Grandpa Speaks 9 Languages in VRChat

[@Thelinguist]

Grandpa here. It was fun to cross into this virtual Hades on the river Styx (Internet), and meet these characters, some cute, some scary and chat in different languages. I'll continue listening to podcasts and reading books in the languages I'm learning, as well as connecting face to face, online, or when the lockdown fog lifts, in person, using these languages.

[@MichaelMcAlexander]

I'd like to see you and laoshu505000 have some conversations. He is another polyglot that loves learning multiple languages; I've seen him speak, to varying degrees, more than 50 languages. Thoroughly enjoyed this video.

[@DucksAhoy]

This was so much fun. Looking forward to hopefully more in the future

[@heartsofgoldenrod]

Michael McAlexander Laoshu doesn’t do collabs with others

[@heartsofgoldenrod]

This was amazing. So, you needed to learn these for work? Did you spend 5 years here, and then 5 years there, or what?

[@Eric-le3uu]

@@MichaelMcAlexander laoushu505000 and Steve did a 3 part video interview about a month ago already. It's on Steve's channel.

[@juanesteban8938]

Waoh this guy is a real polyglot, not a bunch of prelearned sentences, he can actually have good conversations.

[@sesshomaru9512]

"Hello, I was there in the 70s, you probably weren't even born yet".

[@shinybreloom4027]

Truly, old people are a treasure.

[@breezeh1127]

Was thinking the exact same thing 💕👍😊

[@isabellaw8817]

Yeah no his German is very poor

[@shinybreloom4027]

@Dr. Giggles the Russian one seems more like people unwilling to talk, the German one is lacking

[@ClazyKira]

OMG his French sounds like it's straight up from old movies in black and white, that's how French used to talk, that exact tone, accent, everything... he has like this perfectly preserved piece of my country's history and it made me emotional for some reason T-T

[@isaac10231]

French was his first 2nd language.

[@ClazyKira]

@@SaraFawson1 oh really, what part of Canada? Cuz Québec accent doesn't sound like this at all to me xP I'm from France

[@llallogen7380]

My family moved out of France in the late 40s, so it sounded normal to me as it hasn't evolved with us like it has back in Europe. I'm nervous about visiting France because my French is solely based on that. I will sound old fashioned haha

[@ClazyKira]

@@llallogen7380 no don't be nervous! Also I'd love to hear that lmao

[@llallogen7380]

@@ClazyKira Thanks for the vote of confidence! Haha

[@stevesutcliffe3490]

He's amazing but what really struck me is the he told the Japanese guys that the world is better now than it was back in the 70s. He's right of course, but too many old folk live in the past, nostalgic for their youth. Kudos. ( FYI I'm 66)

[@mspoints4fre123]

Too many young people too think it was better in the past and don't realize how good they have it.

[@tonyh2082]

Bob Saget i think the past, without interacting on technology, and actually going outside is much better. but i understand that back then there were problems too.

[@caitlyynn.2668]

ありがとう

[@stevesutcliffe3490]

@@caitlyynn.2668 どういたしまして

[@shreddder999]

"Why, I visited China before it was a country."

[@hirotohoashi]

Hi, I'm Japanese, but damn his Japanese is good. I can tell he's looking for words at times he doesn't know but substitutes them appropriately in a natural manner. VERY important quality to have when learning languages I think. Awesome to see him speak all the languages!!

[@niedas3426]

Yeah his Japanese is miles better than what I could ever do lol. His German and French are also on point. The amount of work he must have put into studying to speak so fluently with only a little accent noticeable is amazing.

[@richardwoolman9204]

I'm trying to learn Japanese! Im in the US military stationed in Iwakuni, and I want to be able to talk with the locals

[@lexyy1761]

I would love to learn Japanese 🤧🇯🇵

[@Hercmeister]

Teach me Japanese, senpai.

[@luciogutierrez997]

His Spanish is really good, and by reading the comments, it seems that he speaks all other languages just as well. This man is truly awesome.

[@fernandohg225]

It seems that Vrchat users dont have much experience in talking

[@nootics]

@Caleb looks like the perfect game for me. can't talk for shit lol

[@latenttweet]

LOL

[@kaannagumanov1185]

Because there're geeks and nerds

[@malts6774]

@@kaannagumanov1185 you have a minecraft and clash of clans profile header.

[@kaannagumanov1185]

@@malts6774 haha don't judge by profile, I put that header when I was 9

[@Currentttttt.]

Let’s just take a second to talk about xiaoma 1. He doesn’t overload his social media on us 2. He actually puts captions so we can understand 3. He titles some videos so native speakers can understand 4. He puts his friends in the video 5. He cites his sources Ladies and gentlemen, I think we’ve found the perfect youtuber

[@Teropha]

true

[@crazyfishmonster459]

I don't know about perfect, but he sets some damn important standards that many should follow.

