famous polyglots

It seems that the youtube of Ziad Fazah on Chilean TV has disappeared from youtube.

Is there a youtube of him speaking his many languages? Is there one of Stu Jay Ray doing it, or some other polyglot? Are there youtubes of people speaking many languages? I would be interested in looking at them.

Please let me know if you know of some. Many thanks.

Comments

[Edwin]

Steve,
I mentioned Wendy Vo in a previous comment. You can find her video clips on YouTube. The conversations were trivial, but I think it is quite remarkable, considering that she is only 8.

[Steve Kaufmann]

Edwin,

I just had a look at Wendy. Very impressive. I wonder how she studied these languages. I am curious to know if it is just a matter of her talent, or if other children could do the same if they had the same program of instruction.

In other words it is just that she is a prodigy, or are children capable of much more than we think.

[Tony]

Steve,

Jay Raj has a blog, http://stujay.blogspot.com/ there you will find the URLs of 2 video clips. He speaks Thai in one of them.

The majority of the languages he knows are south-east Asian languages. Also he claims he knows 古文, that is really amazing, if it is true...

Tony

[Chris]

Stu Jay Raj is definitely an honest guy, and all his videos are on YouTube. It's the second one of the Joh Jai interview, I believe, that has him tested in various languages. The whole interview is certainly worth watching.

[Ryan]

I recommend both Stu Jay Raj and Wendy Vo. I contacted the person who uploaded the videos of her and asked him/her how Wendy learned all of those languages. I haven't heard back yet. Stu is a great guy. I've watched his Thai interview (with English subtitles) a million times. He shows a chart of his languages and how well he can read, write, understand and speak them. There are 15 that he is fluent in or at least has a good command of and another 15 that he has a grasp of.

[Edwin]

I have great respect to Stu. But then I think his learning method might not be suitable to many of us. He seems to have extraordinary memory and literally reads dictionaries.

[LFJ]

he must eat a lot of blueberries.

[Steve Kaufmann]

I checked out Stu Jay Raj. I cannot judge his Thai, Indonesian or Hindi but they sound totally fluent. His Mandarin is excellent. There was not enough to judge his Spanish or Cantonese by.

On the other hand his enthusiasm for languages and his description of his boyhood with his grandfather are very believable. Some of his methods I could not do, but that does not mean that they do not work for him. I am sure they do.

In total he is a credible, persuasive and inspiring ambassador of multilingualism across different language and cultural divides. I was impressed and delighted.The world needs more people like him.

[Menestrino]

Voilà une fille qui parle 11 langues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKB-W_GLZ78
Je vous demande: c'est vrai ou faux?
N'oubliez pas de visiter mon petit blog qui est destinée aux personnes qui aiment étudier des langues étrangères.

[LFJ]

steve, or anyone-

where did you find stu jay raj speaking mandarin? i've seen his youtube videos and searched his blog- which is annoying. but i cant find him speaking mandarin.

[Steve Kaufmann]

LFJ,

There is an awful to listen to there, and I have trouble following it all since I do not understand one word of Thai. However, if you listen to the second Joh Jai interview (search in youtube) you will hear him say a very clear sentence in Mandarin. Of the languages I was able to judge, it was the best, besides English of course. The Cantonese and Spanish was quite unclear. The others he sounded great but I do not understand them.

[LFJ]

thanks steve,

i thought since you said his mandarin was excellent but there wasnt enough to judge some of the others there must have been more of him speaking mandarin. i did hear that one sentence and his pronunciation/accent sounded great.

i like wendy. her cantonese was quite fluent with a good accent too. in fact, she seems extremely natural in all of her languages- even when dancing around hardly paying attention like kids do.

do you find her russian intimidating, steve? lol, thats impressive.

[Tony]

Steve,

I don't think "...you will hear him say a very clear sentence in Mandarin." is good enough to judge a person's Mandarin skill though, based on my experience.

As for my Japanese, when I first started couple years ago, I did exactly what you told me to do, bought a mp3 player, listen to each conversation over 40, 50 times, and I didn't even bother imitating for the first 3-4 months. Right now my pronounciation is excellent (totally beyond my expectations), but I am not be able to carry reasonable conversation in Japnese, yet.

[Steve Kaufmann]

LFJ and Tony,

I agree that Wendy is great and would like to know what she did to learn those languages.

Stu Jay Raj, well... I want to believe him. His Thai is certainly fluent or appears so. His explanations of what he did to learn, other than the part about his grandfather influencing him, are beyond my grasp. (Colours, reading dictionaries etc. ) I agree that there is not much Mandarin there to go on. It did sound a lot more promising than the short snippets of incorrect Spanish and Cantonese. I would like to hear him converse in the languages that he claims to speak, and which I also understand. Danish, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese etc. I cannot remember the others.

Tony, are you using our resources at LingQ for Japanese? Also next week I would like to call you on Skype and talk in Chinese for a podcast. Is that OK?

