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Benny Lewis’ journey with Arabic | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| tmp011007 Diglot Senior Member Congo Joined 5864 days ago 199 posts - 346 votes  Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese | Message 9 of 79 19 March 2013 at 11:57pm | IP Logged | ||
nothing. it's just that it reminds me of Tim Ferris ("How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1 Hour (Plus: A Favor)") and his "deconstructing" propaganda. web traffic, that's all Edited by tmp011007 on 19 March 2013 at 11:59pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5464 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 10 of 79 20 March 2013 at 10:00am | IP Logged | ||
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Spending five hours on a language is just enough to get through the intro pages of a textbook and learn a few tourist phrases.
For example, my wife went through the Michel Thomas Spanish course on our flight from London to Miami to Costa Rica. Upon arrival, she could have very basic conversations, but would hardly have called it a mission and she would never claim to have "learned" Spanish in that time. It was just a fun way to pass a few hours. I cannot see how it is worth blogging about, but then I presume I am not part of the target audience, and maybe some readers will get something valuable out of it. Edited by Splog on 20 March 2013 at 10:06am 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4502 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 11 of 79 20 March 2013 at 10:29am | IP Logged | ||
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I think his idea is to show that even survival shitty Polish is better than no Polish. And there's something to be said for that. But of course it's all placeholder stuff while he does OTHER, SECRET PROJECTS.
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| Registrador Tetraglot Newbie Czech Republic Joined 4821 days ago 16 posts - 21 votes Speaks: Spanish*, French, English, Italian Studies: German, Czech | Message 12 of 79 21 March 2013 at 1:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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C'mon don't be so harsh... Of course Benny is not going to learn polish in 5 hours, but this is going to be
a good challenge for showing people how useful is to know even a little of a foreign language. Language learning is not a sacred endeavour, but a fun activity. I see nothing wrong with experimenting with it. In my opinion, is going to be amusing see the results. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4502 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 13 of 79 21 March 2013 at 3:23pm | IP Logged | ||
Because it's also a social tool for him. He doesn't care about learning languages per se, he just finds using them with other people enriching. He might enjoy learning languages to some extent, but his abilities lie in being able to engineer his skills to what he is trying to achieve in his life (travel, work effectively). I find that a much more interesting concept than a polyglot who just learns to read 50 languages and likes languages for languages sake. I find Benny quite inspiring in this sense, much more than many other polyglots. 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Sterogyl Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4162 days ago 152 posts - 263 votes Studies: German*, French, EnglishC2 Studies: Japanese, Norwegian | Message 14 of 79 23 March 2013 at 4:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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He only wants to make money and tries to be popular. All the languages he speaks well (reportedly C2 or C1 level) he has studied for much longer than 3 months. What's the point in learning so many languages at a breakneck speed? You cannot learn Arabic in 3 months or 6 months. It takes years. Same with Chinese. In my opinion it all boils down to that: "Hey look, I speak this and that language and I know all the secret culture and knowledge that comes with it and you don't and now you must admire me and like me".
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| gogglehead Triglot Senior Member Argentina Joined 5870 days ago 248 posts - 320 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Russian, Italian | Message 15 of 79 23 March 2013 at 4:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think Benny´s strength lies not in language learning, but in his positivity. Some of his posts about people and culture are quite inspiring.
I realise some of his claims are improbable, like when he was learning Mandarin in 3 months(read "Watch how easily I learn a reportedly very difficult language in a very short time")and then after 3 months he said "In fact, this mission was only a prelude to my travel around China to discover it more deeply", or something like that, for which we should read ("actually, I have realised that this language is HARD, and no, I can´t become fluent in Mandarin in 3 months"). I think he also dropped Thai too. I do enjoy reading about how he goes on in these destinations, many of which I am familiar with, but I think he should stop making these claims, because in making them, he loses credibility, like when he claims that he is mistaken for a native. If I can identify the obvious foreign accent in his Spanish and Portguese, I am sure natives can. Anyway, rant (almost) over, fun blog, but ease up on the bogus claims. Edited by gogglehead on 23 March 2013 at 4:26pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ezy Ryder Diglot Senior Member Poland youtube.com/user/Kat Joined 4144 days ago 284 posts - 387 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 16 of 79 23 March 2013 at 5:08pm | IP Logged | ||
I think there is a point to this. The faster You get to the stage in which You can improve by reading a book, article, listening to a podcast, and other enjoyable activities, the smaller is the probability of failing, giving up. And the number of the languages learnt is just a matter of personal choice. Though I think the premise of existence of the possibility of achieving fluency in such a short time is just a marketing device. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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