[@larslarsen9707]

6. He often clickbaits and mislead his followers. Take the last video; "1 week of learning spanish", although he memorized 1000 words a month prior LOL. Saying "i've forgotten that so it doesn't count" - is bs. We never forget anything 100%. Even if he didn't review them constantly, it's a huge milestone 5 good points is enough to love him anyway

[@jeffrey5602]

@@larslarsen9707 but he is white clueless guy, he cannot be held accountable ;)

[@seriekekomo]

very low standards lol

[@littlerboss7863]

you never realize how fun it it’s to even just be bilingual. you understand multiple things. so imagine being a polyglot

[@meersindi3800]

DXarmy3 THE POWER

[@denisbabkin3692]

Can speak only 6... so far from polyglot level

[@Fillkarre]

@@denisbabkin3692 Polyglot is just a term for anyone who speaks 3 or more languages at a high/native level. To qualify as a polyglot you don't have to speak 10+ languages.

[@ForsakenPixel]

@@Fillkarre i thought you needed 4 for polyglot status. 3 is just trilingual.

[@maya_jones3411]

Filleツ My friend is native-level fluent in 18 languages, I guess she's an ultra polyglot

[@WayofRamen]

steve Kaufmann is the man! Been a fan of him for 7 years or so. I can't believe you got him to go on VRchat lol

[@SimicFishCrab]

His Chinese is literally on point. He's got a really on point accent and everything

[@katyadi2551]

damn, everybody else actually wanted to talk with him. And then there are we, the Russians, only starting to talk about vodka and food. WHY. FORGIVE US.

[@DtWolfwood]

Seems very Russian though lol

[@teslaasmr9375]

The french ones they didn't even calculate him. I'm really ashamed too xD

[@cheetahBeachwood]

at least they didn't pour the vodka on their new lada...lol

[@katyadi2551]

@@DtWolfwoodnah dude, we drink more tea 😉

[@kanekaiiishoyo3378]

The french ones are the WORST, i'm ashamed..... They were just like ignoring Steve.

[@Anjabel69]

I'm surprised some people pointed out his accent. Seriously, he's a foreigner learning and speaking your language. Give him some props.

[@FirefoxisredExplorerisblueGoog]

It's not an insult, just curiosity.

[@GoldBallTV]

He’s also on servers that are likely filled with people no older than 25 who don’t want to be having what (for those he was chatting to) are basic conversations about food and places in their countries. With respect to them they’re not looking to help a guy improve his language skills. This is no attack on Steve, just how I perceived it.

[@treffnix4427]

Absolutely. It's sad. Thumbs up for this guy

[@MrSpruce]

I think it's mainly to spark some conversation about where he is from.

[@mandowarrior123]

Some cultures are like that... differing standards of rudeness also apply. For example Parisians & north eastern US are particularly rude to my English sensibilities, likewise i'd undoubtedly deeply offend them by tipping wrong or trying to speak French. In the case of the Austrian it sounded more like tough friendship of young lads- ribbing him to encourage improvement- undoubtedly he gets made fun of too for sounding Austrian. Young lads act like this everywhere i think- social jostling, that sort of thing. It is a form of acceptance though, not rejection.

[@Loettl]

Steve‘s German is so good. I’m ashamed the Austrian guy was so rude

[@ConnorWidmaier]

I felt the same way lol cringe

[@TheDreamerJojo]

i even didn't realize he had an accent. He sounded so natural and fluent to me.

[@mihai0404]

His French was spot on as well, this guy is 本当に a beast

[@Jusia1234567]

​@@mihai0404 and I'm amazed by his russian!

[@jeremyschumacher8033]

hahha its just us germans being so direct

[@paulinaxu7638]

aww honestly he's actually such a sweet guy and i'd love to have a conversation with him :(( it sucks that most people didn't really want to hold a conversation even though steve was trying his best, idk it makes me kinda sad

[@celestialfaitth]

Yahhh :(

[@genericusername4206]

90% of people in vrchat are awkward introvert teenage boys who lack testosterone so it makes sense

[@MissesWitch]

He sounds like a German Officer when he speaks German! I love how they said "Nothing, Officer!"

[@h3lblad3]

The second one, the one who kept laughing at him, mentioned that his accent was strange. I'm guessing they don't get a lot of Canadian accents in Germany.

[@DarkeCrimson]

I"ve heard that there's a specific accent/intonation that Hitler had and that it weirds out Germans when they hear it. Maybe he sounds similar.

[@MellonVegan]

@@DarkeCrimson Well, Hitler (in conversation) just sounded plain Austrian, like a normal person. But he overexaggerated his pronunciation and intonation in his speeches (which is almost all you hear of him). Even people like Göbbels sound so weird in their speeches. Guess it was the oratory style of the day. Well, no one ever truly spoke like that. So that's why it sounds weird. Btw, Rammstein use the same manner of speech for their songs.

[@yatagarasu1495]

It was the words he used "was machen Sie da?" Like he interrogated them, thats why the laughed. No hard feelings

[@chelseab115]

@@h3lblad3 It was probably a bit weird/threw them off that he used the formal manner of address. You definitely wouldn't do that in a game like this.

[@kennethshen7265]

Lol just imagine going anywhere in the earth and be able to understand and speak everything

[@mzimasprings3217]

Easy make whole world learn & speak english

[@MarkRose1337]

The only major international language he's missing is Arabic

[@ryanbroguy]

This dude could watch SO much anime

[@xikasprrzz3777]

Kenneth Shen Not everywhere.

[@dixienormous2355]

Mzima Springs lol great solution.

