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The CRAZIEST stories from my time at Rosetta Stone in Grand Central Terminal New York City

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 พ.ย. 2022
  • I spent almost 5 years working in a hallway in Grand Central Terminal in NYC for a language learning software company, trying to become a HYPERPOLYGLOT. The company was great , and my colleagues were wonderful, but Grand Central is insanity. These are my stories.
    Limited time "Breakfast to you" merch (10% off any merch this month with code GCTERMINAL): languagejones....
    My Patreon: / languagejones
    Purchase link for Rosetta Stone (not an affiliate link): www.rosettasto...
    My website: www.languagejones.com
    Article about radioactive Grand Central: piccolanewyork...

ความคิดเห็น • 75

  • @cliffenyprize8489
    @cliffenyprize8489 ปีที่แล้ว +109

    I haven't seen a storytime video this great since 2038, keep it up!

  • @geraltofrivia9424
    @geraltofrivia9424 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    "Breakfast to everyone" is how you greet someone in East Allemania.

  • @The_Lord_Of_Confusion
    @The_Lord_Of_Confusion ปีที่แล้ว +23

    the time travel guy story is quite funny, I have to use that line sometimes to see what happens

  • @jackperl7040
    @jackperl7040 ปีที่แล้ว +32

    All Power to East Alemania!

    • @totustuus5279
      @totustuus5279 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      You Alemanian dog. The German Confederation will crush you

  • @anidnmeno
    @anidnmeno ปีที่แล้ว +6

    "seeking satisfaction through self gratification" i love it

  • @nqldaro
    @nqldaro ปีที่แล้ว +17

    Fun video :) Did you notice if the time traveler had any discernable accent? Curious if English sound changes in the parallel timeline evolved the same as in ours.

    • @languagejones6784
      @languagejones6784  ปีที่แล้ว +14

      contemporary Harlem. Not sure when he was originally from.

  • @SanjayMerchant
    @SanjayMerchant 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    As someone who did occasionally busk in Graybar Passage around 2009, I apologize for however many times you had to hear me sing "Ah, mes amis."

  • @JCtheMusicMan_
    @JCtheMusicMan_ ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Awesome tales! As an unemployed jazz musician and hobby linguist who wished I had a PhD in linguistics, I am thoroughly entertained and educated by your videos!

  • @paulwalther5237
    @paulwalther5237 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    You've gotten me thinking of trying out my lifetime subscription I've been ignoring for years.
    *edit*
    Alright. The iPhone app still feels like a lazy port from the PC version. It’s much better on the iPad or PC but it is confusing why they didn’t revise the phone app to compete with Duolingo etc.

  • @lroc6272
    @lroc6272 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Thank you , really enjoyed

  • @Ledturbeaux
    @Ledturbeaux ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I walked past this kiosk everyday for years

  • @empresagabriel
    @empresagabriel ปีที่แล้ว

    Amazing stories. It's crazy how life happens and stories unfold unexpectedly at a daily pace.

  • @AaronQuitta
    @AaronQuitta ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Cool video! Would you be willing to do a video going over your thesis at some point?

  • @jackthomson1603
    @jackthomson1603 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    legendary vid, thank u

  • @GroovingPict
    @GroovingPict 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    how did Wallace Shawn react to that? like, you quote his undoubtedly most famous line to him, and he goes something like "hah, yeah, good one, so you recognised me huh", and you go "what on earth are you talking about?"... must have been confusing :p

  • @jazzygiraffe8589
    @jazzygiraffe8589 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    It's so cool you've been a jazz musician at some point because I've really been enjoying your videos and have been quite fascinated with language learning for a while now but am planning on studying jazz music at university :)

    • @jeroenwarner4834
      @jeroenwarner4834 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I'm afraid you weren't paying attention... he said there's no money in Jazz! As a trainef pianist turned translator turned political scientist I concur..

  • @hybrismc4105
    @hybrismc4105 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    ....alright, more stories please. Any stories.

  • @topilinkala1594
    @topilinkala1594 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    We are all time travellers. My speed is 1s/1s forward most of the time. You know it speeds up when you move faster. Acceleration speeds it up also.

