Richard Simcott Language Challenge

Open Forum
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ad JayB (…) I agree. But I think it was Friedemann who was the victim in this case, because he was very polite and civil to Benny, but he unfortunately got insulted in return. I find this kind of thing quite sad, but it seems to be Benny’s style… (…)

Sorry, my wording in English might have been (or better saying obviously has been) misleading. I was referring to the fact that Benny frequently uses that kind of language. I was not trying to suggest that Friedemann is that kind of person. Mea culpa :wink:

I share your skepticism with regard to those three months and the level you can achieve within that period of time. I have never even come anywhere close to C1 after three months. In my case it has always been years. In some languages I managed to make myself understood after a couple of months if I studied on a regular basis. And I was able to follow easy conversations but not more than that. However, I have never tried to classify my level according to the European Framework.

(…) In my opinion there is no substitute for diligent study and lengthy exposure to a language.(…)

I couldn’t agree more with you on that. People are sometimes made believe that the ability to speak languages comes overnight. I don’t buy that. It is hard work. You can make it enjoyable and definitely worthwhile, but it still requies a LOT of efforts and dedication. At least that has been my experience. But who says that working hard to achieve a goal is something bad. People seem to be so keen on getting things for “free”, whether it is a service, a product or personal achievements.

Why not accept the fact that if you want something you need to work for it?

Instead of avoiding that kind of work or efforts or making people believe that things will just happen overnight I think it is better to at least try and make sure your efforts are both worthwhile and enjoyable.

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@Robert: Ah, I see that I misunderstood what you wrote about Friedemann. Sorry about that :wink:

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I am always amazed at how large of a vocabulary one needs in seemingly simple and normal daily life situations. Some say, well I don’t want discuss politics or science so I don’t need to know what the word for infrared spectroscopy is in that language. But you will want to be able to buy new shoelaces, get a haircut, go to the doctor, pay your electricity bills, call a service man to look after broken appliances in your house. I find the sum of all these situations require quite a large vocabulary. I don’t know where “shoelace” ranks in vocabulary frequency lists, I would say it is not that frequent, but no that exotic of a word either.

The other day I needed to buy sheets and stuff for my bedroom. You’d be amazed how much spezialised vocabulary you need for that. For example I wanted one of these covers with elastic bands that you can wrap over and around the mattress. You see, seems I don’t even know that word in English, but I know it now in Chinese.

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Richard dislikes Pimsleur. You can hear his anti-Pimsleur view in his interview with David Mansaray. But then he has never given it a try. I think his main objective of this mission is to show that Pimsleur cannot take you very far.

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@edwin “I think his main objective of this mission is to proof that Pimsleur cannot take you very far.”

I would agree with him, if that’s the case.

Don’t get me wrong, Pimsleur’s a great start, but that’s all it is - a start. You normally get basic present, past and future tenses and about 250-300 words in a 30 lesson course, with maybe a couple more tenses or moods, depending on language. Even then, you don’t get those until the last third of the course.

R.

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I too think that Pimsleur is great for a start, but that’s about it as for its content. However, I like the way they break down sentences and the fact that they give you ample opportunity to practise what you have learnt and most of the time their speakers have very pleasant voices. Nevertheless, I think they are outrageously expensive for what they offer. Luckily, you sometimes may find them at your local library. I don’t mind paying for a good product, but their prices just seem totally out of proportion.

ad Friedemann:

Just out of curiosity, what do you call these sheets in Germany? I had to think for a moment before I came up with the term we use here in Austria: “Spannleintuch”. As far as I know you don’t use the term “Leintuch” in Germany but rather “Bettlaken”. So, do you call them “Spannbettlaken”?

As for the English term, I normally use “fitted sheets” but there may be a more specific one.

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I’ve never used Rosetta Stone, but if it’s like Michael Thomas, I doubt anyone can get very far at all using it and nothing else.

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Robert,

where I grew up we call them “Spannbettuch” but I don’t know the number of "t"s in the middle (LOL!). In Chinese this is a 床笠, and my Chinese-English dictionary says “fitted bed sheet”.

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ad Friedemann: Thanks! It’s always interesting to see how many different words we use even though we supposedly speak the same language :slight_smile:

Looking at the Chinese character I can see myself “standing” on a “bed” trying to fix the sheets with two “bamboo” sticks. Just an example of how I try to remember most of the characters :wink:

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@Friedemann: “…I wanted one of these covers with elastic bands that you can wrap over and around the mattress. You see, it seems I don’t even know that word in English, but I know it now in Chinese.”