[@raik9536]

Seriously among all the polyglots which I have seen on youtube, Steve Kaufman seems to be the most versatile one, capable of speaking in all his languages in intermediate to high levels of fluency! Seriously respect the man, and Xiaoma seriously this video is wonderfully made. Good work.:D

[@Stroyer123]

@Heath Sims It's not uncommon to speak at least 2 foreign languages on top of your mother tongue in many countries. Not to mention several regional dialects. I'm Danish, and speak Danish as my mother tongue. We're also taught English and German in school. My dad is from Greenland, so I also speak Greenlandic, and taught myself Indonesian too. I found it much easier to learn knew foreign languages after being taught my first one (English).

[@JoeARedHawk275]

Damn I wasn’t expecting his Chinese to be so good. However, I will say that nowadays a lot of younger Chinese people use simpler words but his ability to recall and apply words in every language he knows is quiet fascinating to me. Certainly can be a big motivator to many to just go out and learn a languge

[@andreassvensson228]

@100,000 Subscribers With Daily Videos Challenge ❶ lol laoshu doesnt know any except some chinese, he just practices 5-6 phrases in many languages... ROFL

[@andreassvensson228]

@@Zariel_999 Id love to see that, but that's just pure bullshit. He knows some Mandarin and Cantonese, all rest is just practiced phrases.

[@Pokarface7]

@@andreassvensson228 He was able to be an interpreter for a Japanese esports athlete a while ago. Daigo Umehara, can't speak English, so he know enough Japanese to interpret some conversations as well.

[@A.MA.R]

"I'm actually a spy... Canadian Spy" 🤣🤣 grandpa's got jokes haha

[@BigKarl519]

Sure. Jokes. ;)

[@d5555]

He lived all over the world to "sell wood", sure...

[@Pokarface7]

He used to be The Canadian ambassador in many countries, lol. So in a way, he was a "spy". That's what some ambassadors do in other countries and send reports to their home countries.

[@carltrotter7622]

This is the last straw. Don't spill government secrets again!

[@Koragh_]

Well he does know german,japanes,italian,french,chinese,russia THEY ALL HAD DICTATORS XD

[@MidosujiSen]

Can't be a polyglot without people whining about how you don't speak every language at a native level lmao

[@shib5267]

i mean, yeah it's pretty narcissistic and click-baity to put your own YT title like “GUY DESTROYS NATIVE SPEAKERS IN 10 LANGUAGES!” when you're like barely conversational. I get that that's how the YT game works, but it's just cringe to see dudes just “learning” languages for clout. It's an enormous enterprise to learn a new language; a life-long journey, if you will. So, if you're so willing to brand yourself as a “polyglot” you're kinda expected to be that good at speaking your languages. Steve is a real nigga tho. bless him

[@winterspectre]

@@shib5267 the title isn't like that. It's humble.

[@steve00alt70]

Yea polyglots not even them cant speak or are expected to speak at native level its just impossible. Even with a lifetime study its just not enough. As a english speaker learning dutch.

[@telmobrito519]

@@steve00alt70 I beg to differ, I'm pretty sure my English is as good as most natives speakers and I don't see how one wouldn't be able to get to that level, that's basically what we are doing when we are babies and learning our mother tongue.

[@Ryosuke1208]

@@telmobrito519 It's hard to do it on several languages, like more than 4

[@westnilesnipes]

How are dudes not more impressed? This grandpa is extraordinary.

[@mandowarrior123]

By joining the server for a language you are already claiming to speak it, its probably against the rules to speak other languages, and so they can't be impressed. Also, in many places its normal to know a few. Someone who speaks German and English lets say would not be impressed to hear a Canadian speak German, it is... expected?

[@mmlemonade]

The Germans and Russians did not exactly have the warmest reactions …

[@isabellaw8817]

I believe Steve is able to understand written german quite well but his speaking is shit, he made a whole bunch of basic mistakes in the space of two sentences.

[@ksch1177]

@@isabellaw8817 Actually, his German was great, it did have an obvious accent, but was easy to understand

[@海王-t4n]

@@ksch1177 no, he makes tonnes of grammatical errors in german, and he said one thing that i couldnt understand till i read the english subtitles. I have tonnes of respect for him, and what he's achieved, especially in languages like chinese and japanese, but german is definitely not one of his stronger languages.

[@海王-t4n]

@@ksch1177 he even said "deswegen sind ich hier gekommen". Two blatant mistakes, "sind" doesnt conjugate from "ich" and you never say "hier"or "da" in a sentence where it is the location to which a moving verb is pointing, (or from which it's coming) without writing "hin", "her" or "nach" after it ("her" means "from", "hin" means "to", and "nach" means "to" but in the context of travelling between cities or countries.) It should be "deswegen bin ich hierhin gekommen". On the other hand, he did actually get the word order right there, something he frequently gets wrong after conjunctions.

[@saacattaac007]

A sentence that can also be used to describe WWII and the Cold War

[@SpanishWithNate.]

XiaoMa in 40 years???

[@kevinkosmatka7923]

Nate's Adventures found ur comment

[@michaelselz3389]

Nate's Adventures you got a really awsome KZbin channel yourself!! Definately subbing 😦😉👍

[@bijucyborg]

The year is 2060, the world is in lockdown due to COVID-60, and we will be watching Xiaoma visiting Chinese restaurants ordering take aways.

