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Polyglot Gabriel Silva rants (in different languages) about fighting intolerance of all kinds and how languages connect people. Visit the blog at: http://www.fluentasap.com List of Languages Spoken: 1. English 2. French 3. Italian 4. Russian 5. Mandarin Chinese 6. Croatian 7. Spanish 8. German 9. Romanian 10. Egyptian Arabic 11. Brazilian Portuguese 12. Persian 13. Japanese 14. Dutch 15. Catalan 16. Czech 17. Turkish 18. Ukrainian 19. Indonesian 20. Afrikaans 21. Hebrew 22. Polish 23. Greek 24. Tagalog 25. Korean
Note: the subtitles have "free" translations in order to convey the meaning of the message while respecting the differences between languages.
Text (English translation): You know, I am sick and tired of witnessing intolerance towards race, religion, nationalities, you name it! I mean this is the 21st century, right? And even where there's tolerance, there's still such distance between people. Often like there is a invisible wall between us. What I noticed is I can break through that wall, and connect with someone by speaking their language. Through that I have built this passion for languages. So I will tell a story, in different languages, about acceptance. I will also chat about why this is the key to language learning, but the main point here is connecting with people from everywhere!
I'll tell you a story about acceptance and friendship beyond cultural differences, and how I think that accepting people and making friends of all cultures: beyond religion, race, or nationality makes the world a much better place. I immigrated to Canada from Brazil when I was 17 years old and I knew few people here. Initially, I knew my host family and almost no one else. I already spoke English, since I started learning English when I was around 10 years old . It took me around eight years to become fluent in English I went to a good English school (in Brazil) for six years, however it took me another two years in Canada to become completely fluent (in English) . When I arrived in Canada, I could already communicate (most of the time) However, my accent was ridiculous and also people often asked me to repeat what I was saying To be honest, it took me a while to understand what people were saying (in English) .
Fortunately, I had a very patient best friend in Canada who would repeat sentences many times (when necessary) . This friend, along with a handful of other friends here in Canada made me feel like at home in a new place they didn't care I was from a different culture and that I had a ridiculous accent and it's people like this who make the world a better place for everyone I thought I was terrible at learning languages because it took so long for me to learn English, but my friends helped me and that led me to learn new languages and I built a passion for different cultures I set out to meet people from different cultures and learn new languages Isn't it great to see the surprised look in the face of a traveler in your country when he unexpectedly realizes you speak his language? Mister? Miss? Good morning! I understand some Arabic (but not that well) . To be honest, in order to break the ice, one doesn't need to worry about fluency. Saying a few words is (often) enough . But in reality many people lose heart just as they start learning a language I think that many people stop learning languages because they are too impatient . If they aren't learning fast enough, they think they aren't good at learning languages . Maybe you think you just aren't "talented" at learning languages But what if it's because you've been learning (methods) the wrong way?
Some people ask me if I have a photographic memory . Maybe I could read or hear a new word and learn it immediately. But no!
Instead, I would need to write it and repeat it hundreds of times . After forgetting it dozens of times . Without a memorization (learning) system, my memory is terrible . Anyone can learn languages even with a bad memory . It doesn't matter how old you are and even if you are very busy or even if you have the attention span of a sixyearold child . Trust me, when you learn the right habits, you will have lots of time to learn a new language . I think that, to learn a language, you need to be really keen. You should stay interested in the (language learning) process . I believe that it's really important to use your curiosity to drive you to learn new languages . The more curious a person you are, the better it is . I can not help falling in love with the culture of the language that I learn and it happens every time I learn a new language . This passion for culture can help you learn (languages) faster . But just passion won't enable you to speak fluently, you need the right method(s)...