method but have no deeper understanding why. It did work for them - and in their eyes, it has to work for everybody. They ignore that not everybody learns the same way, not everybody has the motivation and same needs. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5535 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 45 14 January 2013 at 1:19pm | IP Logged | ||
At the monthly French Meetup an hour east of me, among other places. If you want to see it first hand, PM for a link. It's probably a 4.5-hour drive from Montreal. My B2 French is barely enough to keep with the non-native speakers there. Sitting in Alliance française living room in Boston, waiting for the DELF B2 examiners to show up, and chatting about the jobs they've just been hired to do in France. Working as a dentist in the middle of Texas, studying French purely as a hobby. This guy is a Skype partner of somebody I know in France, and from what I'm told, he's probably C1 or better, or at least he's far beyond my modest skills. Attending a weekly French conversation group in Burlington, Vermont, for 18 straight years. His America accent was a little think, but his French was entirely fluent. And, obviously, here at HTLAL. Learning a foreign language is time-consuming. If you live in Texas, you might find it hard to justify spend 250 or 1000 hours of your life studying French. And even if put in the hours, it's going to be a bit lonely—who are you going tell about all those great French novels you've read, and all the movies that you've watched? Fortunately, we live in a world with the internet, and Skype, and Meetup, and the Alliance française, and forums like HTLAL. 12 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5337 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 5 of 45 14 January 2013 at 1:41pm | IP Logged | ||
Amen to that. I think the ones with the best results have generally been in some sort of immersion situation. Either they have actually gone to the country, or they have a spouse to talk with, or they create their own little buble of immersion with CDs and books and films. The bad news is that you are unlikely to learn a language from a language course alone. The good news is that once you are through that course, it is perfectly possible to create your own little immersion buble if you are determined enough. Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 14 January 2013 at 1:56pm 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6912 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 45 14 January 2013 at 1:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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Some use several languages and talk about a range of topics (even random chit-chat), some use the target language(s) to discuss the method(s), other use only English...
For me, it's easy to become inspired by Luca, Richard, Robert (from Austria), Glossika, Vlad, Splog (I've barely heard a word of Czech in his clips, nor do I study it, but the advice he gives is so well thought out that it's immediatley applicable to whatever language I'm passionate about). It's easy to say that you should start learning a language as a child and/or immerse yourself, but that's not doable for everyone. But as we all know, there is this thing called Internet, and some use Skype on a regular basis. I don't think any serious Youtube polyglot says that you'll learn "the language" from a single course (nor do I think that any serious learner believes that), but a good course and a good method can give you the tools to improve on your own (with Skype, with native materials, by travelling to another country etc.). 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5265 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 7 of 45 14 January 2013 at 2:01pm | IP Logged | ||
Years ago, I used to be an avid sport fisherman. I spent a lot of my free time fishing and finally got to the point where I took up fly fishing and learned to tie my own flies. One of the things about fishing is that there is a rather large industry devoted to it. An industry that sells an estimated $115,000,000,000 (billion) US annually, according to the American Sportfishing Association, in the US alone. Most of the stuff they sell is designed primarily to catch fishermen. The same thing goes for the industry of language learning. It's just not sexy to tell people that learning a language takes a lot of dedication, effort, time, sacrifice, frustration, practice and work- outside of any course. The sleek packaging and marketing of RS proves the point. Still, that being said, I don't think I would ever want to make a youtube video to demonstrate my skills or give advice. I can't stand to see myself on video or even to hear my own voice and I'm sure as heck not going to put it on youtube. Also, as well, I don't think I would get many views or "likes" by saying, I used a course to start, I spoke to natives whenever I could. I read a lot of native material. I watched native films, tv and listened to native audio. Eventually I got to where I could understand more and more until one day I passed beyond the point of learning to having a solid base in the languages that I could manipulate into conversation and understanding. I'm still not where I want to be yet. I still try to improve every day and probably will keep trying for a long time to come. Yep, I'd get loads of hits and likes on that video. We can't go back in time and learn a language as a child. Most of us are lucky to spend more than a few weeks in a tl country. That being said, many of us still manage to learn languages to an acceptable level and are able to communicate with native speakers more or less comfortably despite those disadvantages. It just takes a lot of work. Follow iguanamon's course of frustration, hard work and sacrifice and you too can speak X with imperfection and some mistakes within 36 months for only $399.99! All credit cards and paypal accepted. I already have an offshore account! Edited by iguanamon on 14 January 2013 at 3:39pm 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4710 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 8 of 45 14 January 2013 at 2:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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Define speak a language? When are you considered to speak a language?
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