[@рянЛоджер]

More like 60! Steve is in almost 80 and looks great!

[@markleelvr]

I was so shocked when he spoke Cantonese because I'm from Hong Kong! His pronunciation is very nice :)

[@Ryyza7]

To those who never play this game, actually this game is 90% filled with trolls, random sfx effects and noise, and shouting kids. Goodluck on starting your first journey..

[@terrFW]

yeah its sadly extremely hard to find cool people and have fun conversations on vrchat. even if you start having a good time theres a 99% chance that it will be stopped by trolls.

[@jameslifts2196]

Yep. Looks and sounds like a bunch of socially inept people

[@mandowarrior123]

@@jameslifts2196 they are there to practice- its like making fun of a fat person at the gym.

[@giov7]

@@mandowarrior123 wtf?

[@l.tmm_6844]

I hate how the Italians treated him, he was trying his best and even if sometimes he got confused with Spanish his Italian was pretty good! You know, it happens when you speak like 9 languages to get confused with similar words! 😂💜 Sei fantastico, continua così!

[@canalMissxv]

Hello, i'm a spanish-speaking and I'm learning italian.. :) It's very normal to confuse some words.. i'm from South America and sometimes i don't realize when I'm mixing those languages lol. Perché l'italiano e lo spagnolo sono simili! Sono anche Army, piaccere ~

[@himanshusingh5214]

It reinforces my stereotypes. All Italians I have met in online games were rude and abusive while all Spanish (mostly from South America and some from Spain) were very nice. BTW I have only met 3 Italians and 4 Spanish speakers, so I can't say for sure.

[@flaze3]

I think they were Romanians

[@l.tmm_6844]

@@canalMissxv Holaaaa Armyy, Me alegro de que aprendas italiano !Yo estoy estudiando español¡

[@l.tmm_6844]

@@himanshusingh5214 Most of the Italians on online games are like this, some even in real life. Hopefully I'm not like this! Or at least I think of myself as a kind and accepting person😊💜

[@chickpea734]

When they told him to be careful of coronavirus 🥺🥺🥺

[@prime8nate]

That's just a very common conversation thing to say in Japanese. I lived in Japan for three years. When you're saying goodbye to someone you always say "take care not to catch a cold" (kaze o hikanai you ni.....) and stuff like that. It's like saying "take care" in English. Japan is so crowded that I guess its really easy to pass bugs around. When the guy was telling him to be careful of the coronavirus it was also kind of a polite way to say goodbye and he didn't want to continue the conversation.

[@yvonnefayefontanilla1992]

Yes, Japanese people are polite. ☺️

[@Surdeigt]

El Ciclista oh my, that would never be understood as a goodbye in my language😂 we're not great at saying something that isn't literal 🙈 if you say "Okey, have a nice day!" I'll get it 😎

[@steve00alt70]

@@yvonnefayefontanilla1992 not always thats just stereotyping

[@kobet4246]

WTFFFFFFFFFF AS A FRENCH PERSON HIS FRENCH IS SO GOOD ! I ALMOST BELIEVE HE WAS NATIVE FRENCH SPEAKER

[@zinniaward8549]

Well French is an official language of Canada

[@hoangquocle5619]

Xijn No one speak french in Vancouver buddy . Plus he has an almost neutral accent not a Canadian french (Québécois) accent

[@jorgepadilla9945]

His spanish is so good as well. The tone and everything, needed a bit of work but man he was 90% fluent. So amazing

[@lbnb9556]

@@zinniaward8549 oui mais on parle français juste au Québec et son accent n'est pas québécois mais français de France

[@hhattonaom9729]

french is his second language.

[@JenJayBanks]

Leave it to Japan to be the sweetest and most concerned for a 74 year old. I love Japan’s culture.👏❤️👏😘

[@Halation9209]

Japanese guy just wanted to end the conversation tho

[@codedungeon7158]

What are you talking about? Will people stop romanticizing japanese already, they're polite people (to foreigners) but only due to their extremely harsh social rules. I dare you to try to make a friend easily in Japan, due to having lived there when young I can tell you that they are not any kinder than anyone else, if not worse.

[@JenJayBanks]

CodeDungeon and they are very clean too! 😊

[@JenJayBanks]

I do have friends in Japan

[@JenJayBanks]

/Hālatiøn They weren’t the only ones.

[@fukitsiulin3764]

For mandarin, the pronunciation is very important, this granpa might have one of the best pronunciations that i have ever heard from someone who learned mandarin as a secondary language

[@HackWindows]

His Spanish was great, he even had a Spanish accent when speaking Portuguese which is hilarious because that just made him sound even better when he spoke Spanish.

[@nastya-n5p]

This is too pure for this world😭 I want to learn more languages now. He’s so fluent and has lots of stories to tell

[@snobodi]

I love how the Russians were drinking beer and making barbeque even in VR lmao

[@deaddead698]

“I just picked a character at random” mhmm. Suuure

[@yumikim4358]

You know doods got a doll at home that he insists join the family at the dinner table lol

[@amphibeingmcshpongletron5026]

@@yumikim4358 Damn that's bold! I just keep mine locked in my closet... For real though, it seems like 80% of all VRChat avatars are little Japanese girls with the voice of a 20 year old boy.

