Click Language

[boptillyouflop]

Xhosa and Zulu have some clicks, and are probably a lot easier than the bushman languages.

[ServeTheBeaver]

what's with all the blurry pictures?

[pennsays]

Hi Penn fans. Penn Says videos have been discontinued, so you won't be seeing any new content on here. You can check out our Profile on our Channel Page for more info. We'll still be checking in, so hope to keep chatting with you all! Thanks!

[godofthisshit]

@abadubie

Learn finance and investing. It will expand your mind and it's a hell of a lot more useful to everything life than astronomy.

[AlreadyEddie]

I'm trying to learn Arabic real soon. The alphabet beautiful also....

[FredrichNietzsche25]

Watashi wa nihongo to doitsu wo benkyoshimshita. Sore wa totemo omoshiroi!

[MegaJohn101]

learn English as well as American lol easy

[trsdos]

why ya got a chair on yer wall lol

[TheJoeyJordison666]

i would love to learn german, i just think it sounds awesome and it would be a great one to learn.

[chica476]

Und warum glaubst du davon?

[curea229]

That one was lame.

[mophead2345]

i think the language he is speaking of is "Xhosa".

[davcar23]

Was he speaking geonisian?

[TKnightcrawler]

I'm sure if you put your mind do it, you could learn it. Just have to make sure to practice and do your homework. :-P

[solt3x]

Romance of the three kingdoms, The water margin, Journey to the west and Dream of the red chamber. They are the four great classical chinese novels. I have read only two of them but they are amazing.

[TheIclandicViking]

lermn Iclandic

[CrunkRockSteadyEvan]

bringing back boss as a synonym for cool?

that words been dead for so long

[splein23]

yeh i wanna learn japanese or elvish. but yeh learning a click language would be freaking cool. your not alone id love to have the ability to learn every language out there, itd be amazing.

[ManicParroT]

Go with Japanese, dude, it's a waaaay better return on your investment.

Heck, Latin would be a better return than Elvish.

[FredrichNietzsche25]

I'm learning Japanese... I gotta get back to studying though are you learning Japanese too?

[ManicParroT]

Yes, but I haven't been working terribly hard. Speaking is progressing faster than kanji, by an order of magnitude.

[AngelofMercyII]

I know Penn! You should be like some of the scifi geeks and learn a language most english speakers didn't even know existed...

Learn Kligon or Elvish, Elvish is friggin awesome, it's a combination language and flows so beautifully. It took forever for me to learn but its awesome, cuz you can speak with people who speak it and noone around you will know wtf is going on! lol

~CoCo~

[walterglanz]

Fat fuck is just another dancing monkey for the usual media monopoly barons.

>>>"Yeah, he wants to give you the illusion that this expensively produced project is just some random guy chatting with you. Out of touch old loser and his handlers just don't get it."

>>> "Hahaha. Multimillionaire ancient showbiz insider has a staff to screen and respond to his emails, but somehow can't find a camcorder with a stablizer function, standard issue since 2003 or so. Nice try, you fat fake fony."

[omfg4000]

So basicly this whole video concluded absolutely nothing!

hehe cool video anyway :) Sometimes concluding nothing is concluding alot.

[freedom3001]

You defiantly should learn Danish, it's the best language in the world ... or yo could learn Czech ! :)

Dutch is what they speak in Holland/The Netherlands.

[ExSaint1379]

Berg is the greatest composer of last century, but I think learning German might take away from his operas. I have heard that quite a few operas have incredibly corny lyrics. Chinese does have great literature but the great chinese literature is more like 14th and the 15th centuries not nowawadays. Romance of the three Kingdoms were among the first truly great books but they are very hard to read in english (the same author wrote another great tale about bandits but I forget the name).

[ptireland]

Penn, that was directed at waterglanz, not you.

Penn and I have a mutual friend (Dean Cameron), and I'm a huge fan of P&T. A few years ago when I first got out of computer school they gave me a chance to be their new computer guy after Collin. I was stupid and young and asked for way more money than what I was worth because they told us we'd make this when we got Microsoft certified.

I apologize for that Penn.

P.S. - You should learn Vietnamese. It has 6 different tones. It's musical.

[walterglanz]

This guy's a bit of a dancing monkey for fascist Viacom gargoyle Sumner Redstone and the Exxonmobil-funded Cato Institute propaganda mill, isn't he?

