Stevo985 Posted January 27, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted January 27, 2020 Found a YouTube channel of a Polyglot I think his name is laoshu505000 Anyway his videos are just him going up to people of random nationalities and speaking to them in their language. The more common ones like Spanish and French aren't that amazing, but when he finds someone from Burma and starts speaking to them in Burmese, or starts speaking Zulu to someone from Zimbabwe their reactions are amazing. He claims to speak over 50 languages (to varying degrees of ability). Always makes me smile. People are so happy and surprised to have this random guy from Ohio talking to them in their language. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 25 minutes ago, Stevo985 said: Found a YouTube channel of a Polyglot I think his name is laoshu505000 Anyway his videos are just him going up to people of random nationalities and speaking to them in their language. The more common ones like Spanish and French aren't that amazing, but when he finds someone from Burma and starts speaking to them in Burmese, or starts speaking Zulu to someone from Zimbabwe their reactions are amazing. He claims to speak over 50 languages (to varying degrees of ability). Always makes me smile. People are so happy and surprised to have this random guy from Ohio talking to them in their language. I have watched a few where a white American fella will speak fluent mandarin or Cantonese to Chinese people and they are blown away by it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 27, 2020 Moderator Share Posted January 27, 2020 19 minutes ago, Seat68 said: 47 minutes ago, Stevo985 said: Found a YouTube channel of a Polyglot I think his name is laoshu505000 Anyway his videos are just him going up to people of random nationalities and speaking to them in their language. The more common ones like Spanish and French aren't that amazing, but when he finds someone from Burma and starts speaking to them in Burmese, or starts speaking Zulu to someone from Zimbabwe their reactions are amazing. He claims to speak over 50 languages (to varying degrees of ability). Always makes me smile. People are so happy and surprised to have this random guy from Ohio talking to them in their language. I have watched a few where a white American fella will speak fluent mandarin or Cantonese to Chinese people and they are blown away by it. I suppose it goes some way towards balancing out the ones who think Iran is located somewhere in southeast Ireland. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Or Apple's new shoe. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 27, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted January 27, 2020 20 minutes ago, Seat68 said: I have watched a few where a white American fella will speak fluent mandarin or Cantonese to Chinese people and they are blown away by it. If he's truly fluent, I'd be amazed if he hadn't been brought up bilingual. I've seen (western) University language professors who specialise in Chinese and say that they will never be fluent, it's just too difficult (although they were probably including reading the characters, which is a whole can of worms). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post BOF Posted January 27, 2020 Moderator Popular Post Share Posted January 27, 2020 Just now, mjmooney said: including reading the characters, which is a whole can of worms). A lot of them actually look like that. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 27, 2020 Moderator Share Posted January 27, 2020 When I followed sumo a lot more closely than I do now, I resolved to try and learn kanji. Yeah that didn't happen. It was like looking into a field of thistles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 11 minutes ago, BOF said: I suppose it goes some way towards balancing out the ones who think Iran is located somewhere in southeast Ireland. As one Chinese student put it in an answer to one of my exam questions, 'there are 5 parts of the UK, England, Scotland, Walse, New Zealand and North Iran-land'. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 27, 2020 Moderator Share Posted January 27, 2020 1 minute ago, HanoiVillan said: As one Chinese student put it in an answer to one of my exam questions, 'there are 5 parts of the UK, England, Scotland, Walse, New Zealand and North Iran-land'. Partial credit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCDAN Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Stevo985 said: Found a YouTube channel of a Polyglot I think his name is laoshu505000 Anyway his videos are just him going up to people of random nationalities and speaking to them in their language. The more common ones like Spanish and French aren't that amazing, but when he finds someone from Burma and starts speaking to them in Burmese, or starts speaking Zulu to someone from Zimbabwe their reactions are amazing. He claims to speak over 50 languages (to varying degrees of ability). Always makes me smile. People are so happy and surprised to have this random guy from Ohio talking to them in their language. I've been watching his channel for about a year now, some are better than others. I think only his Chinese/Japanese are fluent the rest he can hold a conversation just about but its bveyr impressive. Just switching between Mandarin and Cantonese is the best and really seems to surprise them. I