Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby AllSubNoDub » Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:33 am

Here's the heckler. No idea how I came across him. He's unintentionally hilarious but at the same time strikes me as seriously deranged. :lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktd78-76U2A
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby AllSubNoDub » Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:35 am

Le Baron wrote:The conclusion was that you can have fairly creditable (if not in-depth) conversations with A1-A2 level languages and therefore it is not totally misleading if someone has a collection of these and maybe 1-2 higher level ones. And that if you're happy and gaining communicative value from it, then it's legitimate. That's what it seemed to me.

Did he not say B1-B2 within the first 5-10 minutes?
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby Dragon27 » Tue Sep 14, 2021 5:47 am

AllSubNoDub wrote:Here's the heckler. No idea how I came across him. He's unintentionally hilarious but at the same time strikes me as seriously deranged.

Watched a couple of minutes of some video of his where he checks if Luca Lampariello speaks Italian. Apparently (I've only watched a few minutes here and there, the guy seems extremely repetitive and boring) he thinks that Luca reads from a prepared text (because he looks away from the screen from time to time) and that he's not from Italy.
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby sirgregory » Tue Sep 14, 2021 6:03 am

Dragon27 wrote:
AllSubNoDub wrote:Here's the heckler. No idea how I came across him. He's unintentionally hilarious but at the same time strikes me as seriously deranged.

Watched a couple of minutes of some video of his where he checks if Luca Lampariello speaks Italian. Apparently (I've only watched a few minutes here and there, the guy seems extremely repetitive and boring) he thinks that Luca reads from a prepared text (because he looks away from the screen from time to time) and that he's not from Italy.


"Can Luca Lampariello speak Italian? Is he really from Italy?"

That's pretty funny. This guy is trolling or he has a screw loose.
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby Le Baron » Tue Sep 14, 2021 8:35 am

AllSubNoDub wrote:Did he not say B1-B2 within the first 5-10 minutes?

I don't know, did he? Further in he talks about people using A-level knowledge for simple conversations to get around.
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby Gordafarin2 » Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:58 am

AllSubNoDub wrote:Here's the heckler. No idea how I came across him. He's unintentionally hilarious but at the same time strikes me as seriously deranged. :lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktd78-76U2A

Wow, that's kind of disturbing. I can only hope we won't see this guy on the news some day, clips of him saying "I'm going to hunt them down, I'm going to hunt them all down..."
Luca isn't Italian, Steve Kaufmann isn't Canadian? :lol: Why...
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby AllSubNoDub » Tue Sep 14, 2021 1:27 pm

Le Baron wrote:
AllSubNoDub wrote:Did he not say B1-B2 within the first 5-10 minutes?

I don't know, did he? Further in he talks about people using A-level knowledge for simple conversations to get around.


Yes. At 6 minutes he says (paraphrasing):


"1. Can communicate on any topic you want that's common, can communicate in past/future/present, can discuss everyday conversational topics like politics, economy, and environment to a degree. You may not know these topics in depth, but you can follow a conversation, ask questions, and learn about the topic.
2. You can continue to learn and grow using only that language, you don't need another language to continue improving."

"If we look at CEFR, late B1 to B2."


I just wanted to clarify, because I have a lot of respect for Richard and saying A1-A2 would seem absurd to the vast majority of people on this forum (I think we'd all be polyglots if that were the case).
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby Le Baron » Tue Sep 14, 2021 2:17 pm

The two numbered paragraphs aren't a whole. Number 2 is what happens when you pursue a language much further; not his appraisal of learning them to to level good enough to just have basic conversations, which he does discuss in his long introduction and with regard to people in general. He's said himself that some of his languages aren't even at B1 level.

It's not my personal opinion that people can learn handful of languages to A1-A2 and then go about calling themselves a 'polyglot', but nowhere in that livestream does he specifically say they aren't if they so wish to call themselves that. Even then I wouldn't knock anyone for achieving A2 in a few languages out of which they can squeeze as much as possible in use. That's what languages are for. The reason I said 'because Richard is nice' is because like most other people he probably does think there are 10-sentence merchants who make youtube videos, but he's not a mudslinger.
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby AllSubNoDub » Tue Sep 14, 2021 2:41 pm

Le Baron wrote:The two numbered paragraphs aren't a whole. Number 2 is what happens when you pursue a language much further; not his appraisal of learning them to to level good enough to just have basic conversations, which he does discuss in his long introduction and with regard to people in general. He's said himself that some of his languages aren't even at B1 level.


The two numbered blocks combined were his definition of fluency and then he equated that to B1+ to B2 on the CEFR. I think that's about the center of the bell curve for most of us here, as well. (I didn't quite follow the rest of what you were saying)

Le Baron wrote:It's not my personal opinion that people can learn handful of languages to A1-A2 and then go about calling themselves a 'polyglot', but nowhere in that livestream does he specifically say they aren't if they so wish to call themselves that. Even then I wouldn't knock anyone for achieving A2 in a few languages out of which they can squeeze as much as possible in use. That's what languages are for. The reason I said 'because Richard is nice' is because like most other people he probably does think there are 10-sentence merchants who make youtube videos, but he's not a mudslinger.


I completely agree. Richard is a sweetheart and he was obviously trying to give the benefit of the doubt to "fake polyglots".
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Re: Richard Simkott on fake polyglots

Postby Iversen » Tue Sep 14, 2021 3:51 pm

I am not going to waste my precious time looking through the videos of Jack-something the heckler, but I noticed in the live comments to Richard Simcott's video that the guy can't even write in correct English. And doubting that Luca L, who is as Italian as Italian can be, can speak his native Italian amounts to sheer idiocy.

As for making videos in English - well, that's the way to go if you want an international audience. Personally I would prefer almost any other language because I already listen to enough Anglophone stuff - but not the kind of videos where someone rattles off a few sentences in ten languages. I prefer those where there is a discussion or a monologue with a duration of at least 5-10 minuts per language (if there are more than one) -at least that gives the participants a chance to say something substantial about a real topic - and as a by-product it would also make it much harder to fake it, if that's the angle. I haven't checked whether RIchard has made such videos, but I know that he would be able to do it.

Besides those of us who have participated in conferences and gatherings have not only heard, but also spoken to a number of the polyglots on Youtube in person - and not only in English. However if we mentioned that publically then we would probably also be called fake polyglots by mr.know-all.
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