[ptireland]

You seem like a bit of a douchebag, who has no idea that the Cato institute doesn't release propaganda, but facts, reason, logic, and common sense. Let me guess, are you also stupid enough to be a socialist? Is your head so far up your ass that you think corporations are the bad guy and government are the good guys?

Penn is a seriously cool dude. I've met him a few times and he was always gracious. I love his house too.

[zmeier01]

I disagree with Penn on alot of things but he's a cool guy and a free thinker. I can get past my differences with the guy and see things from a different point of view. Maybe you could learn something from him.

[tonzimala]

Yeah, he wants to give you the illusion that this expensively produced project is just some random guy chatting with you. Out of touch old loser and his handlers just don't get it.

>>> "Hahaha. Multimillionaire ancient showbiz insider has a staff to screen and respond to his emails, but somehow can't find a camcorder with a stablizer function, standard issue since 2003 or so. Nice try, you fat fake fony."

[tonzimala]

Yup

>>> "Moldy oldy & his crappy one-procees dye job (or is that mess a toupée?). Multimillionaire shill got his, now spreads disinfo for fatcats who want to end Social Security, labor unions, minimum wage, environmental protection, pubic health care, etc. He wants his 1% who do no real work but own 90% of the world's wealth to offer charity to working people. Last I checked hunger & fatal childhood diarrhea was epidemic, & there is no Penn Jillette foundation set up to help. Parasite scum."

[Xerock]

Its probably not that offensive to guess what the click language sounds like in its proper context. I used to have a boss who was from Nigeria and he told me that it was a very difficult language to learn and up until about 10 years ago, he felt that white people could not speak it accurately.

[Bubba186]

you have the voice down , but Penn has a smoother delivery, keep working on it...

[bc9021010001]

Hahaha. Multimillionaire ancient showbiz insider has a staff to screen and respond to his emails, but somehow can't find a camcorder with a stablizer function, standard issue since 2003 or so. Nice try, you fat fake fony.

[funboy7979]

Moldy oldy and his crappy one-procees dye job (or is that mess a toupée?). Multimillionaire shill got his, now spreads disinfo for fatcats who want to end Social Security, labor unions, minimum wage, environmental protection, pubic health care, etc. He wants his 1% who do no real work but own 90% of the world's wealth to offer charity to working people. Last I checked hunger and fatal childhood diarrhea was epidemic, and there is no Penn Jillette foundation set up to help. Parasite scum.

[valcaron]

butthurt

[HopeDied]

porn on the wall

[Domytar]

HELLO

[TheJerm78]

I think it's called Xhosa. I have no idea how to pronounce that.

[IThinkYoureSexeh]

The "Xh" is a "click".. I know a family that speaks it, sounds, ridiculously neat.

[walterglanz]

Learn to speak truth from the heart. A rare talent.

[UrinationNation]

Possibly a helpful tip, I learned russian long time ago, and I was living in the soviet block so there was also some interaction in the streets and school, but really where I picked up most of it was from movies. I just watched russian movies with subtitles in my language and after a couple of years I suddenly realized I understood what they were saying without the subtitles and learning a word at a time by saying it aloud with the TV worked for me. way less boring than some course pack.

[UrinationNation]

I fully support sticking with something and giving it a real shot, I didn't discover I had a feel for music or art until I was several years into it and really didn't realize how much I was learning. I suppose a lack of friends helped the situation because I would spend hours drawing and not really feel it was a chore, but if you have the time give it a chance, if it's something you want to do delegate time for it, an hour a day for a year of anything, you will see a real difference.

[WyattKaldenberg]

Old English. You already know a lot of it and it makes Dutch, German, Frisian, Icelandic, Yiddish, and all the other Germanic tongues easier to learn.

[Aspiegrrrl]

So funny, just before you mentioned it, I thought you should try and learn German.

For this, I highly recommend a book by Mark Twain, called "The Awful German Language"

It's perfect for someone who's got a love/hate relationship with languages.

Quote:

"I heard a Californian student in Heidelberg say, in one of his calmest moods, that he would rather decline two drinks than one German adjective."

:D

[jc8ward]

Rather self-indulgent.

[keegs35x7]

penn is a fat fuck hes not funny and his political views are horrible

[knoose]

your an idiot.

[theonlydrventure]

shit man let the hate flow why not burn him he's a witch or put him on a rail what brought you to this page anyway?

[singedrac]

I'd love to learn Dutch. :) I have so many friends from Holland.