[@peeweeallen517]

Dude’s picked yousa as his character kek. Her voice is great though.

[@deaconfetundes7888]

@@amphibeingmcshpongletron5026 tbf, that's basically just normal in every game that have female characters due to them being appealing and game wise some have lower hitboxes and others for advantage that's why most doods pick them(myself included)

[@amphibeingmcshpongletron5026]

@@deaconfetundes7888 Ain't not hitboxes in VR chat. Just sayin.

[@Maxippouce]

VRchat seems to be sooooo frustrating to have a real conversation

[@emperor5228]

Well, most people are awkward. Though, there is a lot of people that is social, you just need to find the right group. I personally haven't tried VrChat yet, but I have watched a lot of video's that have fun people on it.

[@terrFW]

@@emperor5228 vrchat isnt always as fun as it looks on videos. (you probably have guessed that already) having actual good conversations with people is kinda rare on there and it gets really boring because of it. one of the coolest games you can play tho when you run into people who arent scared of talking to people on the internet.

[@lalegende2746]

I’ve been considering trying VRchat but I’m kind of on the fence about it

[@terrFW]

Paul Grant its a free game, never hurts to try

[@alanmachuca3818]

yes

[@raspberrymuffin9997]

He is 74? Wow, he looks real good for his age.

[@maryclairekalamafoni9524]

I admire him immensely! It was one of my goals when I was young, but I'm sixty now and only speak three beside English. Tongan, Spanish and American Sign Language. I had hoped for eleven.

[@chris2489001]

You can still learn, never too old.

[@petra1995]

Steve is over 70 and he's still learning new languages!

[@maheshpun4804]

Im not sure exactly how much but I think Steve said he learnt most of his language at 60.

[@maheshpun4804]

m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/omGngZaAdrmbiKs At 0:25 he says he learnt 10-11 language since 60yo in a period of 14 years.

[@trinity9295]

I Love how you incorporated the older generation, we hardly see any elders study any kind of language! This inspires me to study any foreign language for instance right now I'm studying Chinese ( mandarin).

[@DevinDTV]

damn these were the coldest crowds i've seen on vrchat rofl

[@yukichancinnamonroll]

Like seriously. Is it always like that?

[@callmeted949]

@@yukichancinnamonroll i didn't hang around too much but as far as i can see there were always some group of people holding a decent convo so i don't know whats up with these guys

[@genericusername4206]

@@yukichancinnamonroll 90% of people in vrchat are awkward introvert teenage boys who lack testosterone so it makes sense

[@lahire1295]

"How you doing?" "Puta" Classic VR Experience !

[@captiongeeza]

Is anyone in there actually up to having a conversation with him though ? It's pretty much one word answers them !

[@stephaniekj3076]

I thought most of them were actually a bit rude.

[@captiongeeza]

I agree, it was like 'Oh no an older person !

[@kalsummers9555]

I go into vrchat once in a while and most people are pretty rude honestly. A lot of the players log in and hangout with their friends already in the game. I have made friends speaking spanish more than in english just because spanish speakers are surprised I know spanish as an american even though my parents are hispanic

[@Metqa]

VR Chat can be an awful experience or a fun, or both. Many people just hang out and if any stranger dares exist in their space they will spew vileness and curse words and insults. Other people just won't talk at all. Sometimes you can find some nice folks but then you end up forming your own clique and then people avoid you because they are afraid of groups who might have assholes in them waiting to lash out at strangers. It's a great concept game, but I quit going because I got more negativity than positivity on a regular basis. I never was rude to anyone even while one guy cursed me out for asking about his Avatar, I guess speaking to him at all was the trigger... For a place to go chat, it's really hard to get decent people there to actually do that.

[@littleripper312]

This is the best you get in VR chat sadly.

[@ginavoults1439]

That's like, SO cool, he seems like such a smart person! He's trying to learn Greek too? Greek is extremely hard, but props to him!

[@SEEYAIAYE]

We took mandatory Greek classes in primary school but only the greek kids got to do more advanced stuff, the only things I remember are "Yasou" = goodbye, "Kadimeda and kadispeda" Which I think mean good morning and good afternoon. The greek kids taught us some cool slang though.

[@Haizuki]

He has learnt Japanese and Chinese to proficiency level so Greek should be a piece of cake.

[@ginavoults1439]

@@SEEYAIAYE You're doing great! I'm happy to see people learn the language, I have so much respect for them too, it's my native language but through learning other languages I understood how hard it is. Way to go!

[@ginavoults1439]

@@Haizuki I guess it's pretty subjective, because my native language is Greek, I know some Mandarin and I'm learning Japanese, and to me they're all hard on different levels though. But generally Greek is considered like if not the hardest language to learn then one of the hardest.

[@SEEYAIAYE]

@@ginavoults1439 Thanks, We mess around at work trying to teach each other a new phrase in another language, it's pretty fun. I'm trying to learn Welsh on Duolingo atm so it's baby steps.

[@klym8_]

Wow the way he talks about his life in Japan, its so soothing to hear. Please do this again Xiaoma!

[@sundaesx]

I feel like only the chinese and the japanese were really nice to grandpa.

