What is Wrong With Being Monolingual?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ก.พ. 2024
- Do you only know English? Then you are "monolingual," which can be seen as a kind of handicap. Being raised monolingual is not your fault, but to stay monolingual by choice is to accept a set of confining limitations. Join my academy: www.alexanderarguelles.com/ac...
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Join my virtual academy and meet with me every week to get a systematic theoretical framework for long-term language learning in the Path of the Polyglot: www.alexanderarguelles.com/ac... Join also to read and discuss French, German, Italian, and/or Spanish literature, to learn sacred languages such as Arabic, Sanskrit, Greek, or Old Norse, to develop conversational abilities in Latin, and/or to read and discuss Great Books of Western Civilization or the Comparative History of Religions in English. And subscribe to my monthly newsletter at: www.alexanderarguelles.com/ne...
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Join my virtual academy and meet with me every week to get a systematic theoretical framework for long-term language learning in the Path of the Polyglot: www.alexanderarguelles.com/academy/ Join also to read and discuss French, German, Italian, and/or Spanish literature, to learn sacred languages such as Arabic, Sanskrit, Greek, or Old Norse, to develop conversational abilities in Latin, and/or to read and discuss Great Books of Western Civilization or the Comparative History of Religions in English. And subscribe to my monthly newsletter at: www.alexanderarguelles.com/newsletter/
At first, what drew me most to wanting to learn many languages are the Romance, Germanic and Slavic languages. Realizing that learning two in each family can give you access to, say, 6 additional languages is an amazing feeling. Others are attracted by differences. So, they see the Romance family and think "they're so similar, so I'll choose just one" and proceed to learning Spanish and then German, Turkish, Japanese, Vietnamese and Russian.
Just to provide an example.
English: A sincere man dies of hunger.
Spanish: Un hombre sincero muere de hambre.
Portuguese: Um homem sincero morre de fome.
Mirandese: Un home sincero morre de fame.
Galician: Un home sincero morre de fame.
Catalan: Un home sincer mor de fam.
French: Un homme sincère meurt de faim.
Occitan: Un òmi sincèr mòr de fam.
Corsican: Un omu sinceru muri di famu.
Sardinian: Un’omini sintzeru morit de famini.
Friulian: Un omp sincîr al mur di fan.
Lombard: En öm sincer el môr de fam.
Romagnol: Un òman sinzìr ‘e mör ’d fâm.
Venetian: Un omo sincero more de fame.
Italian: Un uomo sincero muore di fame.
Sicilian: Un omu sinceru muri di fami.
Romanian: Un om sincer moare de foame.
Thank you for that great list!
It was a pretty delicious video for me. Thanks a billion.
You are most welcome.
I already mentioned it another time your German accent when you quoted Wittgenstein stunned me, inducing a trance state of fascination, admiration, and the illumination of existential possibility. Thank you very much for reassuring me that this depth of proficiency is indeed possible in multiple languages. I am doing my best to pursue this meaningful competence, as well.
Thank you, too, and you are also very welcome.
@@ProfASAr
The short german speaking section in this video was quite good. I know it because i'm swiss german.
It's a lot like music. In my experience, people who are considered "tone deaf" often haven't heard a parent or someone close to them sing at an early age. This lack of early humanizing of making music is an obstacle to music making in later life. I think the struggle is similar for people raised in a " monolingual bubble".
Hello Lisa and thanks for your analogy to music from the perspective of a piano teacher.
I have not yet seen the video but as someone who is a linguaphile and an aspiring polyglot and amateur linguist, I agree 100% even if such a statement was done in jest and maybe slightly exaggerated. The limits of one's language are the limits of one's mind (not my quote!).
Thank you - the quote is from Wittgenstein.
@@ProfASAr Danke Sehr, Herr Professor!
Man went to German.
Absolutely agreed on everything. Not even much to add, but this will be a nice video to show people!
Thank you, Yan, as always.
@@ProfASAr And thank _you,_ Professor, for continuing to do your wonderful work with the Academy! I really dream of getting back in
I'm swiss german i can speak and understand german, english and french. At the moment i'm learning italian. Later i would like to learn spanish.
For the average person, I think the first non-native language we learn is kind of “free” since it inherently teaches us about our native language and activates a part of the brain inherent in all of us. The calling to learn many languages is a minority that is often undervalued.
Indeed!
I have a question? How many languages must one speak to be considered a polyglot?
Most would probably agree 5 or 6.
How many languages will you say is optimal prof? Or one should just learn as much as possible in a lifetime? Basically, will you say there's a hack such that if I learn a particular number from a class of languages I can easily catch about 5-10 more related from it?
I discuss this kind of thing in depth in my Path of the Polyglot course.
@@ProfASAr
I'm 46 and i can speak and understand 2 foreign languages. In my case english and french. I learn italian at the moment. Later i want to learn spanish. I'm swiss german living in Switzerland so may i have a bit some kind of more motivation to learn foreign languages than may someone living in the USA.
Your website seems like it is only for people at intermediate level can you recommend another academy for beginners?
