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 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery |  | |
| rNajera Triglot Groupie Canada rafaelnajera.com Joined 5924 days ago 45 posts - 60 votes  Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Latin, German, Korean | Message 25 of 34 26 May 2009 at 1:22pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Dear Prof. Arguelles,
I just want to say, as many have said already, that I find your lectures very interesting as they are, and that I do not think you should try to compress them in any way. There are, of course, some things that could be done to improve the presentation and make it less monotonous. You could add, for instance, titles and/or clues about the structure of the lecture, or even incorporate some graphics here and there to illustrate some points. However, that would require some video editing, which although is not difficult it can be very time consuming. I prefer to watch to more lectures more often than to watch a fancy presentation every now and then. On an unrelated note, I want to report that last week I was in Cairo and saw your multilingual dictionary for sale in the Al-Diwan store in Zamalek for about US$30. I didn't know it was still available. I browsed through it for a while and found it very interesting, but didn't buy it because I was already carrying too much weight in my luggage (the al-Mawrid dictionary, for instance). Cheers, Rafael. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| dancinghobbit Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5443 days ago 9 posts - 11 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 26 of 34 06 July 2009 at 7:18am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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The stereotypical Youtube viewer 1. has a very short attention span, and 2. is very abrasive. Almost all videos seem to have unreasonable comments left on them, and yours are no exception.
On the other hand, perhaps it is the effect of talking to a video camera, but I think some of your talks could be somewhat shorter without losing depth or quality. Please don't lower the seriousness of your videos, though! I really enjoy them--thank you! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ericspinelli Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5570 days ago 249 posts - 493 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Korean, Italian | Message 28 of 34 06 July 2009 at 5:44pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Dear Professor Arguelles,
Because this is my first post addressed to you, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Eric Spinelli and I am a native English speaker. I frequent Lessons in Polyglottery amongst other language learning sites because I would like to improve my methods of Japanese acquisition and make fewer mistakes the next time with Korean. While I don't particularly agree with the form of the previous poster's, Humbert, message I do agree in part with the content. I am much less impressed with your video presentations than with the written material you provide here and elsewhere. With the goal of remaining constructive rather than nit-picky, please allow me to elucidate the two main reasons why this is so. 1) Failure to fully utilize the extra dimension of video. Although video does sometimes allow your audience to see the texts you are reading and the courses you are recommending, many focus entirely or mostly on your head, face, and shoulders. Where I feel video should help to slightly bridge the gap between two parties meeting electronically, your limited use to facial and body language does not make use of this feature in any meaningful way. 2) Pace of presentation. I, too, find your rate of speech to be slow at times. I also think your message sometimes lacks guidance. At times it seems at though you are choosing your words for the first time and at other times I am unsure how, if all at, anecdotes and asides relate to the main theme until after they have been presented. I think a more practiced and direct style with more clues of direction and progression (i.e., a verbal table of contents) would help to both enforce your point and shorten your videos. Combining those two points I feel your presentations lack a sense of dynamics. It sometimes feels that I am watching a video of somebody reading a text aloud on the radio. That is, the video is superfluous and I feel I could absorb the knowledge faster if I simply read it myself. That said, I hope you and many others with stores of knowledge continue to step forward and share. Despite certain flaws and despite whether agree or disagree with the methodology or content, this is perhaps the only way to get some of this information. I do hope, however, that we can establish a feedback loop whereby the voice of the audience contributes to the efficacy and appeal of the presentation allowing it reaches new audiences. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Eric Spinelli 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ryuukohito Bilingual Diglot Groupie Malaysia Joined 6023 days ago 89 posts - 98 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Malay* Studies: French, Japanese | Message 29 of 34 08 July 2009 at 11:56am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Dear Professor Arguelles,
1. As regards the comments: Please ignore the comments left on Youtube (or any other media site); most who leave them have absolutely nothing to say, and they leave comments there only because they can, or to give their opinion where it's not needed. (It's this current trend of the "me" generation, where young people think their opinions are important, despite their lack of experience.) Also, the general mentality of those who congregate on sites like Youtube is is that of "a quick fix", to get doses of passive entertainment which they can't get on TV (or as a replacement for TV); understandably, they are not thirsty for knowledge. You're trying to do a generous thing by sharing knowledge; so if they attack you, it's their loss. 2. As regards the video quality: The videos are fine. Perhaps the angles should be fixed (kept a slight distance away), and a heading or two could be inserted in-between new ideas, to denote a new topic (it helps, especially because some people like to skip between sections to hear certain parts again); but otherwise, the current format is perfect. I do not feel that you are rambling. Other than that: I have spoken of you to to my other half with much respect. (She has visited your website and watched your videos upon my continuous insistence, and she expresses the same admiration for you now.) Though I'd love to do so, I would probably never have a chance to attend any of your classes in real life, so I thank you for sharing your knowledge with us via the Internet. Edited by ryuukohito on 08 July 2009 at 11:57am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Walshy Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6729 days ago 335 posts - 365 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German | Message 30 of 34 11 July 2009 at 8:44am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Professor, I just want to ask you not to take idiots like this guy seriously, and to remind you that people like him do not speak for the majority of the internet's language-learning community. The bottom line is that your videos have attracted almost half a million hits, and that number will skyrocket when you tackle the ever popular Romance languages, no doubt. We watch your videos because they inspire and educate us. The unfortunate side-effect of success and admiration is jealousy. Humbert is exhibit A. All I ask is that you don't let his type discourage you. I don't mind the length of the videos at all, but I can see how impatient people would though. To Humbert - If you find his posts and videos uninteresting, why on Earth do you read and watch them and then take the time to complain about them on a forum? It is very bizarre behaviour. Edited by Walshy on 11 July 2009 at 5:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| JonB Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6052 days ago 209 posts - 220 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Italian, Dutch, Greek | Message 31 of 34 11 July 2009 at 9:41am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I agree with Mr Walsh. Prof Arguelles should simply ignore all stupid and abusive comments of this kind.
Yeah right! If you genuinely believe this, then you need to learn some English. (But of course you don't believe it, do you?)
Oh sure! I mean, let's be serious here, who could possibly think that you are a troll?
Anyone who has seen Prof Arguelles' Youtube videos will know that this is untrue. But even if it were true, what would be the point of making the comment here? Humbert, what kind of a sad little person are you? Does your poor little ego really feel better when you make cowardly internet-insults against someone whom you don't even know? Edited by JonB on 11 July 2009 at 1:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Kugel Senior Member United States Joined 6325 days ago 497 posts - 555 votes Speaks: English* | Message 32 of 34 11 July 2009 at 6:35pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Are there plans for an online "polyglot academy" instead of a "live" one that requires a student to give up everything(work, school, and other responsibilities) for a month or two? I've tried other online language tutorials that charged something like 20-25 USD per month, and while being somewhat effective, the updates of new lessons and overall enthusiasm was low. The bottom line was obviously more important to them. I don't know about the others, but I wouldn't have a problem paying for a website that has a high level of enthusiasm in language learning. I especially like the idea of effective homework assignments to develop language skills, as the amount of exercises in Assimil and Linguagphone are so low that they are somewhat ineffective, but I digress....
Answering complicated grammar questions or other roadblocks in language learning is already done here on this forum, but perhaps it could be better on an intensive online "polyglot academy?" Barts Edited by Kugel on 11 July 2009 at 6:37pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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