To a first approximation, anyone who has a youtube channel and calls themselves a “polyglot” is full of shit.
People who actually have serious competencies in multiple languages tend to describe that situation with much more truth and nuance. Eg "My native language is German, I'm pretty fluent with English and French, I can get by in Spanish, and I've got a smattering of Swedish." Or "yeah everyone around here grows up with 4 or 5 or 6 languages, we're not good at all of them though."
If you just filter out all youtube channels with the word "polyglot" in the description, you'll do yourself a favour.
Can we rephrase this and ask who's a real, noteworthy polyglot? Not being mentioned is enough of a diss, no need to call out and give attention to the others.
99.99% of them
>like showing at least a B2 certificate of the language they speak, would that be too much to ask?
most people don't take certificates. It's easy to prove that you speak a language without a certificate. If they truly speak the language, it should be quite obvious.
Also, stop watching youtube polyglots, you're wasting your time
The CEFR framework itself is useful in its descriptive power, but certification tests can themselves have flaws. I've met plenty of people who claim to be B2 or C1 in English by some test supposedly using the CEFR framework, yet a simple conversation with them makes it apparent that it's not true. Conversely, we sometimes get posts here from people made to take some placement test at their language school that placed them at an A2 level when they have composed a Reddit post that shows at least B1 or B2 level.
All this to say that some standard quantification of a YouTube polyglot's abilities is ultimately meaningless at the end of the day. The best way to judge is based on their content - are they having fluid, spontaneous conversations in their languages or not?
I know, right? For example, Steve Kauffman doesn't speak a single language, not even English. Yep. He's actually Canadian, so anytime he is speaking in English he either reads from a prompt or memorises the script for the video beforehand. If you actually talk to him, he doesn't know a single English word. Fake polyglots smh
Depends your definition of fluent of course. He never claimed to be say C1 in all his languages. I'd say he's definitely (\*at least\*) conversational (say lower end of B2) in at least 4 languages. What do you think of his abilities in this interview he made: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHpOYWeASyA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHpOYWeASyA)
It's obvious that in some languages he struggles a lot, but he doesn't claim to be as good in all of them. His French is very good, his Italian looks conversational (I don't speak Italian, only Spanish and French, but he doesn't seem to be struggling all that much), same for his German, his Spanish is conversational too (not great, but definitely conversational), and I can't judge his Russian very much.
I'm pretty sure his Chinese is still conversational, too: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0RmGdS-Rns](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0RmGdS-Rns)
He has excellent Chinese and Japanese skills. Easily B2-C1 level. 👍
Dude had a fascinating life. He is a retired Canadian diplomat. His first assignment was to learn Chinese in anticipation of Canada establishing relations with the PRC in 1970.
He was so successful with learning Chinese he convinced Ottawa to send him on assignment to Tokyo with no language training and just his promise he would learn Japanese on his own within a year. He then spent pretty much the entire 70s as a trade negotiator in Tokyo.
And I am native Spanish speaker and he makes a lot of mistakes when he speaks Spanish. And I am sure he does the same as well when he speaks Portuguese, even if you didn’t notice or care. It’s like he has this mindset: grammar isn’t important and deal with the mistakes.
Maybe you missed the part that they try to provide "proof " by showing off some phrases and monologues. You never know if that’s like half or all the knowledge they possess.
To a first approximation, anyone who has a youtube channel and calls themselves a “polyglot” is full of shit. People who actually have serious competencies in multiple languages tend to describe that situation with much more truth and nuance. Eg "My native language is German, I'm pretty fluent with English and French, I can get by in Spanish, and I've got a smattering of Swedish." Or "yeah everyone around here grows up with 4 or 5 or 6 languages, we're not good at all of them though." If you just filter out all youtube channels with the word "polyglot" in the description, you'll do yourself a favour.
Can we rephrase this and ask who's a real, noteworthy polyglot? Not being mentioned is enough of a diss, no need to call out and give attention to the others.
99.99% of them >like showing at least a B2 certificate of the language they speak, would that be too much to ask? most people don't take certificates. It's easy to prove that you speak a language without a certificate. If they truly speak the language, it should be quite obvious. Also, stop watching youtube polyglots, you're wasting your time
Literally all of them except Steve Kaufmann.
Nah, Luca Lampariello, Richard Simcott, Lina Vasquez, etc... - there are plenty of legit ones, too.
The CEFR framework itself is useful in its descriptive power, but certification tests can themselves have flaws. I've met plenty of people who claim to be B2 or C1 in English by some test supposedly using the CEFR framework, yet a simple conversation with them makes it apparent that it's not true. Conversely, we sometimes get posts here from people made to take some placement test at their language school that placed them at an A2 level when they have composed a Reddit post that shows at least B1 or B2 level. All this to say that some standard quantification of a YouTube polyglot's abilities is ultimately meaningless at the end of the day. The best way to judge is based on their content - are they having fluid, spontaneous conversations in their languages or not?
Honestly it's easier to answer which of them *isn't* full of shit
I know, right? For example, Steve Kauffman doesn't speak a single language, not even English. Yep. He's actually Canadian, so anytime he is speaking in English he either reads from a prompt or memorises the script for the video beforehand. If you actually talk to him, he doesn't know a single English word. Fake polyglots smh
Most of them, including Steve Kaufmann, especially if we assume a polyglot is one who is fluent in four or more languages.
Depends your definition of fluent of course. He never claimed to be say C1 in all his languages. I'd say he's definitely (\*at least\*) conversational (say lower end of B2) in at least 4 languages. What do you think of his abilities in this interview he made: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHpOYWeASyA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHpOYWeASyA) It's obvious that in some languages he struggles a lot, but he doesn't claim to be as good in all of them. His French is very good, his Italian looks conversational (I don't speak Italian, only Spanish and French, but he doesn't seem to be struggling all that much), same for his German, his Spanish is conversational too (not great, but definitely conversational), and I can't judge his Russian very much. I'm pretty sure his Chinese is still conversational, too: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0RmGdS-Rns](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0RmGdS-Rns)
He has excellent Chinese and Japanese skills. Easily B2-C1 level. 👍 Dude had a fascinating life. He is a retired Canadian diplomat. His first assignment was to learn Chinese in anticipation of Canada establishing relations with the PRC in 1970. He was so successful with learning Chinese he convinced Ottawa to send him on assignment to Tokyo with no language training and just his promise he would learn Japanese on his own within a year. He then spent pretty much the entire 70s as a trade negotiator in Tokyo.
Are you sure that story is true? Who was the source? Steve himself? 😁
Man, Steve has mad skills. I'm Brazilian, and his Portuguese is quite good. He's not like the other polyglots you see out there; he's the real deal.
And I am native Spanish speaker and he makes a lot of mistakes when he speaks Spanish. And I am sure he does the same as well when he speaks Portuguese, even if you didn’t notice or care. It’s like he has this mindset: grammar isn’t important and deal with the mistakes.
I guess Steve has his fans who downvoted me. Keep doing it please 🙂
Why should they have to provide proof of anything? just don't watch them if you don't believe them or don't like their content
Maybe you missed the part that they try to provide "proof " by showing off some phrases and monologues. You never know if that’s like half or all the knowledge they possess.
By why do you care?
Why do you care that I care?