You've hit the nail on the head - that is my target audience. Sorry, I don't know of a particular academy to start learning languages - I encourage self-study at that level. Best of luck to you!
Language fascinates me and I have always wanted to be a polyglot. Unfortunately, I think my standards are too high.
Why not enjoy learning what you can?
I've put a huge amount of effort over the years into trying to be multilingual, but when I study foreign languages, it always comes down to the same problem that I don't find it difficult to learn grammar and vocabulary and I am able to learn languages well enough to read books in the languages, but I am horrible at learning to speak and listen in foreign languages.
A lot of people have told me that they have had the same problems that I have had. They are able to learn to read languages, but even after studying a language for several years, native speakers tell them that they can't understand them and when they try to watch movies or television programs in the language, they can't understand what the actors are saying. I know several people who majored in a language in college and then lived in a country where the language is spoken for a couple of years. After that, they gave up because they couldn't under the native speakers.
I do know people who are at the opposite extreme. They find it easy to pick up languages well enough to able to converse with native speakers and to watch television programs in the language.
How much do you focus on getting comprehensible input via video and audio?
@@clownonabike Because of the internet I have been able to spend a few hours a day practicing listening to foreign languages. Listening to audio or video that is intended for people learning languages in which they speak slowly and clearly has never helped me with understanding native speakers who are speaking at a normal speed.
Have you tried shadowing audiobooks?
@@tmhc72_gtg22c At first, I could only understand songs, then American English (from about 40% to 80% after watching "Friends" in one month about 12 years ago). After that, watching several British sitcoms (they tend to only have about 18 to 24 episodes in total) improved my British English comprehension, which was quite low previously. Lastly, understanding (95٪ plus) videos by British youtubers (mostly politics) who speak standard English with not much slang (but don't refrain from using uncommon words when they are needed) only became possible after several hours of videos watched.
Also, study some phonetics. You can't ignore that worked is pronounced workt nor that many people in England pronounce "Law and order" like lawr an ohdah. Why that r (similar to the first r in Spanish in traer) between a word that ends in a vowel sound and a word that begins with a vowel sound? I don't care to know the why, but I have to accept it happens. "What did you do yesterday" in fast English sounds to me like "Wharyoudo yesterday", and so. In French, "qu'est-ce que tu acheté pour leur anniversaire" may make you think the following: keskta (what? Didn't get it . Too fast) sheté (is that a verb. Cheter. Don't know that verb) pour leura (l'heure à? Did I get this right?) niversaire (never heard this word before). Listen a lot and speak. You don't necessarily have to talk to a real person, but you have to speak. Read dialogues. Imitate accents. Try to realize the ways native speakers shorten words (been studying Romanian for 2 months and only recently found out they don't say jumatate (half), they say jumate.
@@ProfASAr I'm sorry that I didn't respond sooner. I have tried shadowing audiobooks.
Commentārius deīs algorythmī.
Gratias.
What is right about it?
Ah, so you are more extreme than even I...
It's ok to be monolingual if you're anglophone. If you love literature, for example, you have almost any great book translated to English and some great translations only exist in English. In many countries, mostly big countries with big populations have large swathes of people that simply don't even think about learning a second language. Some talk about learning a foreign as if they were talking about a tool to make extra money, completely dissociating language learning with culture. Having said that, I think most people who read a lot will eventually want to learn a second language, specially if they are not native English speakers. I envy a bit those who learn "only" 3 or 4 languages and become able to fully utilize all of them in less than 10 years. After that, they are able to perfect their languages their whole lives.
Thanks, as always, for the detailed comment.
Wrong! As an anglophone born and bred, it's my other languages that open up the world for me. Not everything has been translated into English, especially not when one travels. Monoglots are restricted in their access to life.
@@christopherellis2663 Everyone is restricted to some degree. No matter how many languages you speak, you won't be able to read every book. And there will be people who don't talk any of your 15 or 20 languages.
I can speak and read to some degree the following languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese (native), French and Italian. I can read in Catalan (quite well, as of recently) and Neapolitan (understand most by context). I know a little bit of German and of Romanian. So, I'm not a staunch advocate of monolingualism, but if one were to speak only one language, there is no better language than English. Besides that, speaking only English doesn't impede someone of learning bits of conversational Thai for a 2-week stay in Thailand or A1 Japanese for a 1 month stay in Japan. English is widely spoken in about half the world, a first in history.
"I envy a bit those who learn "only" 3 or 4 languages and become able to fully utilize all of them in less than 10 years."
Depends on the language combination and your definition of knowing a language though. In my case, 10 years wasn't even enough to become fluent in English.
First
Indeed!
No complaints here. The original title was hyperbolic to be funny. And it was. The contents of the video are great and interesting like always. I appreciate immensely that he still makes videos for us with such a busy schedule. If you take a look at the Academy class schedule, and then consider the prep work before each class, it's amazing that he's making videos at all. I mean no disrespect to other commenters, and out of respect to the other commenters, the professor, and the channel, I will not respond to any comments on this comment. The last thing I'd want to do is to argue with any of you wonderful, interesting people.