[@TheTiagoFire]

@Saudi King Volintine Ander of Arabia You and Dr. Giggles were really out and about on this vid trying to bait people into getting angry huh

[@callmeted949]

The Japanese guy wasn't nice he just said one liners

[@dimdaman]

Grandpa's Russian was pretty good, not sure why those guys told him that they don't speak English, his Russian was very easy to understand.

[@gytisk6998]

yes easy to understand only because he kept repeating basic sentences and same words but endings were off. It would be interesting to see his proficiency if he had to talk about specific topics and not just basic greetings and food

[@JoeARedHawk275]

Gytis K idk based off his other conversations, it seemed like he could keep going but they weren’t very conducive to talking lmao, kind of just ignored him and talked about vodka and shit

[@Cetrus]

@Dr. Giggles I enjoy talking to people that try to have a conversation in my mothertounge. People that don't are just sad assholes. (Like these VR vaginas virgins)

[@FalconWindblader]

@Dr. Giggles I may not enjoy it but i sure as hell don't mind. VR chat does exist to accommodate such purposes in the first place after all, & a hell lotta users seem to have forgotten that. assholes like you are why VR chat seem to suck.

[@abstractrussian5562]

> they weren’t very conducive to talking lmao, kind of just ignored him and talked about vodka and shit Actually he was talking about vodka while ignoring questions and he was awkwardly incomprehensible (yes, his words were correct, but it is not enough to have a conversation). He looked like he didn't know languages and he said something about salo, which is a Ukrainian cliche food. And he was told about "vodka", which is actually cliche about Russia. Then he said that he was in Ukraine. A guy in chat asked him, which country he liked the most, he ignored the question and continued to say same phrases about vodka and then he said some sentences with little sense that were hard to understand, and kept saying "very tasty". Either he forgot Russian or he weren't trying enough. If the audience of this channel were more Russian, he will film more conversations and wouldn't put grammatically correct English subtitles while in fact talking gibberish.

[@Agrarius24]

He is fully fluent as well!! His Chinese/Cantonese sounds exactly like a native person (except it sounds dated, 70s style hahahahha it’s actually pretty cute)

[@yourgamer7813]

Other players::::How many countries have you visited??? Grandapa:::YES

[@guillermotapiamedina6308]

I saw Steve Kaufmann time ago on a Japanese channel where he was introduced as a guy that could speak over 20 languages. I'm also a polyglot and I stared my third language since I was 16 and now I'm perfectly able to speak 5 fluently thanks to the motivation I got from these channels. Really glad to see you both in one video. Keep it up with Spanish my first language maybe one day I can be as good as Steve and you

[@h3lblad3]

Do you have any tips for the rest of us?

[@AnnaMorimoto]

@@h3lblad3 Keep motivated. Keep practicing.

[@terrFW]

@@h3lblad3 stay motivated by doing different things like making friends with people who speak your target language and researching the culture around the language. language learning is extremely hard and sadly not always fun, but the outcome is very satisfying.

[@ericmabley2120]

Steve Kaufmann can yell at kids to get the hell off his lawn in 12 languages :-D

[@maskedmildew5437]

I love this!! Perfect polyglot/bilingual content, 'prank' content, AND wholesome grandpa content. Another Canadian, too... I love how he makes it known he's old and very experienced. Something so fun about the "I visited nanjing in the 1970s" part.

[@carzyscenctist]

He absolutely nailed Cantonese, that I can tell you!!!

[@the_hanburger]

This old gramps looks old and young at the same time.. 😂 But his voice sounds kinda young for some strange reason 🤣

[@37Raffaella]

Lmao Hanz older Anderson Cooper...

[@sayusaymee7722]

I said Harrison Ford lol - but I can see Anderson Cooper too 😄

[@tompeters4234]

Spies are good like that ....

[@mikeymike4402]

@@37Raffaella Holy shit, you're right! Now I can't unsee Anderson now lol 😂😂

[@steakandrice8354]

he looks great for 74

[@ThanhMaiOFFICIAL]

Wow, hats off to him! I could speak around 3 languages give and take but 9 languages?! That’s real skills right there 🙌💯😎👍

[@SEEYAIAYE]

Hats off to you too, I'm having a hard enough time learning a single other language than English 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@king_thanos_2116]

SEE YAI AYE I can only speak 3 languages hehe

[@FilipP88]

He actually speaks around 20 haha

[@SEEYAIAYE]

@@king_thanos_2116 Showoff lol

[@ohayodarlingxx]

Same here. English, Japanese, and Spanish

[@Hackbridge1963]

I always get confused in the VRChat videos, the way they move around. But even so this was an awesome video. Thanks @SteveKaufmann and of course our host @Xiaomanyc.

[@donacatanguma]

I loved hearing everyone speak, but the VR chat was too much for me. It made me dizzy 😢

[@Metqa]

Do you mean the twitchy, in your face, back und forth, can't stand still movement of the avatars? I think people play it like it's a FPS and feel like they have to keep moving or they'll be sniped in the head or something...

[@kentokobayashi4655]

Damn, he actually speaks the languages properly. All the polygot KZbinrs like Ikenna speak such basic Japanese, but this grandpa actually has a vast array of vocabulary and uses complex grammar as well.

[@GlennGo0uld]

Kento Kobayashi Well, he is older, that's why :)

[@Chameshi]

His switch between Mandarin and Canto was so smooth. Would like to see more convos between Steve and people around the world!

