New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

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jonm
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby jonm » Sun Nov 11, 2018 12:06 pm

David1917 wrote:Two emphases I think should be added: One is that a successful learner might only display some of these traits, if any, and the second is that while orientation, gender, birth order, etc. are not conscious choices; others such as forming good study habits, having a strong/obsessive drive (which is characterized by Prof A as "OCD" using the pop culture definition of the term), being a good student and seeking higher ed are all choices one can make to be more prepared to undertake the study of multiple languages.

One thing that I see recurring in Prof A's writing/videos over the years is the need for the world to recognize that polyglottery is a high achievement but not due to any sort of luck or hidden talent; rather due to a deliberate effort, focus and discipline. I think he only gives credit to good accents as a function of talent (I wonder if musicality is tied to this?) and everything else to just be a result of dedication. I think it's nice to see that a handful of conscious choice traits showed strong correlation here in addition to some other innate ones.

Very well said! This is indeed a key point he's making with the video. I wasn't quite sure how to summarize it... What threw me off was that in the list of traits you can develop, he included ambidexterity (which he'd already counted as a fixed trait) and OCD (using the term loosely). I guess ambidexterity does fit in both categories, since you can be naturally ambidextrous or consciously practice using both sides. What he says about OCD at the end is: "Don't develop OCD so that you can't function, but if you have an inclination, channel these tendencies and just learn to be more organized and systematic and you'll be more like a polyglot." I can't tell if he's saying that if you have these tendencies and they're truly compulsive, you can channel them productively, or if he's saying that anyone can learn to be more organized and systematic, or if he's maybe saying both. In any case, I expect he's right that many traits of successful polyglots can be consciously developed.

Do you happen to remember where he talked about being good with accents perhaps being more of a talent? I find that interesting, because I found pronunciation difficult early on, but immersion and especially studying phonetics has helped a lot, so just based on my own experience I tend to regard it as something that can be learned.
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby tarvos » Sun Nov 11, 2018 7:27 pm

So that's why the community is so full of LGBTQ+ people <3
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby Xenops » Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:26 pm

I really wanted to know about pets: I find them useful for my language learning. They are the best recipients of spoken language practice, as they are nonjudgemental about your pronunciation, and probably won't think differently about you. My only concern is the (few) days when I think they reply in the target language.
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby smallwhite » Mon Nov 12, 2018 4:14 am

> which traits correlate with success as a polyglot.
> - coming from a monolingual background

How far back is this "back"ground? First 2 years of life? Or starting first foreign language at 21?
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby Chupito » Mon Nov 12, 2018 5:17 am

Glad to hear he is finding a better balance in his life between work, family, and language learning. Hope he finds a new position that suits him in the US. I have bookmarked the video on raising multilingual children.

Some feedback on the survey, in case Prof Argüelles reads this thread:

It's one of my pet peeves, but many family situations are more complicated than being strictly the oldest/middle/youngest child. He recognized this by putting the "I was adopted" option, but I think a "other" would be useful.

For the first question, a 30 years old would have to choose to identify either as a 20-30 or 30-40 years old. Likewise for others.
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby David1917 » Thu Nov 15, 2018 3:06 am

jonm wrote:Do you happen to remember where he talked about being good with accents perhaps being more of a talent? I find that interesting, because I found pronunciation difficult early on, but immersion and especially studying phonetics has helped a lot, so just based on my own experience I tend to regard it as something that can be learned.


I don't think he discounts its ability to be learned, but that the only aspect of language learning that can be described as due to innate talent is having a good accent early on. Like people who are good at impersonations, singing, music, etc. probably have less of a learning curve in this department. But everyone across the board faces the same gauntlet of time & systematic effort.
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby jonm » Thu Nov 15, 2018 9:33 am

David1917 wrote:I don't think he discounts its ability to be learned, but that the only aspect of language learning that can be described as due to innate talent is having a good accent early on. Like people who are good at impersonations, singing, music, etc. probably have less of a learning curve in this department. But everyone across the board faces the same gauntlet of time & systematic effort.

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks!
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby David1917 » Sun Nov 18, 2018 1:44 am



Since nobody got it this morning - here's a followup of survey findings. Apparently the comments section to the last one included a robust discussion and some requests for information on the musical link to polyglots (I haven't had the time to keep up on those comments but now that I know such a discussion is happening I plan to check it out).

He formulates an odd hypothesis - namely that advanced stages of polyglottery yield stronger musicality, where I would have started with the inverse. I've always felt that music is a parallel Language with many subset "languages" based on genre/style, etc. and therefore musical people would be likely to understand that there are numerous ways to convey your thoughts and emotions, since that's what we tend to do with music itself using no words at all! I also think musicians are more likely to be good at picking up pronunciation and the rhythm of a language because of having stronger ears.

All the same, he proves the hypothesis in a preliminary sense with the survey findings, and discovers some oddities based on his own wording of multiple questions. Finally, I think it's very funny that he calls polyglottery a "condition" :lol:
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby tarvos » Sun Nov 18, 2018 9:54 pm

I do find my musicality has gone up over the years. I used to be an atrocious vocalist, but I can now manage to sing and hear notes a lot better. I am also one of those people that took the survey and had studied music theory. (I'm still not a great vocalist, but it's manageable).

I am also noticing I notice musical patterns a lot more quickly now.
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby David1917 » Mon Nov 19, 2018 12:56 am

tarvos wrote:I do find my musicality has gone up over the years. I used to be an atrocious vocalist, but I can now manage to sing and hear notes a lot better. I am also one of those people that took the survey and had studied music theory. (I'm still not a great vocalist, but it's manageable).

I am also noticing I notice musical patterns a lot more quickly now.


Interesting! Perhaps one begets the other either way. I hope Prof's early "findings" result in some further studies down the road.
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