Comments on: First month in Berlin & 8 language 6 dialect tour of my flat

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:19:00 +0000

It’s like learning a different accent. I’d be surprised if you weren’t exposed to European French in some way while learning Quebec French to be honest. Many movies and TV shows come from France. Otherwise the accent isn’t so hard to understand.
In my case, coming from France to Quebec, it was learning a different accent. There were some challenges, but never any major issues.

By: Dougal

Dougal — Fri, 21 May 2010 04:42:51 +0000

Hey Benny. I know some people have said that polyglot videos aren't impressive. That's bullshit! This was totally impressive! And charming to boot. How sweet that you invited us into your home. I think you'd make a great host. Kudos too to all the multilingual comments you're getting. Best of luck with the rest of your German studies.

By: nXqd

nXqd — Thu, 20 May 2010 04:14:06 +0000

It's really weird that the last word you say in spanish ( I don't know spanish ) is “Chao” , it's very alike to Vietnamese which is good bye .de
I'm Vietnamese

By: Alexander Ververis

Alexander Ververis — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:11:59 +0000

Hello! This is the first article I read on your blog. I just found you while checking out other people devoted to learning languages. I read ajatt's from alljapaneseallthetime.com articles on the subject, but I am looking for more information.

After seeing the video, I decided to subscribe to your feed and try to get to know your system a bit. I am impressed!

As for myself, I am a German American with Greek roots studying Chinese. Languages are a big part of my life, as well.

Ich studiere chinesisch an der Fu – Berlin, also sind wir ja sowas wie Nachbarn. Wenn du Lust hast und Zeit hast, wuerde ich gerne mit dir einen Kaffee trinken gehen um einerseits eine beruehmte (Internet-)Persoenlichkeit kennen zu lernen und andererseits mich ein wenig mit dir ueber Sprachen – das Lernen dieser – unterhalten.

I'm not really sure what I can offer you to make you actually want to meet up with me for a drink and a round of interrogation except my German – which is worth close to nothing since you live in Berlin. I guess I'll take up the bill

By: Alysia Raine

Alysia Raine — Wed, 12 May 2010 08:20:23 +0000

Benny, not only are you able to switch languages in a heartbeat, you are able to switch dialects as well. I love it! Bravo!

By: manuela

manuela — Sun, 09 May 2010 17:45:11 +0000

It's so funny! I'm quite a polyglot, too, I would say that I'm fluent in 4 languages and I understand and basically speak other 2, but for me it's so difficult to switch from one language to another … it takes me so long to do it!
Please, come to visit my bilingual blog (Esperanto/Italiano) and, if you want, write me (in Esperanto, Italian, English, French, Spanish or Slovak, as you prefer!).
Ciao!

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Thu, 06 May 2010 10:57:23 +0000

haha, yeah the Quebec French part was fun

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Thu, 06 May 2010 10:57:07 +0000

Thanks Lorenzo!!!

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Thu, 06 May 2010 10:56:56 +0000

Bruno, did you see the caption for the flag? I was intentionally trying to speak paulistano for the first part – I changed to carioquês half way through the Portuguese part and showed that with the flat
Glad you enjoyed it!

By: Bruno Diniz

Bruno Diniz — Thu, 06 May 2010 06:04:56 +0000

The portuguese (please I´m brazilian and my mother language is portuguese: not brazilian – portuguese! It is all at the same language with regional diference only ) part was amazing, but it seem very closest to “paulista” accent instead carioca accent or “carioquês”. When you started with portuguese do you say: (1:15) “Hey man!” wich its sounds Ei! Meu! this is very used in “paulista” accent.
Thanks for sharing!

By: Lorenzo

Lorenzo — Thu, 06 May 2010 01:57:45 +0000

Hi Benny! In the video you speak flawless Italian. Congratulations! By the way, in your speech the word “alemão” sounds exactly the same as it does in Continental (i.e. European) Portuguese. Amazing! Keep up the good work.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:42:33 +0000

Great video!! I LOLed at the Quebec french because it was great and reminded me of home!

By: Randy

Randy — Tue, 04 May 2010 02:56:52 +0000

Indeed. As I like to say: The goal isn't the language, and it isn't even the ability to speak the language… it's what you say.

It's easy to be irrelevant in any number of languages. It's much harder to say something meaningful — even in just one language.

By: Wilson Usman

Wilson Usman — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:31:28 +0000

Hey benny that's pretty amazing man can you do (eh parce como no vas a saber el hacento Colombiano pues hombre). Just messing with you brother I am totally impressed and I think its an amazing skill. I am glad for you. Right now me and my girl are trying to learn italian, I am thinking I am going for portuguese next I really like how they speak.

