Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby maxalmonte14 » Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:37 pm

Claiming to be a polyglot has turned into quite a profitable business nowadays, it's sad to see, but as long as these people inspired others to learn languages and don't scam people, I say go for it, serious learners know what's is all about.
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby Kraut » Sat Sep 18, 2021 2:28 pm

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED585202.pdf

The closing plenary session at the InnoConf17 conference was an informal interview that Tita Beaven conducted with Richard Simcott, which ...


interesting how he educates his daughter in many languages
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby tungemål » Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:03 pm

maxalmonte14 wrote:Claiming to be a polyglot has turned into quite a profitable business nowadays, it's sad to see, but as long as these people inspired others to learn languages and don't scam people, I say go for it, serious learners know what's is all about.

Is it because someone invented the word "Polyglot"? It has become glamourous.

- I actually speak several languages.
- How interesting. (Yawn)

- I am a polyglot!
- Really? Wow!
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby rdearman » Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:21 pm

tungemål wrote:
maxalmonte14 wrote:Claiming to be a polyglot has turned into quite a profitable business nowadays, it's sad to see, but as long as these people inspired others to learn languages and don't scam people, I say go for it, serious learners know what's is all about.

Is it because someone invented the word "Polyglot"? It has become glamourous.

- I actually speak several languages.
- How interesting. (Yawn)

- I am a polyglot!
- Really? Wow!

Doesn't sound so good if you say Polyglutton. :)
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby leosmith » Sun Sep 19, 2021 12:41 am

einzelne wrote:
Le Baron wrote:There's that guy Xiaoma who speaks very good Mandarin
Does he? Just the titles of his videos make my eyes roll...

Yes, but his videos are pretty annoying/formulaic imo. He's a wannabe Moses McCormick.
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby maxalmonte14 » Sun Sep 19, 2021 1:23 am

leosmith wrote:
einzelne wrote:
Le Baron wrote:There's that guy Xiaoma who speaks very good Mandarin
Does he? Just the titles of his videos make my eyes roll...

Yes, but his videos are pretty annoying/formulaic imo. He's a wannabe Moses McCormick.


I personally wouldn't call someone who spent two years studying in China, plus a whole lot of extra time learning/perfecting Chinese a wannabe, I've even seen videos from Chinese teachers breaking down his dialogs and even though his Chinese is not by any means perfect, is really good.

His videos speaking other languages are Laoshu505000-like in fact, he goes around speaking broken Spanish or something, but at least he's having fun and not trying to sell you The Ultimate Course to Learn Spanish While You Sleep or something like it.

The only thing I don't like about his channel is the click-bait titles he uses, but I get why he does it.
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby leosmith » Sun Sep 19, 2021 3:07 am

maxalmonte14 wrote:
leosmith wrote:
einzelne wrote:
Le Baron wrote:There's that guy Xiaoma who speaks very good Mandarin
Does he? Just the titles of his videos make my eyes roll...

Yes, but his videos are pretty annoying/formulaic imo. He's a wannabe Moses McCormick.


I personally wouldn't call someone who spent two years studying in China, plus a whole lot of extra time learning/perfecting Chinese a wannabe

Maybe you misunderstood my post. The question was whether he speaks very good Mandarin, to which I answered "Yes". I called him a wannabe Moses McCormick, not a wannabe Mandarin speaker. By that I meant like Moses, he is very good at Mandarin, so-so at one or two other languages, and a beginner at many. Like Moses he makes tons of "secret camera" videos where he surprises people by speaking their native language. Like Moses, many of these are videos in languages that he is a beginner at. He has the farewell to Moses video with the most hits on YouTube. For all of those reasons, I consider him to be a wannabe Moses McCormick.
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby AllSubNoDub » Sun Sep 19, 2021 3:34 am

leosmith wrote:
maxalmonte14 wrote:
leosmith wrote:
einzelne wrote:
Le Baron wrote:There's that guy Xiaoma who speaks very good Mandarin
Does he? Just the titles of his videos make my eyes roll...

Yes, but his videos are pretty annoying/formulaic imo. He's a wannabe Moses McCormick.


I personally wouldn't call someone who spent two years studying in China, plus a whole lot of extra time learning/perfecting Chinese a wannabe

Maybe you misunderstood my post. The question was whether he speaks very good Mandarin, to which I answered "Yes". I called him a wannabe Moses McCormick, not a wannabe Mandarin speaker. By that I meant like Moses, he is very good at Mandarin, so-so at one or two other languages, and a beginner at many. Like Moses he makes tons of "secret camera" videos where he surprises people by speaking their native language. Like Moses, many of these are videos in languages that he is a beginner at. He has the farewell to Moses video with the most hits on YouTube. For all of those reasons, I consider him to be a wannabe Moses McCormick.


wannabe: one who aspires, often vainly, to emulate another's success or attain eminence in some area.

"Wannabe" has a bad connotation. You may not have meant to sound disparaging by using that word, but that's what it seems like on the surface. I have nothing bad to say about Moses, I loved the guy, but there are levels to this and xiaoma's Chinese is better than most of us would probably even hope for. It seems like xiaoma's found a lot of success, good for him. He's been at it for a long, long time. I'm happy for him.
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby rdearman » Sun Sep 19, 2021 6:57 am

I'm just going to drop this quote from the rules in here because this thread as a potential to go south. :)

Furthermore, please refrain from personal attacks on well-known polyglots, whether or not they have an account here. Especially anything bordering on libelous or defamatory remarks. Yes, some of them may overstate their abilities, but even the most skilled language learners may have trouble responding if they're put on the spot.


And BTW you can read all the rules here: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =25&t=2968
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby tarvos » Wed Sep 22, 2021 2:55 pm

Oh God. You know by now what YouTube can be like. If you don't like these vids, don't watch them and don't give these people money or attention since that is what they thrive on.

Jeez.
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