  • @sjm42
    @sjm42 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    You had me at SLIDERS! 😍😁

  • @hodelhophopp9386
    @hodelhophopp9386 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Please do talk about the story in Rome with the mafiosi

  • @EvidentlyThinking
    @EvidentlyThinking ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Cheers for the video!

  • @davekaiser7891
    @davekaiser7891 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Best wacky language story:
    On an overnight train to nowhere in Russia, a Russian man, completely shitfaced, jams a hunting knife onto the table in our room, so that the knife is quivering back n forth, then says “let me tell you about my wife…and her lover.”

  • @Thermobyte
    @Thermobyte ปีที่แล้ว +7

    It could be a time traveler. Alternatively however, that's a great bit to pull on unsuspecting strangers.

    • @illexsquid
      @illexsquid 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      No, it was DEFINITELY a time traveler.

  • @bigscarysteve
    @bigscarysteve ปีที่แล้ว +12

    I'm not sure what Rosetta Stone was doing in Grand Central Station. Were you providing on-the-spot translation services? Or were you simply trying to sell the software?
    I saw a free trial of Rosetta Stone somewhere--a very long time ago. From what I saw, it looked to me as if it were simply a mnemonic system that someone had come up with and decided to use for language learning specifically, when it probably could have been used for anything. I wasn't particularly impressed with that, so I never bought it. It seems to me that Rosetta Stone's success has more to do with aggressive marketing than with the actual success of the program. Then again, I don't like Pimsleur either. In fact, I'm not really happy with any approach to language learning that I've ever been presented with. I try to come up with my own, since that seems to work better for me than anything anybody else comes up with.

    • @languagejones6784
      @languagejones6784  ปีที่แล้ว +10

      It was retail software sales. I only have experience with versions 2, 3, and 4, but it struck me that in V2 the linguists had free rein, and it was an eclectic but truly great program, and from V3 onward it had a lot more care put into the UX, really tailored to usability for the average person. I'm probably the only person who absolutely adored the old version that everyone complains about.

    • @frechjo
      @frechjo ปีที่แล้ว

      I like the old Pimsleur audio courses (I don't know what the new browser thingy is about).
      I would never call them a complete course. It's good at encouraging you to start speaking, and gives you some confidence that's probably completely unjustified. But I think that's good, and paired with other stuff, it helps.
      But I never payed for them. If I had to, I'd probably spend the money some other ways.

    • @bigscarysteve
      @bigscarysteve ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@frechjo I've heard a lot of people swear by Pimsleur. If it works for you, then I guess more power to you, but I've never seen the appeal. It all looks pretty pointless to me. I prefer a logically organized approach to understanding a language's structure.

  • @kierstynsharrow1266
    @kierstynsharrow1266 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    #BreakfastToEveryone

    • @illexsquid
      @illexsquid 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Someone needs to get Samuel L. Jackson on video saying this.

  • @crbielert
    @crbielert ปีที่แล้ว

    That was epic.

  • @eurovicious
    @eurovicious ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Great video. Love the Sliders shoutout. Not seen The Princess Bride but I know Wallace Shawn from DS9 and Southland Tales. What's the story with the abortive jazz career?

    • @languagejones6784
      @languagejones6784  ปีที่แล้ว +8

      I called worked as a bandleader, composer, arranger, and side man for almost a decade. I called it quits when I saw a live recording session at a club and my mentor, whose session it was, paid his musicians half of what I paid mine. I already felt guilty about paying so little. I asked how he afforded such a nice house, car, and so on, and long story short, most seemingly successful jazz musicians just have successful spouses. AND teach in music programs, take every gig they can, regardless what it is. I still play, I just enjoy it now and can focus on the music rather than putting food on the table.

    • @eurovicious
      @eurovicious ปีที่แล้ว +5

      ​@@languagejones6784 I love hearing stories like that, thanks. I worked as a translator in Germany for a decade and most of the other expats I knew who worked as translators or English teachers were women with high-earning engineer husbands. Seems a lot of interesting professions need that spousal subsidy...

    • @ak5659
      @ak5659 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I've noticed that, too. I'm an ASL interpreter and I was shocked to find out that spoken language interpreters get paid half what we do.

  • @MrRubikraft
    @MrRubikraft 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Breakfast to you :-)

  • @takingbus11
    @takingbus11 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    What’s your instrument? Can you do an improvisation video? Will settle for a standard. The language stuff is nice, too.

