Polyglot on a talk show
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- I'm a polyglot, phonetician and language coach and this is what I'd say if I were interviewed on a talk show. We discuss my early language learning experiences with French, Russian and Japanese as well as exploring the wonders of bilabial rolls.
I loved the show. And you’re a vegetarian! 👏
I learned a bit of Russian when I was about 9 or 10. It was during the Khrushchev thaw, about 1959 or 1960, and a friend of my mother’s, who taught French and Italian at the high school level, took an intensive immersive course in Russian. There was a move on to offer Russian in San Francisco high schools, and he wanted to be ready when it started. Meanwhile, so that he wouldn’t forget anything, he taught free Russian classes on Saturdays. My mother and brother wanted to attend, so I had to tag along. To my surprise, I really enjoyed it.
In 1987, I started studying Russian for real, a year before my first visit to the Soviet Union. I wasn’t surprised at how much I remembered from my classes in childhood, as I had always tried to recall everything through the years. What did surprise me was how much I’d forgotten that I knew.
I was in Brussels once and doing laundry at a laundromat and a 20-year-old Canadian college student was doing the same. I asked how much French they have to take in school. He said he was from Western Canada and the answer was five years, but in the five years, they basically just learn the colors, and how to say your birthday.
We all have our 12 minutes if fame. Even if we have to create the set and audience ourselves! Fun video Dave.
Glad you liked it. Yes, this is the digital version of fake it till you make it.
Give this man a million subscribers rn 😄
Love this one Dave. It’s so Dave Huxtable! 😃 keep them coming. The bilabial roll section was mind blowing 🗣
Thanks Richard.
It was almost raspberry-blowing, too!
Hi Dave - I absolutely love your videos, but your Hindustani accent is atrocious. I got this tip from a Dave Huxtable video, that you might want to try singing Bollywood songs to improve your accent. Failing that, I can give you some hints.
Love you lots.
Lol
Very nice video. I have a question about the word "Soviet". I've noticed that many British speakers pronounce it with the low back vowel of a word like "not" but you pronounced it as a diphthong, the way I pronounce it. Is there a lot of variation in the pronunciation of that word in British English?
Yes. Even my own pronunciation varies between the two versions.
Fun!
Had to imagine the studio audience noises, though. Not to worry, they enjoyed themselves. :)
Maybe they were on COVID lockdown at this point. Good job keeping safe.
I remember Digame! on BBC tv and radio, and also listening to an Asian language programme on radio on Sunday(?) mornings called Make Yourself At Home. It had enough English mixed in to give one the gist of what was being talked about. That would have been mid to late 1960s.
Your videos are huge! In the first one I saw you spoke about Australian dialects in an Australian accent. I'm still not quite sure if you really aren't Australian in the disguise of an Englishman.
Love this. Excellent American. I hadn't heard an Brit do American before.
Thank you! There are quite a lot of British actors in Hollywood who act in American accents.
10:38 People say the same about Dutch, a lot of Dutch people themselves actually. I'm so glad you made this point :)
Great stuff Dave! I recently found out that the local SENĆOŦEN (senchothen) language here on Vancouver Island has the same sound sound as the Welsh 'LL' , except it is written as an 'L' with a line through it, as in ȽÁU, WELṈEW̱ . our local tribal school. What is funny though, is that on RUclips videos I have found, the elders pronounce this letter just fine, but the younger ones sound like most English people trying to say 'Llanelli' ! I don't speak Welsh but think I say it correctly!
Thank you! Yes, it seems to Best regards quite a common sound in North American languages. Sad to hear the younger generation are getting it wrong.
Wow, you must watch a lot of Colbert, you sound identical at times! Even the appearance and gestures and his type of humor, brilliant! 😂
Especially at the start your American veers a little at times, but at other times it sounds flawless. When it veers, it sounds like some sort of non-southeastern English accent, I know that doesn't narrow down much but I'm not familiar enough! It also sounds almost Irish at times. But terrifically done, not just the accent but the entire video and all its little details
Right? It's so interesting. It really shows how much goes into an accent that any American could tell he is not an American talking, even though he's clearly trying and often comes close. It's the little things: the liquid vowels, the lilt, etc etc.
Awful acoustics in your studio.
My lapel mike was switched off. 😞
9:04 🤣🤣