Hey keep having a ton of fun in Berlin I hope to meet you soon too. I see how fast your blog is growing, keep it up!

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:45:53 +0000

Danke Niko!! Ich wusste nicht, dass die Betonung des Worts “Moment” in der zweite Silbe lag!
Ja, ich habe viele Arbeit, meine Vokale zu verbessern!! Sehen wir, wenn ich das in nur 2 Monaten machen kann….
Ich danke dich für die Tipps

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:39:30 +0000

My understanding is that the broad is to be pronounced as in English. I am sure this is of course due to outside influences, but the “majority” of people I have come across speak this way. Even a few natives in the Gaeltacht. Perhaps it's something new in recent decades, but as far as I know it's the most frequently heard version, even if it's technically incorrect. I searched a bit on Google and got both as being suggested (two non-English s as you say in some sources, and one thrilled, one English in others).

I'm not trying to insult you either, I'm just saying that based on my experience “incorrect pronunciation” (depends on your point of view) is way more common I don't look at it as minority languages being overtaken by majority ones. It's just the natural evolution of all languages. German has lots of English words in recent decades, English got an influx of French words after the Norman conquest etc. You can't keep a language pure, it has to be influenced by other ones German nasalises ends of words like Restaurant to make them sound very French – I could be a purist and say this isn't German enough, but I think it's better to just go with the flow.

Sorry, but I don't plan on fixing the error for the broad ! I'm not a purist, I try to speak languages as most people do. If you study Celtic languages I'm sure you appreciate the uniqueness of each of them, but my focus is always on attempting to speak like most people. This means that I'd also tend to use certain English words in Irish, even if there were some obscure translation, simply because that's what most people would do. To me, influx of outer influences is just a natural feature of a living language.

However I will try to be aware and say the slender next time I make a video, since that is definitely wrong of me no matter what way you look at it. Thanks again for the reminder!

Good luck with your Celtic languages!!

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 03 May 2010 03:45:46 +0000

You are right about there being a broad and slender , but both are still trills, there is no approximant at all in Irish. There may be special places where it is used, like the retroflex approximant in Scottish Gaelic <-rd> – /ɻʃt/, but nowhere in correct pronunciation is the approximant /ɹ/ or /ɻ/ used, it is only because of native speakers of English that it is used in Irish. I'm not trying to insult you or make you feel bad or anything, it's just that it irks me when I see minority groups or language being taken over by the majority, whether I can help it or not. But, hopefully after reading this, you'll fix that little error, and maybe get other speakers to follow in your footsteps too! ;D

Congratulations on your German journey, it seems to be going great so far. Keep it up!

On a side note, my life goal is to be fluent in all 6 of the Celtic languages, and I am already on the path to fluency in my first one, Cornish. Your blog has helped me quite a lot with my learning abilities, and defining my goals and such; keep it up!

By: Niko87

Niko87 — Mon, 03 May 2010 01:00:08 +0000

Also echt, Benny, dein Akzent ist auch jetzt schon ziemlich schwach und behindert das Verständnis gar nicht; die Aussprache ist gut und was du noch verbessern musst sind Feinheiten. Die letzte Stufe ist ja die Sprachmelodie richtig hinzubekommen und sobald du das schaffst kannst du auch Deutsche überzeugen zu wärest einer von ihnen Viel fehlt nicht!
Meine Tipps: 1) Vokale etwas länger ziehen
- das “a” bei arbeite /normalerweise: “hier aa(r)beite ich” , “normaalerweise”
- das “u” bei “Buuch”

2) Betonung: “momEnt mal”

Mach weiter so!

Viele Grüße aus Heidelberg,
Niko

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Sun, 02 May 2010 19:33:50 +0000

As well as that, I find what they are talking about to be really dull, even if their language skills are way more impressive than mine. You watch the video just to be in awe of those language skills rather than to appreciate the content of what they are saying. They use their languages to just talk about their languages… WTF?? Other than apologise for my German, I am actually genuinely giving a tour of my apartment (i.e. using a language to talk about something other than bloody languages…) and this video is directed at my Couchsurfers and I think that makes it at least slightly more interesting to watch.

Nearly every other polyglot video I've ever seen would have worked just as well as a podcast or on the radio.

I'd be happier to watch more polyglot youtube videos if they were dancing or juggling monkeys or doing ANYTHING but sitting still giving a biography.

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Sun, 02 May 2010 13:18:05 +0000

Thanks – people had sent me that link before, it's extremely useful! I'll have to include it in a summary post specifically about German later. Glad to see you've been getting good use out of it!
Cheers!