Polyglot Richard Simcott: Genial Godfather of the Movement

[@sadhbh4652]

As a deaf, autistic language lover I love this. Thank you both for the great work.

[@o_felipe_reis]

Two giants of the polyglot community! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@camilotello3296]

BEST CROSSOVER EVER

[@jazzyeric21]

I've seen Richard's face many times but this was the first time I've heard him speak. Seems like an awesome guy! I love the virtual concept and I will definitely participate in the event.

[@alanwesley3725]

Os maiores poliglotas da atualidade, parabéns.

[@tomatrix7525]

Two true legends here. Well done

[@valentina_fantasy]

AMAZING! Very inspiring, motivating! BRAVO!!!!

[@Arkaaito]

Can confirm. I had the privilege of attending last year's Polyglot Gathering in Fukuoka as a monolingual American (well, English+Cherokee, but effectively monolingual because there are so few Cherokee speakers left!). Everyone was deeply welcoming to me regardless of any languages I did or didn't attempt to speak. Fun was had. Delicious food was shared. Language tips were received by all. :-) If I may wax philosophical for a moment: My sense, based on limited interactions, is that self-defined polyglots are far less inclined to worry about whether some person "belongs" to any particular group or place and are less likely to see that person as either "all in" or "all out." I have no evidence, but I strongly suspect that a kind of attachment to the idea of rigid identity groups with fixed, non-porous boundaries is a barrier to mastering a foreign language to a high level - particularly if those identity groups are formed around language. If you’re intrigued by this idea, I strongly encourage you to dig up Stephen Krashen’s much more cogent and well-reasoned thoughts on the related subject of accent acquisition - and his speculation that identity is a factor in limiting accent acquisition as an adult.

[@doriends1155]

Interesting!

[@michaelewing6522]

Richard Simcott is one of my favorite inspirations

[@posedion8181]

STEVE, it would be so fascinating if you'll invite Linguamus as a guest on your channel. He is one of the greatest polyglots- Linguist we have ever seen. He knows many languages, in addition, he knows Russian better and deeper than most native Russian speakers. The name of his channel Linguamus

[@stevencarr4002]

Excellent intelligent questions from Mr. Kaufmann

[@motionfx1337]

very excited to attend my inaugural Polyglot Conference. Immensely looking forward to it

[@teocantsleep4611]

I'm in ;) You guys are both an inspiration

[@solea59]

Good questions Steve. People who haven't yet started to learn will be hopeful !

[@rosebarbaro461]

Hope I'll see you there next year. It is a great way to motivate anyone.

[@ShaneGodliman]

Sounds like an interesting event!

[@legitprowrestling6653]

Outstanding!

[@antoniodelima2066]

I dont know why, but, for a long time, I've been speaking english, but, still now i have a hard time to understand Richard Symcott'english, as you all see, he speaks so clear and slowly, but it's dificult to understand him, but not other english speakers.

[@jazzyeric21]

He is not speaking with an American accent. Perhaps that is why he sounds different to you if an American accent is what you're used to. But, his English is indeed perfect.

[@zipporahthecushite7729]

Richard is soft-spoken. As a native-English speaker I have difficulty following soft-speaking people.

[@Arkaaito]

Agree -- it's both of these things, but particularly (IMO) that he's soft-spoken. I'm hard of hearing (not terribly) and even as a native English speaker, I have to listen to Richard on excellent quality speakers or headphones at a fairly high volume. So don't be discouraged! No matter how good your English is you'll have to work harder to understand some folks than others -- it's just part of life.

[@baronmeduse]

He does also have a northern accent (he's from Chester). It's easy on my ear because I'm also from the same region!)

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

As said he has a soft Northern English accent, and the acoustics in his room are awful.

[@andress4780]

richard simcott is the greatest of all time

[@rubyvampiredean.]

From VIETNAMESE LOVE🥰🥰🤩🤩

[@devotedhyperpoliglot9559]

I'll be there

[@marcelocipriano5985]

Ótimo!

[@Subscriberswithnovideoscheck]

Hey I don’t know if it’s me or for everyone. I have trouble memorizing words and characters and meanings. I’m learning Japanese any suggestions for things to use?

[@jazzyeric21]

For pure memorization check out the Anki app. It's a extremely popular free SRS based flashcard application. Also check out the channel Matt vs Japan.

[@Tehui1974]

Just read books and watch videos at an understandable level, and you will learn words subconsciously in context. Half of these videos are about this subject, it's called 'comprehensible input'.

[@jaredwilliams6853]

Sometimes audio and pictures can help instead of just direct translation into your mother tongue. For example hearing the word seeing the symbol and a picture relating to it at the same time.

[@dogfeliz]

My question for Steve is...how can you keep yourself so young/healthy? What do you eat? Genes? Unbelievable, this man don’t age. :)

[@sdcv3613]

Good genes probably

[@larrynelson3359]

If only Richard could make some learning CD's on languages

[@desisnowboarder462]

Larry do you have a CD drive on your computer? :)

[@baronmeduse]

@@desisnowboarder462 I do! But you know you can play CDs on things other than a computer?

[@tomilan6001]

steve is the one

[@english_5359]

Steve is aging backwards

[@mattsilver1121]

Watch superhollys video with her dad, hes a real linguist who knows everything about náhuatl. BTW Richard kept mispronouncing náhuatl lol

[@teocantsleep4611]

Just the other day I learned that xicara, aguacate (avocado), chili, coyote all came from that language. Which surprised me the most? Chocolate!

[@mattsilver1121]

@RG Warren Yes that's the video, great video. I love watching her dad, i wish she'd make more videos with him.

[@michaelrespicio5683]

If I'm not mistaken, Richard speaks 30 odd languages. I'm surprised Tagalog is not one of the many languages he knows. Granted most people never bother learning this language, but it's a little disappointing that a polyglot like him never considered learning it. Knowing English, Spanish and having learned some Indonesian, there's really no excuse not to at least try, considering 1) the prevalence of OFWs, 2) Philippines is the 12th most populous country in the world with lots of things to experience (you haven't lived life until you've visited at least once) and 3) there are more Tagalog speakers than Dutch, Thai, and Greek which I think Richard speaks. Props for learning some exotic languages, but what is it about Filipino culture that's stopping him (and many polyglots) from trying the language?