You know, I really don’t know for certain what these are called in English either! I would assume we’d call them “mattress covers”, “fitted covers”, or something like that - but that’s only a guess!

(Eigentlich sollte man eine englische Frau fragen!! :-D)

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We have fitted sheets (usual cotton / polycotton sheet material, with elasticated edges to wrap tightly round the mattress, and under our fitted sheet we may have a mattress protector (which may or may not be waterproof, or thermally insulated).

Anyone who drinks as much tea in bed as I do really needs a waterproof mattress protector, or at least a tea-coloured mattress :wink:

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In der Schweiz sagen wir “Fixleintuch”
Den Ausdruck “Spannbetttuch” kannte ich nicht.

j;-)

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Freidemann: “I just watched the third installment of the Luca-Steve exchange and Luca … The only issue I have with this video (and most other polyglot videos) is that they all stay inside the same narrow range of topics.”

The fourth installment is out. It is in German. I don’t know German, but I think they talked about the German language, its cases, etc. Sorry for the disappointment once again.

May be we can request the polyglots to talk about buying mattresses or their view on global warming next time.

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@Friedemann: Nach neuer deutscher Rechtschreibung mit 3 t also “Spannbetttuch”. Und bei uns heißt es auch so :wink:
@Robert: “Leintuch” sagen wir nicht. Aber es ist schön zu lernen, wie es woanders genannt wird.
@Jolanda: “Fixleintuch” klingt nett :wink:
@Edwin: Yes, they speak about the cases and other difficulties that German learners could experience and how to overcome them.

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@lovelanguagesII “Looking at the Chinese character I can see myself “standing” on a “bed” trying to fix the sheets with two “bamboo” sticks. Just an example of how I try to remember most of the characters ;-)”

Actually the word “笠” is a kind of hat used to avoid getting wet or sunburned. It is quite often seen in Asia, especially in those old days when umbrellas were not so popular. You can imagine a standing man is having a bamboo-made hat. As for “床笠”, it is more like a hat for the bet. :slight_smile:

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‘床笠’ does sound like ‘bed-cover’ to me, although I am not an expert in bedding equipment.

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It is interesting. I do not know formal expression for fitted sheets in Czech. I personally call them “natahovací prostěradla” It is something like “stretching sheets” or “pulling on sheets”.

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JayB: mattress protector for me.

Vonk: fitted sheets for me.

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Re the topic of these discussions, please bear in mind that these were all done one after the other for a total of around one hour of discussions in different languages. We enjoy talking about this subject especially since it was our first chance to talk together. What is more I find that my youtube videos that stray from the subject of language learning are far less popular. I even did one on political correctness in German if you are interested .

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ad Veral, ad Jolanda: Interesting to see what you call “fitted sheets” in the area where you live. I would have understood all of these terms based on the context given even though we only use “Spannleintuch” here. By the way, I didn’t know the Swiss use “Leintuch” as well.

ad Vonk: I don’t even remember when I first heard the term “fitted sheets” but I think it was when I visited my mom’s cousin in Toronto for the first time. But I’ll try to remember “contour sheets” as well.

ad kigoik: Thanks a lot for this explanation. Is that the kind of hat the women and men working in the fields or cleaning the streets are wearing? I saw lots of them when I was in Japan and China.

ad edwin: (…) The only issue I have with this video (and most other polyglot videos) is that they all stay inside the same narrow range of topics." (…)

I do agree with you. I must admit, however, that I have been asked to do a few interviews in different languages on the subject of language learning in general and interpreting/translating in particular. And since I have told the person who asked me that I would do these interviews, I’m afraid this might be another round of at least similar interviews.

However, I am planning on talking about different subjects in various languages on my own site. I just never thought people would be really interested in it.

Maybe people should be able to suggest topics for such interviews. Right now I could imagine talking about my experiences in Latin America working with street children and handicapped people for example. I also love history, so talking about Austrian history would also be something I’m interested in.

Anyway, I have said in one of my last videos that I don’t really feel like talking about language learning in general anymore because I feel there isn’t much I can add to what I have already said.

Maybe it would also be more interesting to stick to one language in each interview, choosing a different topic for each of them.

Well, these are just a few thoughts. Personally, I like to hear people talk about different subjects. And I guess there comes a time when one may have to realize that it might be better to not upload any new vids because there isn’t so much one can talk about anymore.