[@SalamanderMagic]

8:33 "sugoi!" *captions: "Ooooh DAMN that's sick!"*

[@sillysillyputty8723]

lmao

[@superelectrasuperheroe4079]

Well, same meaning in this context.

[@rubiboo3065]

Ok so as a french I can tell you that he definnetely has the best accent I have ever heard in a polyglot VrChat video, he doesn't sound canadian at all, kinda someone from the north east of france and it's really impressive I will love to know how he learnt that well, canadian or american usually all have an accent from their countries so I'm in schocked ^^

[@kkuryoo]

He has a pretty strong spanish accent! I thought he was going to have a weird english accent like most people who learn spanish, I was really waiting for him to speak in spanish so I could say something about it, but he's really good.

[@mandowarrior123]

It's the way we're taught & culture to some degree. To try to pronounce something in another language with accent is kind of taboo. Its either pretentious or.. mockery? 'Putting on' an accent is only acceptable if you are good at it... Partly its to do with our history with france too- french are very rude-if we try to speak french and are slightly off, pretend not to understand, as they hate incorrect french. Thus, we butcher french with strong English accents to grate on them more. I'm joking somewhat, but our accents give us identity- we know where each other is from by accent. We sort of want to speak all languages in our home accent rather than borrow yours. A few decades back there were people who could tell what street you were born on in the UK by accent alone. I hope that gives some cultural insight, at least for Englishmen.

[@babs1277]

"There is a little bit of everything here" "So penguins like beer?" "THIS IS THE CHOPPEEER"

[@whatamachine89]

I speak German so was excited to hear Grandpa Steve speak German!! It's very clear and beautiful. Thank you for sharing

[@thomascrownbuerger]

VR Chat kiddies I can live without. I'm just glad there's a guy like Steve in this world.

[@banana_bread_at_work]

4 minutes in and gotta stop to comment. Mind you, admittedly I'm not someone who often takes the time to comment on things. Just wanna say I live for this stuff man. Fun AND inspirational.

[@LL-zp7ut]

Me: I like languages and I want to practice with you. Everyone: *runs away*

[@SarcasticSyringe]

His accent completely changes depending on the language which I find extremely interesting

[@tsumi5854]

This is the content I’ve been looking for. I aspire to be like that as an old man. Much respect and love to this grandpa.

[@dorasacalos1833]

GOALS. Extremely jealous of Steve's language skills

[@sayusaymee7722]

He reminds me of *Harrison Ford,* very distinguished. He was amazing! After the Rona, I hope one day, you guys can meet in person! Great video! 💙💙

[@prime8nate]

Hopefully he's not terrorizing his local airports with his private plane like Harrison Ford does.

[@rukiamori8814]

I’m native in Japanese and I have never seen non native person who speaks Japanese THAT fluent like him. That was native level. It’s even inaccurate to use the word ‘fluent’ to him.

[@Adam-vx6to]

I have to disagree. I mean no disrespect to him but he has a very strong accent and is searching for words a lot, as well as speaking in relatively simple Japanese. That is not to say he is a bad speaker but he certainly isn't fluent. (I am a JLPT N1 speaker and have lived in Japan for 10 years)

[@Koragh_]

Didnt you know everyone in japan had different accents aswel xD he has the tokyo accent

[@Adam-vx6to]

@@Koragh_ Almost every non native speaker will have a Tokyo accent. Unless you happen to learn your Japanese in Japan, and in a region with a distinct accent like Aomori or Osaka

[@AnnaMorimoto]

He sounds like a missionary or expat who has been in Japan for several years or even decades. You can tell he's a non-native speaker, because of his pitch accent, but he is highly communicable. Kudos to him. 日本に数年から数十年ほど住んでる宣教師とか長期日本赴任の人はこんな話し方ですよ。高低アクセントが英語話者独特の感じなので、日本語が母語じゃないのは分かりますが、コミュ力高めですね。きっと努力の結晶なのでしょう。素直に凄いと思います。

[@Surdeigt]

Adam but... When I speak in my native language I often search for what I'm supposed to say, especially when I'm talking to people I don't know, and have no idea what to say 🙈 you'd hear a lot of "uhmmmm" and "eeeh" sadly. Maybe that's just me 😂

[@soonmeekim930]

That is amazing, I’d love to see more videos like this!

[@OO-xc7zg]

Outstanding! I’m a grandpa too I’m 78 and enjoy your channel. 👍

[@wendelvailoces12]

Old man is so amazing he can speaks many languages😍✨

[@karthurh]

The Grandpa were so nice and he had such an interesting conversation and people be like: nice

[@Fil-tn4zv]

I’m French Canadian and his french is actually great!

[@poptropicano31]

He's from Montreal

[@paradoxelle481]

oh wow, I'm glad steve agreed to collab, that's so cool to see everyone's reactions to hearing that someone who wasn't young could be on vrchat and had experienced so many places and languages. Good on Steve for trying out new things in all areas of life!

[@springbreak2021]

Steve is the goat!!! Thank you for this awesome video🙌🙌🙌 super inspiring!!

[@superlink235]

The way the Germans snuffed out his accent reminds me a lot of the basement scene in Inglorious Basterds.