[LFJ]

thai is like one of his first languages though and the one he uses most at home. so thats no wonder. although its amazing.

but, i'm interested in hearing the polyglots showcase their skills. because one can say they speak so many languages but only know a little of each. while steve, you constantly demonstrate your ability in each language you speak. and some of them obviously need much more effort. thats why i'm interested in hearing how well they have mastered these more difficult languages.

as far as i'm concerned, if you cant demonstrate you cant claim.

[Tony]

Steve,

Sure, we'll do a Chinese podcast next week, please let me know what date you prefer.

I am using 2 resources for my Japanese learning, 1st one is a Chinese teaching program, 标准日本语-初级, published back in 1990. The other one, which is way better, is the NHK Japanese teaching program, http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/, they teach authentic conversations, and one thing that I particular like is that their explanations are totally focus on the meanings and sentence patterns, they never impose grammatical terms on listeners. I have recorded and edited all of the lessons, left only Japnese conversations. I was thinking to put them on LingQ, and send NHK an email asked them about it, unfortunately the answer was no, because of the copyright issue. I think I will start using LingQ, since I noticed there are more content added.

I perfer content with lots of kanjis, it is much easier for me to understand. I remember one day when I listened to your Japanese conversation with a lady, you said, 名古屋は日本の臍です。I didn't know the word 'heso', so I typed the sound on my computer, when I saw the kanji on the screen, I knew exactly what it meant and laughed.

Tony

[Maite]

If you can't demonstrate...

Great point! Other than posting on Youtube (not my style), how can I prove my proficiency in multiple languages and get a rating for each? I know about JLPT.
Any other ideas?

[LFJ]

its like tom kurz, the expert on flexibility training. he does a side split where he hangs suspended between two chairs. its the ultimate display of flexibility and strength. if you cant perform this you cant be an authority on flexibility training.

like steve does. i'm a follower of his here because of what he demonstrates. i only watch his posts on youtube when they are available. but he demonstrates mainly through running this blog and posting podcasts showcasing his language skills.

the way to prove your language skill is to speak the language you say you speak, preferably in unscripted conversation with native speakers.

some people, however, seem too afraid. but if you cant demonstrate you cant claim. simple as that.

[Maite]

Thank-you for your reply, LFJ. I enjoy hearing polyglots speak in multiple languages (and that includes Mr. Kaufmann, of course) and I've enjoyed many of the podcasts I've heard. I especially like to hear natives speaking about diverse topics at normal or even fast speeds as it challenges me. I usually just hear and understand languages, but occasionally I am asked to interpret. The normal and fast speeds challenge me in a fun way: Could I interpret stimultaneously? I don't know. I usually do "paraphrase" or "summary" interpretation.

I am not a professional interpreter. I work in another field. I do have to put down my languages at work occasionally as they need a list of people who can interpret. I would like to know if there are standardized tests used in North America for IE (Indo-european) languages. I know about the JPLT and I've taken it. If I took the tests for languages I know, I could say "Well, according to Test X, my level is C1 in this language and B2 in that language, etc." Europe has such a test for multiple languages. Is that what the United States and Canada is using now too?

[Maite]

Sorry, that should be "simultaneously" in the first paragraph and "are" as the second verb in the last sentence.

I know that English learners come here and I don't want to make errors that they could repeat.

[Steve Kaufmann]

Maite,

One of our long term projects at LingQ is to develop tests to go with our word count. Each learner would accumulate his/her own profile, with test results, including examples of written and oral output, and our tutors' evaluation based on a scale similar to the Standard European Framework. So stay with us. We will get there one day.

[Maite]

Thank-you for your reply, Mr. Kaufmann. I'm having trouble with my (famous name)e-mail currently, so I'd like to ask a question here and perhaps the answer will be of interest to others as well.

I got the impression that I must choose one language if I sign up for LingQ. I'm already familiar with most of the languages you offer(except Swedish) and speak them at different levels. If I sign up, would I be able to look at transcripts in any language?

[Steve Kaufmann]

Maite,

Please join LingQ and explore. It is free as long as you do not need a tutor. You would have free access to all of our content, audio and text, as well as all of our learning methodology. You can explore as many languages as you want. You can track your progress in each language. You can just flip from language to language whenever you want. The system keeps track.

Let me know how you make out.

[Chris]

Thought I'd post here an extremely inspiring story of a polyglot, that I've read many, many times:

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=300#2288

[mandarin_struggler]

Sebastian Heine (22) from Germany speaks 35 languages:

Altpersisch, Avestisch, Pahlavi, Baktrisch, Sogdisch, Sakisch, Pashto, Parachi, Ormuri, Wakhi, Yaghnobi, Sanglichi, Ishkahmi, Ossetisch, Yidgha-Munji, Urdu, Hindi, Farsi, Panjabi, Sindhi, Kurmandschi-Kurdisch, Baluchi, Sanskrit, Pali, Gandhari, Latein, Griechisch, Altirisch, Mittelkymrisch, Gotisch, Usbekisch, Aramäisch, Arabisch, Französisch, Englisch

http://www.spiegel.de/unispiegel/studium/0,1518,515531,00.html