Lamont (From Days And Words): How To Learn A Language & YouTube Advice
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- Опубліковано 11 чер 2024
- Thanks to @daysandwords for this conversation!
In this conversation, Lamont and Loïs discuss language learning and UA-cam. Lamont shares his experiences learning French, Swedish, and Spanish, and the challenges he faced in achieving conversational fluency. Lamont emphasizes the importance of pronunciation and accent reduction in language learning and the motivation that comes from interacting with native speakers.
This a fun conversation, thanks Loïs!
My pleasure!
Well, Lois, I didn't know that you're not a native English speaker until you said that you're not. That's how good your command of English is
I’m an American native, and I really tried nitpicking. He’s basically indistinguishable from a native from my perspective. One also had to keep in mind that everyone has their own individual way of speaking. So other than the way he said ‘podcast’ at one point I can’t tell that he’s not native
He's even picked up, I suspect unawares, the way younger Americans are now drawling the vowel in the conjunction 'but'. Even I, a native speaker of American English, have difficulty replicating that exactly, but then I am 71 years old, and that /u/ was not transitioning into a diphthong when I learned the word.
Hi Lois, I’m American. Your English is very close to native level. I could not tell what country you were from. Certainly I could not detect a French accent even though I have an intermediate level of French. In this video there's something a little bit different about the way you say the word “pronunciation.” I watched your video with Veronica Mark previously and I concluded from that that you were not a native English speaker, without knowing whether you were or not. Outstanding job!
Hey, thanks for the feedback. Which part of the word "pronunciation" sounded unnatural?
@@loistalagrand Listening word by word it's very hard to fault your English, yet there are very small things that pop up like those below. Combine this with the fact that I couldn’t identify where you are from in the US or Canada due to a lack of a regional accent made me conclude you weren’t a native speaker.
17:17 “pronounciation” (said 3X). You are contracting or swallowing or hurrying the “ro”.
19:41 “I've done that.” A “d” sound instead of “th” in “that.”
31:29 “Australian” (said 2X). Beginning of the word is rushed.
Ever since I saw a video that argued that you will never be without an accent in a second language, I've been on the lookout for UA-camrs who sound like natives in their second language (excepting those who learned it as children). I'd be interested to know if you have run across any.
I enjoyed this so much! Great content.
Lois, my ear is very very sharp, and I assumed you were a native English speaker. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
It would be nice if you could do time stamps for each question.If possible 😅 thanks.
That is a good suggestion, in addition, it would be pretty great if he made a special video to answer for some our question out there, I'm gonna be ecstatic and most people I believe.
Solid chat here guys, found it very engaging.
Lamont mentioned Loïs's accent. I'm a native (Midland) American English speaker (southwest Ohio), and Loïs's accent is excellent, i.e., it seems very close to my own accent. I have noticed only one word in a couple of videos that sounded off: "month". Loïs says something like /mɔnθ/, whereas I say /mʌnθ/. Kudos to Loïs!
As for accents I've come to accept that my English accent is just decent. I would slip here and there and for a time I even had British accent. On phone calls some used to say they can't place from which "state" I am. I've always wanted to reach native level, same for French because for me accents are like music and if it's not native-like it's similar to being off tune. So when my teacher asked the class if we wanted to speak like the French, I did say yes. That's my goal, but first I must cross the intermediate level.
Hey Loïs, interesting conversation. I've been thinking about language learning a lot the past months, since I seriously started my french course about 6 months ago.
Language learning or aquisition has so many aspects to it, the characteristic sounds, the grammar, the vocab, the way things are being said and you can compare it to so many things in life. My course includes grammar, which I think is beneficial, but sometimes it can be too much and lower my motivation, so I concentrate on other stuff.
I enjoy to listen and repeat, kinda mimic native speakers, which could be considered speak a lot speak early. But it is combined with other aspects, so it is not only that.
