Think German is Scary, kids? Take a look at Swahili!
<<I don't know if he has more credibility as a hyperpolyglot or not. The highest number that I have heard from one person is eight or nine languages (except Wendy Vo who is a child) spoken with unequal fluency. >>
It is not the fact that he is a hyper-polyglot that makes him credible, but rather his education, and the documentation of his linguistic studies. His whole life story is available on the How to learn any language forum. Read...
<<Okay, I figured out your English, JLK. I had to change one word and punctuate it in my mind.>>
I'm delighted your catching on.
"I'm delighted your catching on."-JLK
I prefer the way below, but I only mention this because you complain about the level of language here...
"I'm delighted you're..."
<<I'm delighted your catching on.>>
Ha ha, now who's got the crappy English?
Thank you for correcting my posts. It is very kind, but I fear you will over burden yourself, because I type very fast and typos are frequent. But if you have the time, by all means continue...
You must write correctly ,if you can. We don't care the reasons for your mistakes.
<<You must write correctly ,if you can. We don't care the reasons for your mistakes.>>
"We don't care ABOUT the reasons for your mistakes."
Practice what you preach...
You guys are argue too much. Who is care about mistake? If you understood, it is good enough.
"Who is care about mistake? If you understood, it is good enough."
Nope.
>>The professor explains that he started out with German, then moved to other languages. That's one way of thinking.
Your analysis is very comprehensive. Languages, like celebrities, have been so much judged subjectively according to what they do to the world and what they make people feel.
The point of the video is to show something to get people interested. Very often languages are simpled judged by considering the people and cultures associated with them and their linguistic features as well. Just like how foreigners find how complexions affect the behaviour of Chinese receptionists at a (say) Shanghai hotel (*naturally, they would find Asians more approachable than others, even if an Asian they happen to meet can't even speak their language), comments ABOUT languages, not to say learning them, have been as subjective as how you define beauty.
Why do I say so? I've just heard from foreigners (well, if I come to your country, I'd be a foreigner too) about how they view girls in their countries and Chinese girls. Is it good to get tanned? Or stay very pale? People seem to like similar things, while perhaps a minority have different tastes, and many tend to have lame excuses.
The Chinese (like many in your countries) say Russian is a classic example (not to use Latin, but it works all the same here) of highly inflected languages and Chinese analytic, then some kids would go on and say how terrible it is to learn something so inflected, with all kinds of "unnecessary" little word(s) (endings). But I'm afraid Chinese grammar isn't that straightforward, either, not to say Esperanto. The same goes for skin colours. People, languages, linguistic features are NOT what they are but what they are NOT.
The Chinese (like many in your countries) say Russian is a classic example (not to use Latin, but it works all the same here)
Russian may be complicated for the Chinese, but many Koreans and Japanese learn Russian and can achieve very good fluency, I guess it's easier for them to learn Russian than Chinese.
''The Chinese (like many in your countries) say Russian is a classic example (not to use Latin, but it works all the same here) of highly inflected languages and Chinese analytic, then some kids would go on and say how terrible it is to learn something so inflected, with all kinds of "unnecessary" little word(s) (endings). But I'm afraid Chinese grammar isn't that straightforward, either, not to say Esperanto. The same goes for skin colours. People, languages, linguistic features are NOT what they are but what they are NOT.''
Russian is a very European language. Automatic translations from Russian to English (thru Babel Fish and others) are almost perfect, while automatic translations from Chinese (or Japanese) into English is not readable at all.
I noticed that he has more videos available at Youtube.
Dutch: Has double vowels, "ij"letter combination and initial "z".
Dutch sounds so much like English. It's probably a logical choice for people who already know German.
If you are good at Germanic languages, what do you think of his accents in German and Dutch? Please elaborate.
He touches on a good idea. Learn your third language through your second language.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujRgmG0uAqE
In this video he discusses linguaphone courses. If you have some old language courses, you may want to watch Prof. A. carefully if you invite him over for supper/dinner.
That's a joke. I really don't think he'll steal your old courses, but he may be very interested in them and miss the first course...of the meal.
If you enjoy comparing methods, this video may be interesting for you. I liked the format of the Chinese book he shared. It was like being a kid again, "Open the book, open the book!" You want to yell. You just know if he is that enthusiastic, it's probably a good text.