New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

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David1917
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby David1917 » Tue Apr 05, 2022 10:36 pm

Catching up. The accent one is funny because he still screws up some basic stuff in Russian (я могу говорю по-русски is a double conjugation "I can I speak Russian" rather than conjugated plus infinitive я могу говорить по-русски "I can speak Russian"). Similarly, in the old Perfectionnement Russe video he keeps incorrectly calling Lesson 70 as Lesson 17. Obviously he's allegedly read Dostoevsky in Russian and discussed literature during a homestay in St. Petersburg long before I knew a word of Russian, which is why to me these mistakes seem way worse than they would if he was someone that kinda sorta studied Russian.

I can't get the Arabic well enough to "grade" it but the pronunciation sounds great - obviously having lived in Beirut & Dubai for several years. This is also I believe the first time we get to hear him speak Korean - I would love to hear reactions to that.
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Vordhosbn
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby Vordhosbn » Wed Apr 06, 2022 2:10 am

David1917 wrote:Catching up. The accent one is funny because he still screws up some basic stuff in Russian (я могу говорю по-русски is a double conjugation "I can I speak Russian" rather than conjugated plus infinitive я могу говорить по-русски "I can speak Russian"). Similarly, in the old Perfectionnement Russe video he keeps incorrectly calling Lesson 70 as Lesson 17. Obviously he's allegedly read Dostoevsky in Russian and discussed literature during a homestay in St. Petersburg long before I knew a word of Russian, which is why to me these mistakes seem way worse than they would if he was someone that kinda sorta studied Russian.

I can't get the Arabic well enough to "grade" it but the pronunciation sounds great - obviously having lived in Beirut & Dubai for several years. This is also I believe the first time we get to hear him speak Korean - I would love to hear reactions to that.


I had a similar reaction also. I think he is still "in form" as far as Arabic goes, even after having left Dubai a few years ago.

On another note, his website is now finally active: https://www.alexanderarguelles.com
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einzelne
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby einzelne » Wed Apr 06, 2022 2:23 am

David1917 wrote:he's allegedly read Dostoevsky in Russian and discussed literature during a homestay in St. Petersburg


If I remember correctly, it was the other way around: he stayed in Russia only to realize that, although his communicative skills significantly improved, he still couldn't read Dostoevsky in the original. No wonder he continued to work on his reading skills after he left Russia. After all, people don't speak like Dostoevsky's characters in everyday life.
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sat Apr 09, 2022 3:09 pm

Time Management to Make the Most of 60 Minutes for Study:
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David1917
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby David1917 » Mon Apr 11, 2022 12:46 pm

As with most YouTube channels you follow for a long time, we've reached the point where he has to balance speaking to "us" and to newcomers. There is a lot of repetition in here from things he's written & spoken about in the past, though still interesting for sure.
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby bolaobo » Mon Apr 11, 2022 5:06 pm

The cake analogy is spot on. You can't make a cake bake faster by increasing the temperature, and even getting to intermediate level in a language requires a steady commitment over a long period of time. You can't just study twice as long each day and learn it in half the time because of diminishing returns and problems with brain focus.
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby zenmonkey » Mon Apr 11, 2022 6:46 pm

bolaobo wrote:The cake analogy is spot on. You can't make a cake bake faster by increasing the temperature, and even getting to intermediate level in a language requires a steady commitment over a long period of time. You can't just study twice as long each day and learn it in half the time because of diminishing returns and problems with brain focus.


Not only that but you do need the brain to "cook" the language and organize the information, which takes repetition and sleep. Skill acquisition (sound registers, ability to read, acquire grammatical structures) may require plasticity over time somewhat independently of hours of study. At least for us mortals.

Aside from the cake analog, I liked his suggestions on intentional focusing and breaking study time into chunks. It makes me think a bit of the Pomodoro technique (which I tried but don't use) but in a more useful light.
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby kundalini » Tue Apr 12, 2022 8:36 pm

David1917 wrote:This is also I believe the first time we get to hear him speak Korean - I would love to hear reactions to that.


He has a typical and fairly strong American accent when speaking Korean. Around the 3 minute mark in the accent video, he demonstrates two ways of speaking Korean -- one allegedly with a heavier accent and one with a lighter one -- but they both sounded similar to my ears.
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby Vordhosbn » Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:29 am

A new Q&A piece has been published with a roadmap of the various stages of language learning, and illustrated by means of some of his videos which might be of interest to some here:

https://www.alexanderarguelles.com/ques ... age-study/
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Re: New Prof Argüelles Youtube Series

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sat Apr 16, 2022 4:31 pm

Great Books Lists Now Available & Call to Collective Action:
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Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

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