think there was one where he was at a restaurant counter and switched between Madarin/Chinese/Tagalog and possibly one other speaking to all of the staff while they surround him in awe. Edited January 27, 2020 by AVFCDAN 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 27, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted January 27, 2020 (edited) 30 minutes ago, mjmooney said: If he's truly fluent, I'd be amazed if he hadn't been brought up bilingual. I've seen (western) University language professors who specialise in Chinese and say that they will never be fluent, it's just too difficult (although they were probably including reading the characters, which is a whole can of worms). the guy I was referencing speaks fluent mandarin and Cantonese. Seems perfectly fluent from his videos and the Chinese people he interacts with always comment on how good he is at speaking. They’re blown away by it to be honest. He wasn’t brought up bilingual and He’s never lived there. In fact he’s never even been to China. He’s been learning since he was 18, self taught (and is about 35 now I think) He does have a wife from Taiwan who speaks Mandarin, but he says he spoke mandarin before he met her. But that certainly may have polished his language skills but he claims he spoke it before that. He does seem like a bit of a freak of nature though. I’m sure what you’ve said above applies to most people. And I’m not sure he reads it either which like you said is a whole other kettle of fish Edited January 27, 2020 by Stevo985 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 27, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted January 27, 2020 3 minutes ago, AVFCDAN said: I've been watching his channel for about a year now, some are better than others. I think only his Chinese/Japanese are fluent the rest he can hold a conversation just about but its bveyr impressive. Just switching between Mandarin and Cantonese is the best and really seems to surprise them. I think there was one where he was at a restaurant counter and switched between Madarin/Chinese/Tagalog and possibly one other speaking to all of the staff while they surround him in awe. Yep exactly. His mandarin and Cantonese seem the best. Some stuff he only knows a few words and phrases but it still blows people away and he still seems to be able to hold basic conversations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 27, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted January 27, 2020 One of my ex-colleagues told me about friends of hers who lived in Paris - the bloke was French, his wife Japanese. He spoke no Japanese, she wasn't very good with French, but they both spoke very good English, so that's what they used with each other. But the best bit was that their kids grew up fluently tri-lingual in English, French and Japanese. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 One of my footy mates, I’m sure I’ll have mentioned him previously, I have no idea how many languages he has but he basically collects them. Learnt Portuguese because we had a game over there. Learnt Russian to help him get around a swathe of east European countries. For a few years he earned his money as a simultaneous translator over in Brussels. He could do that where neither of the languages were english or welsh. He’d translate Flemish in to Spanish and vice versa. Absolute robot. Pretty sure he was still a virgin well in to his 30’s. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Genie Posted January 27, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 27, 2020 11 hours ago, Genie said: My wife is taking a new job, it will mean from time to time she'll be away for a night or 2 which is a real shame. Current employer made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. I get to keep her every night of the week without even the occasional evening as a bachelor. I’m so happy. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddywhack Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 1 hour ago, Genie said: Current employer made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. I get to keep her every night of the week without even the occasional evening as a bachelor. I’m so happy. “That’s wonderful, dear” 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
il_serpente Posted January 28, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted January 28, 2020 10 hours ago, Davkaus said: Or Apple's new shoe. Reminded me of this gem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer1 Posted January 28, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted January 28, 2020 Thanks to another thread I have been reminded of the majestic culinary delight that is Chips with Gravy. Bloody lovely! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 28, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted January 28, 2020 1 minute ago, Designer1 said: Thanks to another thread I have been reminded of the majestic culinary delight that is Chips with Gravy. Bloody lovely! Chips, yes. Fish, no. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 28, 2020 Moderator Share Posted January 28, 2020 17 minutes ago, Designer1 said: Thanks to another thread I have been reminded of the majestic culinary delight that is Chips with Gravy. Bloody lovely! Almost poutine eh? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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