As for the 'click' languages, Penn should really read the English book by Jared Diamond, "Guns, Germs, and Steel"

He explains the broad trends in human history very well. He even got a Pulitzer for it!

[braindoodle89]

That is a top-notch book. Truly.

[seiyaodango]

If you want to learn a unique, challenging language, try Laotian. It is definitely not a "common" language amongst English speakers. (Most people don't even know where it is, lol)

[fatdumbyankee]

hello penn what an incredibly fat and ugly american you are.

[elzoog]

Penn, try learning 한국어 (Korean). It would only take you about a day to pick up the alphabet. There's probably plenty of Koreans in Vegas who could teach it to you. It's damn hard to learn (other than the alphabet) because you forget it after a few minutes and have to get the guy to repeat it again.

But best of all, you get to learn a language which is actually kind of, sort of, close to Mandarin Chinese but without all the pronunciation problems.

[TheClassicalLiberal]

lmfao

[Kartoon1229]

penny says" lick my balls

[wormbaby79]

I vote ancient greek. Not alot of speakers but a wealth of great literature and readily available teachers.

[Apressello]

If you want to learn something, try Mayan.

Like the "clicks", it's another indigenous language that's been swamped by an Indo-European variety.

Also, the language is spoken in the same hemisphere - you can learn Mayan in Guatemala.

Finally, the written Mayan language is still being deciphered. A 30-something guy at my uni started studying it, and within a couple of years became a world class expert.

Penn Jillette - magician, actor, Mayan language expert. Now THAT would be boss!

[Jaxcast]

I am not good at different languages. Saying that makes me feel better. A great teacher makes a difference.

Those emotional images are how I remember French and some Spanish.

Haven't spoke French for years. I can still come up with phrases.

Great teachers rock! Philis Diller rocks too!

[InfectedDaemon]

Fuckit! Spanish man, Spanish! Or Damn French! Once you get down one Romance language, you can understand Italian and Portuguese, just by knowing Spanish!!! Or the other way around, learn Italian and you can understand and be understood by Spanish and Portuguese! Spanish is the third most spoken language after Mandarin and Arabic!

[InfectedDaemon]

Oh, and the literature of all those is Amazing! Italian and Spanish literature is stunning.

[Blogrich55]

"Once you get down one Romance language, you can understand Italian and Portuguese, just by knowing Spanish!!!"

Tengo mis dudas que sea cierto. Hablo el Español y tengo problemas con las otras.

[InfectedDaemon]

Solo necesitas practica, en general se puede entender por lo menos 80% de lo que dice un Italiano o un Portugués (Y la idea general de un enunciado se extrae con facilidad), inténtalo un día, ve una película Italiana o las telenovelas brasileñas (advierto que el Portugués brasileño si puede ser muy trabajoso). Las gramáticas de estos lenguajes son sumamente simples, al entenderse las reglas de éstas, se pueden leer. Por lo menos guardamos un 50% en cuanto a palabras en común.

[Blogrich55]

"Solo necesitas practica,"

Gracias. Tienes razón.

[tosko2107]

not really. i'm brazillian, my natural language is portuguese, and i don't understand italian at all. spanish, kind of.

[InfectedDaemon]

As I stated above in Spanish, Brazillian portuguese is very different from the European kind, like Quebec french is from standard French. But I still insist that you only need practice, just listen to Italian movies and you will understand them ;)

[knoose]

I dunno about Spanish.

Its highly spoken because there

is such a high population.

They could be a world super power like

many of the other sprouting countries

but they don't, and haven't done much

for decades. Mexico n south America that is.

I think ill go for Chinese or Japanese.

[QzurK]

you should learn esperanto, its the "easiest" language to learn, and it was created as a universal language. grammar has no irregularities so once you learn a specific rule you will apply it equally in every case. this language was also created as a symbol of peace based on the fact that people will resolve their differences easier when they can understand eachother :)

[Joshbuckler]

My suggestion: learn Quebecois French. Maybe you have relatives in Quebec? Or hey, you could talk to the Cirque du Soleil folks. I just think Quebecois French is like the perfect fit for Penn Jillette.

I haven't been to Quebec, but I understand that they won't speak anything but French to you.

Also, they have really brilliant literature in Quebec.

[Joshbuckler]

But even if you didn't fall in love with French Canadian literature, you'd automatically have access to European French literature.

[ufo8mykat]

"I wanted to learn something that I wouldn't be the best at."

