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Were YouTube polyglots a fad?

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
58 messages over 8 pages: 13 4 5 6 7 8 Next >>
smallwhite
Pentaglot
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Australia
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 Message 9 of 58
08 September 2014 at 7:00pm | IP Logged 
I usually want to read the user comments after watching a video, but the comments on language-related videos are often very rude and stupid, which takes away a lot of the fun.
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Henkkles
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 Message 10 of 58
08 September 2014 at 7:32pm | IP Logged 
smallwhite wrote:
the comments on videos are often very rude and stupid

That's youtube for you.
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YnEoS
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 Message 11 of 58
08 September 2014 at 9:18pm | IP Logged 
I think there's a lot more that could be done with it if someone really wanted to make a viable youtube channel, I just think not many of these channels were conceived with much of a long term plan. Videos of people speaking a bunch of languages are cool, but after the first few you're not going to keep watching them unless you also speak all the same languages and the content is interesting. Then after that they can make their instructional videos on their methods and maybe some course reviews, but no one can really keep making videos like that regularly with new and interesting content.

Clearly it's not as big a thing as it was in the initial burst of popularity where anyone posting themselves speaking a bunch of languages is going to get popular automatically, but I think we'll still see new people show up with new methods from time to time. I think if youtube polyglots started adopting some of the methods of other more popular video bloggers like editing out pauses/boring parts, and perhaps having some other interesting topics besides languages to talk about, they could definitely keep a much more sustainable channel going.
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Stolan
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 Message 12 of 58
08 September 2014 at 9:56pm | IP Logged 
I think they are real, if they prove it then we should be interested in the fact some manage to speak over 15 while
many spend years on 2-3.
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Retinend
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SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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 Message 13 of 58
08 September 2014 at 10:12pm | IP Logged 
Where have you been, Stolan? We are almost all interested in high targets for
proficiency in multiple languages, and the ways to do it. No mysteries as to how, as
far as I can see. Also, spending years on 3 languages isn't any mark
of sub-optimum learning!

Edited by Retinend on 08 September 2014 at 10:13pm

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tarvos
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 Message 14 of 58
08 September 2014 at 10:20pm | IP Logged 
That's because they are real. Excellent in fact. I am humbled to have shared their presence.
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Henkkles
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 Message 15 of 58
08 September 2014 at 10:31pm | IP Logged 
YnEoS wrote:
I think there's a lot more that could be done with it if someone really wanted to make a viable youtube channel, I just think not many of these channels were conceived with much of a long term plan. Videos of people speaking a bunch of languages are cool, but after the first few you're not going to keep watching them unless you also speak all the same languages and the content is interesting. Then after that they can make their instructional videos on their methods and maybe some course reviews, but no one can really keep making videos like that regularly with new and interesting content.

Clearly it's not as big a thing as it was in the initial burst of popularity where anyone posting themselves speaking a bunch of languages is going to get popular automatically, but I think we'll still see new people show up with new methods from time to time. I think if youtube polyglots started adopting some of the methods of other more popular video bloggers like editing out pauses/boring parts, and perhaps having some other interesting topics besides languages to talk about, they could definitely keep a much more sustainable channel going.

This is an idea I've been toying with as well, I've been wanting to make a language youtube channel with actually thought out, concise content and such. Although I like the rambly-meandery videos, most of the youtubers could really use some video editing software and a proper microphone to boot.
2 persons have voted this message useful



robarb
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languagenpluson
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 Message 16 of 58
09 September 2014 at 1:38am | 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?

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.


Not impossible at all. "Fluently" doesn't mean native-level, and it doesn't mean completely without errors. It
means you can express yourself at full speed about topics familiar to you. It may be the case that nobody has
ever spoken 15 languages fluently by age 20 yet, probably because you would have to dedicate your entire
childhood to language learning, the same way some youths dedicate their lives to sports. Thing is, there's money,
prestige, and infrastructure in sports that language prodigies don't really have. If we had language learning
academies, competitions, pushy parents, and an overall level of popularity to the degree sports has, I think we
could easily see some adolescents with 15 languages. As an analogy, consider the elite and previously unheard-
of level of computer gaming skill achieved in South Korea, where gaming is popular on TV and there are training
academies and decent amounts of funding.

Henkkles wrote:
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.


It depends on how you count the potential target audience. There might be only on the order of ten thousand
people (0.0001% of world population) who recognize themselves as being part of the online autodidactic
language learning community. But there is a much more significant chunk of people who are interested in
improving their skills in a foreign language outside of taking classes. Even those in a class may be interested in
what the autodidacts have to say. If this is even 2% of the world population, we'd be talking over a hundred
million people.

Edited by robarb on 09 September 2014 at 1:39am



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