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Were YouTube polyglots a fad?

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Retinend
Triglot
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 Message 1 of 58
08 September 2014 at 11:52am | IP Logged 
Has YouTube polyglottery had its day?

When only in 2012 I started learning my first foreign language, German, the YouTube polyglots and
their practical tips for self-study were invaluable to me (far more valuable than the expressly
didactic materials available on YouTube).

But even then, most of the videos I watched were old: Alexander Arguelles's videos - 5 or 6 years ago.
Mike Campbell's videos - around the same time. DekaGlosai - regular for a few years but suddenly
stopped (and purged his account) about a year ago. Anthony Lauder - perhaps a "polyNOT" but with some
of the most practical advice and the friendliest of faces - 3-4 years ago. Luca Lampariello - only
semi-regular now compared with 2-3 years ago.

That's not the whole picture, I admit. Steve Kaufmann, Loki, and Laoshu still pump out videos
regularly. Benny Lewis, semi-regularly. Timothy Doner, though not very prolific, has organized a
currently ongoing "teen polyglot challenge" with the aim of encouraging other young learners to upload
Youtube videos. Have I missed out one other ongoing concerns?

Presuming that I'm right, though: I wonder now if the YouTube polyglot was a bit of a fad. That in
truth there's only so many different and totally distinct approaches to self-study and once you've
understood the general process, there's no urgent need for you to watch masses of videos of people
speaking many languages! What do you think?


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Donaldshimoda
Diglot
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 Message 2 of 58
08 September 2014 at 12:07pm | IP Logged 
As far as I'm concerned, once you've got some usefull tips and enjoyed perhaps few
languages you've always wanted to hear about, that's it.

Sometimes I still watch some multi-language speeches just for the fun of it but I'd
really go for some native speakers interview instead.

I think that for beginners like me these videos are great,really great..motivation-wise
and for the usefull tips you can get out of them as I stated before,but then what?
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Fredwc1
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 Message 3 of 58
08 September 2014 at 12:19pm | IP Logged 
I'm relatively new to this but I noticed the same thing... I rather enjoy watching the
videos of the polyglots.
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Juаn
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 Message 4 of 58
08 September 2014 at 3:27pm | IP Logged 
I certainly hope so. I don't care what anybody might claim, it is simply impossible for a 20 year-old to speak 15 major languages fluently. They might be able to repeat 15 phrases in as many languages with confidence, but is that worth anything at all?

In my view all these folks do is devalue and underestimate the tremendous hard work and achievement involved in genuinely learning a number of languages, or even a single one well.
4 persons have voted this message useful



rdearman
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 Message 5 of 58
08 September 2014 at 3:44pm | IP Logged 
YouTube is an excellent marketing tool.
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Donaldshimoda
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 Message 6 of 58
08 September 2014 at 3:50pm | IP Logged 
Juаn wrote:
I certainly hope so. I don't care what anybody might claim, it is simply
impossible for a 20 year-old to speak 15 major languages fluently. They might be able
to repeat 15 phrases in as many languages with confidence, but is that worth anything
at all?



1 nothing is impossible

2 I don't really think any of them actually claimed to speak 15 languages
fluently..and even if it were just a show off, some of them are actually pretty good
at it so it's worth watching just for the sake of it..at least for me.

Is this worthing something?this is a totally different matter...but there are some
guys who really has something to teach us
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Retinend
Triglot
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283 posts - 557 votes 
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 Message 7 of 58
08 September 2014 at 4:24pm | IP Logged 
Timothy Doner, in all fairness, called his video "teen PRACTICES 20 languages." And since he
started young I think it's quite feasible that he could have spent hundreds of hours studying
each. 10 years at 3 hours a day would give enough time. Does anyone know how early he started
dedicated himself to languages?
2 persons have voted this message useful



Henkkles
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 Message 8 of 58
08 September 2014 at 5:03pm | IP Logged 
I don't really think it was a fad, but that the 'scene' is a small one and thus can only support a limited amount of 'pioneers' before exhausting the combined interest of aficionados.

Let's examine something like video games; let's say that there are a hundred million video gamers. Then let's say that there are ten thousand autodidactic language learners. This would mean that the video gaming 'scene' could sustain ten thousand times the amount of active youtube channels before hitting a 'critical mass' where there is more material on youtube than people interested in watching.

Just my hypothesis though.


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