Language is music just the same, it has its rules, and it has its artisans who are best at breaking it beautifully.

Use of language is for communication, not for perfection. So find ways to let yourself out using language - it's just as useful as knowing how to ask for a doctor, or the bathroom.

I hope these guidelines are helpful.

[VCMPBautista]

Dude learn danish that'd be badass

[VonStierlitz]

Learn C++

[nosracnoj]

lol.

[Mohican81301]

Try Greek, a lot of good literature to be had and it's a great language. I realize it's not terribly exotic or anything, but then again it's not a language you hear on a daily basis.

[bleunt]

Japanese, maybe.

[kookimunsta]

...china has a huge wealth of "high" literature... not to mention the chinese use of the printing press in the 1200s create an enmormous boom in literary culture

[AndyMH182]

Why not try sign language?

[UnmotivatedNation]

the language is probably called Xhosa

[Brewhahh]

Just to comment on all Danes speak English I have to object as I lived in Viborg Denmark for 3 years and I had to always translate for my parents the first 2 years living there =).

[D3xder]

still about 95% speaks English at a decent level and alot of those speaks it really well...

[rjrichar]

i say learn portuguese...Then you can expand to two continents...Brazil in South America and Portugal in Europe

[InfectedDaemon]

Spanish is better! You can talk in all Latin America and in Spain, plus you can understand Portuguese and Italian! (Though, if you learn Portuguese, you can understand Spanish and Italian to...)

[Umbreona]

(0)German is fairly easy for an English Speaker to pick up, so that may not be a bad pick. Japanese is absolutely beautiful as a language and is worth a look. As for that click thing, you sound like you could do it, I say go for it, that would be awesome!(0)

[jtp86]

i've always wanted to learn italian

[mrfrogdaddy]

ok you really tried, i feel it way deep down, but this is absurd. yes i suppose if you were dropped from a plane into the jungles of africa it would be handy, but otherwise how many click speakers do you think will make it to vegas? come on........COME ON.....doh

[Latemurr27]

That's fantastic. This year, as a junior in high school, I started to take German. It's really enlightening because English comes from German, and it's a great, interesting language. I love it. I guess it's easier for a 16 year old than a 55 year old, but you should look into it.

[rjrichar]

English comes from latin....german comes from latin

[anothergazman]

Actualy Engilish and German come from the west germanic language which in turn come from the proto germanic language. Latin comes from Italy. While it is true most european languages contain some words with latinate origins German, English and I think probably the northern most european countries are not based on Latin. this is one reason that the vatican had such a problem with the translation of the bible into english.

[apopheniacMCMLXXXIX]

Who on Earth told you English came form German? It's a Germanic language, but it's only related to German, it's not descended from it.

[jamesmmafisher]

lol epic 4:03

[JailxSock]

Go for it, man!

[Shadyhunter04]

He might want to try something drastically different. Personally, I'm adverse to learning anything too close to english so I would go for something completely unique like Russian, Vietnamese(hard to pronouce stuff), Arabic for its beautiful writing, or instead of Chinese like he said, Japanese, which is much easier to pronouce but has a large part of the interesting Chinese characters plus two extra alphabets, although this last one mentioned is kind of limited in the population that speaks it.

[dorkydevil]

they dont like being called bushmen, its like calling one here a nigger

call them the Kung :)

[Guitcad1]

Go for it Penn, I've always been fascinated by languages but I'm just now, at 36, getting started trying to learn a second language. I'm going for Latin. The thing I like about it is that when you start spouting Latin you can sound either really smart or really creepy. Also, I'm a histor5y buff with a lot of interest in ancient Rome and I'd like to be able to read Cicero in his own language and see for myself if he was all he's cracked up to be.

[MoeB250]

Russian, and learn the cyrillic alphabet too.

[liscraudjo]

This "Click Language" is called Xhosa (the Xh as the click sound) and it's an ethnic language in South Africa, maybe the third most used language in the country.

Now, about a second language, I think you really need to learn some useful language. When you know a second language, becomes easier to learn other languages. The important part is to understand the mnemonic process.

[SaimDI]

Xhosa is not the only click language.

The Khoisan languages are the main ones.

[JMartins1981]

The Danish language is an odd one -- it sounds as though they have an egg-plum in back of their throat, and are desperately trying to not swallow it, despite the fact that its almost choking them.

[thetroll007]

Cead mile Failte!