  • @shmankersox
    @shmankersox ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Oh my gosh... What you said about buskers 😂😭
    When I was doing a Master of Music degree in violin at Juilliard I used to busk in both Central Park and in the subway (Times Square station or Columbus Circle usually, on the platforms because I didn't want to bother to get a permit, maybe that was your mistake?) and I had easily an hour's worth of music (mostly solo Bach, and some Vivaldi because people generally recognize the Four Seasons).
    This was between 2010 and 2012 btw, there's a non-zero chance you saw me at some point and assumed what I was playing was the only thing I knew 😂😂😂. Slim chances, but non-zero.
    There were also other musicians I saw there, busking in various parts of the city, who were legitimately super impressive. Maybe don't paint us all with the same brush?
    Anyway, I'm in a professional orchestra now, no longer in NYC, so those days are, at least for now, behind me. It's worth saying also that my busking experience did a great deal to improve my performance anxiety management (and pay my expenses, it wasn't not lucrative). So I can credit those experiences in part for my overall music performance education.
    Love the channel, only found it recently but I've been enjoying it! Be nice.

  • @byronwilliams7977
    @byronwilliams7977 ปีที่แล้ว

    Fun video :)

  • @jetlaggedchef6806
    @jetlaggedchef6806 ปีที่แล้ว

    Loving your vidoes! I just bought a place in Italy and plan to move there in a year or two. Any advice on learning Italian? (e.g. - program vs immersion school vs... ?)

  • @GrumpyMcFrog
    @GrumpyMcFrog 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Can we get a video on the Dutch Neighbors Prank, please?

  • @amethystjean1744
    @amethystjean1744 ปีที่แล้ว

    Breakfast to everyone! lol

  • @SteinGauslaaStrindhaug
    @SteinGauslaaStrindhaug ปีที่แล้ว +1

    0:55 Ehhh... My question was when did a big block of granodiorite with an inscription in three languages become an employer... But I guess this is something else called "Rosetta Stone" 😅

    • @eritain
      @eritain ปีที่แล้ว +2

      No, it's -- you were right the first time. Sort of. Let's see ... the nanoplaque infestation sensed quorum and booted into self-awareness around 2029 -- sometimes they/it says 2028, hard to get a straight answer out of those critters/that gestalt, you know how it is -- and best estimate is it/they had infiltrated and crawled most of the British Museum collection already, so when the "Make Friends" Glitch happened they/it probably restructured the Stone for sapience pretty much immediately.
      But I guess Rosetta didn't really accumulate the economic clout to start hiring folks until about 2032. Maybe 2031. Safe to assume it started making deals under the table before its public debut, and we can't really check its financials because "minerals don't pay taxes" (thanks a lot, House of Lords).
      Sometime around then, anyway.

    • @resourceress7
      @resourceress7 ปีที่แล้ว

  • @nicholaswise5818
    @nicholaswise5818 ปีที่แล้ว

    OMG You had a jazz career!?

  • @beansclox
    @beansclox ปีที่แล้ว

    4:30 we all have em'

  • @Badbooo123
    @Badbooo123 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    So basically it doesn't work right? You said your wife wasn't able to speek to him after she finished it

  • @hadlerleco1
    @hadlerleco1 ปีที่แล้ว

    Sayonara!

  • @larryeber
    @larryeber 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    😅

  • @SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands
    @SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands ปีที่แล้ว

    ontbijt VOOR iedereen..

  • @Droni0201
    @Droni0201 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    What language do you speak?

    • @SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands
      @SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands ปีที่แล้ว +1

      He spoke American Engrish, with an New England accent.

    • @aimee-made
      @aimee-made ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands He doesn't sound particularly New England to me, that said, I'm a New Englander, so maybe I just can't hear it!

  • @jduerstine
    @jduerstine ปีที่แล้ว

    for the algorithm

  • @michaelballance1893
    @michaelballance1893 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Rosetta Stone is almost useless and way overpriced.

  • @mickgorro
    @mickgorro 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    "real twelve monkeys situation"?

    • @AndyGneiss
      @AndyGneiss 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      "12 Monkeys" is a 1995 science fiction film involving time travel.