Why is arguing the only option and not healthy discussion? I think it’s fine for you to voice your thoughts the same as others. Personally I think it was probably a good idea for the title to be changed given the way many people felt about it, but that doesn’t mean I have any issues with people who don’t feel the same way.
Thank you for your understanding, appreciation, and support!
One misses out on a lot by willingly remaining monolingual or even solely bilingual.
Thank you for stressing one of my main points.
Really? I don't really agree with how he interpreted the Wittgenstein quote. Though many others also interpret it that way and often talk about things like languages with words for a colour that doesn't exist in other languages. I think it refers to the limits of language in general. What language can convey and what it possibly can't, since that is the overarching theme of the book the quote comes from.
I'm sceptical of the idea that knowing other languages somehow makes you think broader, more improved thoughts, or fills gaps, or improves the ability to communicate things that often fail to effectively be put into language.
I agree that more languages are useful and a way of seeing other perspectives, but I can't really accept the view that being a monoglot handicaps the ability to think in the way suggested. I don't believe thoughts are words anyway. They only become words. I'm even sceptical of the notion of 'thinking in different languages'. The language is the output for communication's sake, not the source of the thoughts.
edit: this comment refers to the original upload title and thumbnail, which has since been changed
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The title is very provocative. Is this the right branding? I also don't understand the conceit of the newspaper headlines in the thumbnail. What do newspapers have to do with a learned academy? With love and respect, I do believe that the channel branding could do with a re-think.
Sorry about that. I am outsourcing the video editing at this point and don't know how to make thumbnails myself. I recognize you as a longtime subscriber: what kind of thumbnail do you think I should ask for? Any other tips would also be much appreciated.
@@ProfASAr I agree with the OP. The substantive contents of these recent videos are at odds with the intros. Without being able to provide any answers to how you fix that, it may be a good idea to at least review your current process. This video in particular seems to have gone a step further however. I don't think conflating being monolingual with deafness, blindness or a handicap is wise at all, even if in jest. I say this not so much from a personal point of view, as I am a big advocate of free speech, comedy and satire etc, but rather that the world in which we live these days in does not take kindly to such things. In this instance I fear they may have a point. I'm sure someone who is actually deaf or blind would gladly trade places with a "handicapped" monolingual speaker.
Hi. I do have some experience in digital branding. I would summarize the problem of the current (newspaper) thumbnails as follows: they don't symbolize learning languages. They don't communicate the content. They are not legible - the text is too small.
I would suggest three prongs for a rebrand of your thumbnails:
1. have good quality, professionally lit photos taken of yourself. These will form the base images of the new thumbnails. Dress as you do - as the academic. Frame yourself either on the left or right hand side of the 16:9 image, so as to create a negative space for thumbnail text to be superimposed onto. Avoid appearing too poised - appear as if you are mid-thought or mid-sentence. Use hand gestures or look otherwise animated. Work with a professional who understands the purpose of the photos.
2. In the aforementioned negative space, feature your bookshelves - dimly lit and slightly out of focus, to allow for legibility in the superimposed text. Superimpose a pull-quote from the video which is well-chosen to suit the video's topic, and which also creates an element of mystery. E.g. "This language was the most difficult for me", "This is what is wrong with education today" , "I needed to develop self discipline first".
3. Utilize the coat of arms of the academy: place it in the corner of every thumbnail. Simplify the design so that even at a small size it is recognizable. Have this coat of arms feature somewhere in the video itself to create a continuity between website, thumbnail and video content.
The hypothetical rebrand I outline above solves the issues I mentioned at the start.
1. The bookcase and coat of arms symbolise language learning. 2. The photographic images of yourself mid-conversation accurately indicate the nature of the content. 3. by choosing one engaging sentence you can focus on making that one verbal element large, bold and legible.
I hope this helps.
@@ProfASAr
@@LiamPorterFilms It does indeed! Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to write this out. I will pass it on to my team.
@@ProfASAr you have helped me out a great deal over the years with your sage advice, it’s my pleasure to be able to give something in return.
I thought this was another Language Simp video when I saw the title 😂
???
@@ProfASAr he's another language youtuber, Language Simp.
@@ProfASArlanguage simp is a TH-camr that also makes videos centered around languages. he usually has inflammatory titles for comedic effect.
Using rhetoric in such an exaggerated manner, no matter how many languages you speak, is manipulative is irresponsible. Shame on you.
Sorry about that. I have changed the title and the thumbnail.
@ProfASAr I was a bit rude. I try to empathize with my ESL students as they often come across linguistic power dynamics from native speakers. I see much of English standing in their shoes, and I'm a bit of a grammar-Nazi. Rhetoric has a ripple effect that even AI is now responding to.
My initial comment was a bit of a knee-jerk response, but I think your response was in your best interest too. 👍
Now I'm curious to know, what was the original title? 😊
@@LisaHerger Sorry, but my memory isn't that great.