|
|
Think German is Scary, kids? Take a look at Swahili!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbcaCEFB0ZU
This may be interesting to some people. Professor Arguelles talks about languages in a fairly easy way using German as a comparison, then goes into a little detail about German.
While Swahili is quite alien to a native English speak, it is a rather easy language. The grammar is simple and the vocabulary is quite small.
I don't think Swahili is scary at all. It seems like a practical first African language to learn. If you saw the first part of the video, you know why I
gave the thread its name?
I didn't see anything about Swahili in that video, just flicking through. Is there any?
The professor shows a text in German, then suddenly pulls out a text in Swahili. I found that laugh out loud funny even though I understand why he did this.
German may look intimidating (especially with the old type/font), but if the student looks closely, he will be able to see some cognates. If the student is an English speaker and suddenly he sees a text in Swahili, he will notice that it is not so easy to find words that he recognizes. Spanish is also breifly touched upon in the video. For example, why does German sound so "precise" or "hard" compared to Spanish? These aren't value judgments at all, they are related to what kinds of sounds are in each language. The professor explains that he started out with German, then moved to other languages. That's one way of thinking. I'd recommend languages for students according to their goals, not according to their proximity to English. About Chinese: Yes, Chinese or Japanese is scary until you start studying them-that's how you get over the fear. If it's a language like Vietnamese (with six tones), you just have to listen, listen, listen. There is usually some easy part with languages that are a bear in other aspects. I don't think German is for everyone. It's good to know if you have to deal with Germans, though. They may give you insider information you wouldn't get otherwise, but that's just been my experience with them. This is a first video in a series. I believe this is the same professor who wants to start a polyglot (multilingual) school and this is not a bad way to introduce his talents with languages. Frankly, though, I'd like to hear him converse, not read.
He says that Germanic Languages are consonant-heavy and
Romance languages are full of vowels. Norwegian sound a lot more vocalic to me than French or Continental Portuguese which put stress on consonants and clip most unstressed vowels.
His arabic pronunciation was awesome for a native English speaker in one of his videos posted on youtube.
"He says that Germanic Languages are consonant-heavy and
Romance languages are full of vowels." >>I hadn't thought about it before but yes, Germanic languages have lots of consonats together which makes them harder to pronounce.
<<Frankly, though, I'd like to hear him converse, not read.>>
Frankly, I find his videos far more interesting than your whiny posts. Prof. Arguelles has a great deal to offer language enthusiasts and he's generously taken the time to assist us inspiring polyglots. Your critiques will only discourage him so put a button in it.
I would consider that an opinion, not a great criticism of Prof. Arguelles. I have never heard him speak foreign languages (other than reading); aren't you curious to hear how he sounds in French, for example?
"so put a button in it" Hmmm, you must hear this quite a lot from others, I guess.
<<I would consider that an opinion, not a great criticism of Prof. Arguelles. I have never heard him speak foreign languages (other than reading); aren't you curious to hear how he sounds in French, for example?>>
If you are so curious, than why don't you give him a call? I'm certain he'd be willing to give you his number if you politely introduced yourself via P.M. Or perhaps skype... I feel no need to do so as he has much more credibility than any other existing hyper-polyglot. <<Hmmm, you must hear this quite a lot from others, I guess.>> Not once, actually, which isn't surprising considering most of my critics are incompetent in standard English, little yet the idioms bar a few vulgarities of course.
Hyperpolyglots are interesting, that's all. I'm sure that other people are curious about his videos and what he will share in them.
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. "little yet the idioms bar a few vulgarities of course". I don't understand this. Sorry.
Okay, I figured out your English, JLK. I had to change one word and punctuate it in my mind.
|