I do think it is important though, as in sports or in dance, your body needs to learn and master the movements and stylistic of the language to be able to produce it properly. All your physical elements which are involved in producing speach are involved - I realized that the movement of the tongue has a big impact. I noticed while speaking french my tongue is accustomed to other movements speaking my native language and needs to get used to and train the new movements and refine them, make them automatic without thinking about it. Different parts of the brain are involved in that and it takes a lot of practice for this automatisation of the movements to work. I included some anki early on, making flashcards of some sentences from my course - I thought sentences make more sense since they provide context to the vocab. But then I had the impression that I was memorising the sentenses as a whole at some point and incorporated a lot of different sentenses with different uses of words to avoid that. Podcasts in slow and easy french are great - one needs to find the right level of french to understand enough of them, I heard about 80% to be able to deduct some more vocab out of the context. There are also videos on @FrenchComprehensibleInput - comprehensive input from this guy is really great, including gestures, sounds, explenations, pictures and stories which all contribute to comprehension. French films and series are a different story - casual french sounds like a different language to me and I will get to that later, not just yet.... All of these different possibilities are available and make language learning much more fun then textbook, grammar, vocab learning. Add a teacher you don't like in school and you can totally forget about motivation ;-) I also enjoy singing in french and performed two songs live at some concerts as well as recording one song in french. There the aspect of accent comes in, since I don't want to have a bad accent. Do I want to sound like a native? I think I would like that, but how important is it? Most french natives told me that it is very good, that they can hear that it's not from a native speaker, but couldn't tell what the accent was. One guy stated that there are many different accents within the french language - it's a sign of diversity and mine doesn't sound bad, so why change it? Another guy found some few pronunciation flaws which I might still fix if I can get into natural story telling while concentrating on the pronunciation. If you'd like to give feedback, let me know ;-)
Good Interview, thank you !
Loïs - that’s fascinating that Italian is like a dialect to you of French! I’m currently learning French, I’m about an upper beginner, and I hope to learn Italian too one day.
You'll have a huge advantage!
I also assumed Loïs was a native English speaker. (Admittedly, I'd only heard him say a few sentences, and I was listening while tidying my kitchen, but still.)
I’m slumming today. Tomorrow is the 3rd year anniversary of learning Spanish, something which matters very little to 99% of people but, for me, it's life and my life. I’ll admit to being depressed today because of the 12,500 hours I put in over the last three years at 10-12 years per day. At the marker 11:00 you started talking about how Americans ¨see¨ you and that’s the key. I sound like a Spaniard, because that was my goal, to sound undetectably like a Spaniard. It’s also why I chose Spain, something which has turned into a life-changing decision. Americans are a great case study because we’re SO f-d up that we are the shallowest and weakest link however, the poison exists in humanity. They will say 100% of the time, sound like he was born in the US BEFORE they see you!! Afterward, you'll notice the 30-40% drop. Because Americans hear with their eyes. My cousin is 1/2 Japanese, talks like Goober from Andy Griffin and people still say, ¨Ah Michael San, Howa yousa today?¨ The reason chose Spain is because of the RAMPANT bigotry and hatred towards whites in Latin American and especially Mexico so, it’s not your voice. I will NOT converse with a non-native Spanish speaker with a heavy, horrible accent because we are in conflict. Sounding native means you RESPECT the language and culture of the language.
I never realized how much Lemont edits his videos. 😅 I love both of your channels. Good interview.
🤣
The greatest trick the UA-camr ever pulled was to convince the world that Da Vinci Resolve didn't exist.
Can't help noticing how you seem to be more self-conscious about mimicing a native-like accent than actually constructing your speech in a more articulate way. Working on losing the habit of starting every other sentence with "I feel like" and using fillers like "like", "but um...", "so um..." excessively would work wonders for you as a learner of the language that aspires to be the best communictor you can be. Having an accent, as you briefly mentioned in the video, can even be a cherry on top, assuming the ideas and the manner in which they are delivered in your speech measure up to those of your peers that speak the laguange as their native tongue. I'd rather listen to someone that talks his age with the thickest foreign accent imaginable than an adult with somewhat native-like accent who in essence talks like a 14 year old kid. But that's just me. Keep up the good work.
I'm experimenting learning a language by a) downloading a UA-cam video of 1000 or so English conversations, b) translating them into the target language (Romanian), and c) learning the translations off by heart, with Anki.
This is an experiment. Don't try it yourself and complain if it fails. I don't know myself if it will work yet.
Loïs sounds native. In this interview there are no hints of an accent.
Unfortunately some accents just sound nicer than others... I am sure that English, spoken badly in a French accent sounds better than French spoken badly in an English accent.
I mean I knew you weren't a native English speaker with the name Loïs, but I have reached a point that I don't care what language I speak with someone so long as we can communicate.
What you should do, Lamont, is learn finlandssvenska. If you talk like Snusmumriken everyone will just think you're Finnish! Less discerning than rikssvenskatalarna.
Having a barbie? Fair dinkum
Was somebody abusing that rooster?
No, they just like to be noisy.
Hahaha yeah we have chickens, and contrary to popular depictions, they crow all the time, not just at sunrise!
Making youtube videos requires leaving your ego, pride and emotions at home. Never ever make 2 minute garbage videos either!🎉