[@muhammaddaffa2819]

Wow your grandpa it's god of the langueges

[@erikad0511]

This was recommended to me, and it's amazing how he knows all these languages and traveled the world! Jealous. I know this was edited down but looks like the Asian kids were the most willing to have a chat, no surprise there, they're usually most respectful.

[@collegefraud1308]

So cool to see him communicate with the younger folk in VR chat for the first time! Great content, i'm convinced Grandpa was a spy in his early years.

[@vivre5816]

AYO his spanish is really old-fashioned too, reminds me of those old movies/tv shows from the 80's and 70's. I feel the same way as the comment talking about his French.

[@Meggi1314]

the japanese guys did not care at all lol

[@MrBananaSlice]

im still holding out for the universal translator from star trek.

[@johnchambers5029]

I prefer the babble fish

[@Snoy_Fly]

Or C-3PO from Star Wars.

[@millyclark6050]

He is so sweet ❤️ Very talented and cool experience for him I'm sure ☺️

[@SEEYAIAYE]

$10 he's trolling by saying "oh I haven't spoke it since the 70's" just to see their reactions. Wish more people were as excited about it like the first guy, the rest are like "ok, cool"

[@triplethis6751]

the amount of experience this guy has not only with these languages but with the countries themselves wow.

[@mr.radioactive9920]

@Xiaomanyc One helpfull comment regarding VRChat settings: when you are close to another user/avatar there is setting which makes it invisible (sort of like "bubble" around you) If you want to get closer to another people without their character/avatar disappearing. The exact setting should be under Comfort and safety>Personal space, what that does is disables this "bubble". Anyway keep up the good work you are one of the reasons why I started learning another language. :D (PS: sorry if I made some misstakes in english, english is not my first language :D)

[@ChinesewithXiaolu]

中文里说的活到老学到老说的就是他了吧～Lots of respect！

[@creatediamonds]

His brazilian accent is so good! Impressive.

[@londonerlearnsjapanese3337]

Haha nice! I started uploading Japanese videos but never had the confidence to go on VRchat. Might now after seeing this. Thanks for the motivation. New sub earned!

[@okoe3802]

Your name it is great haha

[@AlainaWithanA]

This is absolutely unreal!! Honestly, INCREDIBLE! And, not to mention, soooo wholesome!~ Also side note, you had "personal space" on, which is why everyone disappeared when they got too close to you. If you do something like this again, I'd suggest going into settings and turning that setting off. :)

[@emperor5228]

It's very rare to find across Wise Old Men that is real, and even in VRChat. Glad I came across this video, plus getting to witness how wise this man is, and fluent with languages.

[@morwenna]

Hahaha I've never thought of "sugoi" as "damn that's sick!" but it makes perfect sense.

[@mandowarrior123]

Meaning is the important part, not literal expression- i wish it was easier to make clear in language dictionaries. Imagine a Japanese person trying to translate "damn that's sick!" Literally for example. Genki is a good one, there is no common english word or common expression that properly fits. I usually explain it as happy energy- now gaiety fell out of favour, and vivacious is accessible only to the well read. But even with a good translation, it misses the contextual meaning in genki desu ka. It usually means England- are you alright?, Canada- how's it going? Hood-sup? Joey-how you doin'? Etc. None of which actually mean how are you/are you well in any way, they are simply conversational platitudes- usually. Language is only ever approximately equal, but its the emotions & concepts at heart.

[@sadtrack]

That "Grandpa" is my inspiration to become a polyglot

[@broofhero]

WHY was german so short? :( i wanted to see how they react when he tells them that he is from canada

[@haraldlandwehr3936]

weil der "Deutsche" ein Österreicher mit einem schwer verständlichen Tiroler (oder Vorarlberger) Dialekt war und kein Interesse an Kommunikation hatte...

[@crucifixgym]

Nico Cibrowius They didn’t like his foreigner accent just like in the movie Inglorious Basterds in the basement pub scene.

[@sesshomaru9512]

@Caleb 1. No, he was an asshole for saying "Hallo, was machen Sie da?" in that tone and expecting a polite answer. 2. The subtitles are wrong. The Austrian guy said "Ich habe bissche andere Art unsere Sprache zu reden" (I have a bit different way of talking our language). He talked about himself and why he's not the best conversation partner for sb who wants to learn German.

[@broofhero]

@Caleb he could Change the lobby or something

[@Pokarface7]

@@crucifixgym Lol, the movie Inglrorius basterds xD It's funny how you compared that scene and their interaction

[@katherinechen8083]

He’s so amazing. His Chinese literally blew my mind!

[@xxventura2280]

We need more grandpa videos!!! I loved this so much

[@gorrozolla]

When Steve was sucking air through his teeth while speaking Japanese, I was losing it. He nails everything about speaking Japanese.🤣

[@DendyJungle]

His voice is so young for his age. He really doesn't sound much older than the other players

[@Leo-ue4no]

Every other country: talking and looking at each other. Russian: BBQing with beer.

[@carina4853]

I'm so impressed!!! I wish I could learn several languages!

[@matthewandrade1893]

Wow this was very enjoyable to watch. Please do more videos like this 👍. I only understand English (clearly), portuguese, german, and a little bit of the spanish. But this video is definitely something that should be used to encourage learning multiple languages. It really shows us that at any age its possible.