Penn should learn gaelic irish as thats my first language. And on St.Patricks day in Vegas he can speak to all the irish americans Lol.

[jebus6kryst]

It would be amazing to learn to talk like a bushmen. I think more Americans should learn a second language. By learning a second language, you learn about its culture. It keeps one from being so nationalistic.

[pennsays]

I think learning a second language is very important for self improvement. You learn so much about a culture from the language as well as learn so much about your own culture by understanding the difficulties and problems with your own native tongue.

[jebus6kryst]

I am thrilled to receive a response from you.

Learning anything new is self-improvement I would believe. In addition, I think people should be doing more of it, whether that be reading a book about a subject you have little understand of or just taking the time to learn about another peoples culture. If more people would do something like this, this world would be in a lot better shape.

[Urschleim]

Hi, i am german and i already speak four languages. german, english, french and spanish.

But i wouldn`t reccomend german. Yes it has mindblowing Literature, especially for an atheist but it is alot more complex and difficult to learn then french or spanish.

[Guitcad1]

I'll say this for German, at least the spelling is a lot easier than French.

[atomilr156]

YOU SPIT AT THE TIME 4:49

[hasari0antabolis]

Yeah, you can be like Starvin' Marvin from South Park!

[PunkieAndDragmama1]

i think your great

[jlan12]

The "bushmen" people you refer to are known as the Ju/'hoansi and the "click language" they speak is known as Juǀʼhoan. You may have already known this and just used the above terms so people knew who you were talking about, but if not, I hope this helps your studies.

[ArtThroughtheAges]

I think the stick-to-it-tiveness would be a derivative of how much you really wanted to learn.

I heard that learning a new language makes folks smarter.

I know.....

What does Teller say?

[Aerach89]

Chinese would sound so awesome with Penn's voice.

[sorienor]

I vote klingon

[pennsays]

not vulcan?

[thedelta88]

fuck u penn.

[deanobeany]

try welsh

[amaduli]

You get the most interesting philosophers if you learn German.

[11mc22]

how about Ukrainian?

[swordsman1584]

I think he means Xhosa.

[ragetony]

Spanish/Mexican: In the U.S.A. you could probably gain a hole new audience.

[azrienoch]

Fifteen weeks of total immersion is the way to go. So go to Africa, live with the speakers, and come out speaking a click language. It'd make a great webseries, and I'm sure you could get sponsors for the trip.

[ViperRob42]

I wonder how primitive or actually advanced those african 'click' languages are, like if its simple talk or you can have a deep philosophical discussion in that language about life, the universe, and everything lol

[iDJSlick]

I AM HACKING THE MAIN SERVER.

[tgseason12]

Learn Swedish, lol. Naah, go Swahili!

[maybexx]

ndio

[Pipistrello]

Is it Bantu you're thinking of? Hmmm.

[thefakeyeti]

Go all the way. learn Chinese! :P

[thefakeyeti]

I guess you already go over this... :P :P

I posted to early

[toin9898]

Learn french.

[SuperAtheist]

hey Penn try learning English!

[josephgranja]

BLA BLA BLA BLA MAKE SOME JOKE

[windyshrimp]

The most insulting thing you did was confuse Danish with Dutch. Many Europeans take that very seriously as I have learnt...

[dutchvigilante]

Some, not all. A honest mistake, don't really care. The french seem to care the most, and no one wants to be called german.

[someweirdgayguy]

Learn Klingon!

[TehBloggaar]

Danish is not Dutch.

Denmark is it's own nation.

The Dutch people are from the country named "The Netherlands". Holland is a part of The Netherlands, it's sort of like a province.

Holland is not a country. In Holland, the people are Dutch and speak the Dutch language, which has nothing to do with the Danes in Denmark. It's related to German.

In fact, the word "German" in German is Deutsch, and Germany is called Deutschland by it's Deutsch language people, not Germany.

[TehBloggaar]

Ja!

[JBSauce]

Thanks for the geography lesson.

[CaptainFeigh]

This is a good choice because it is unique. You could probably make it up and we wouldn't know the difference.

Mandarin is risky because it varies so much that one version may only correspond to a few million people (which I suppose is still a lot). It just makes it even more difficult. Click languages may be like that too.

Standard Chinese/Japanese is very useful, along with European languages.

Good luck with whatever you choose. See if they make a Rosetta Stone for Click, lol.

[medicinesocks]

it's weird to observe, all this unconscious-y racism built into our psyches, about languages we don't even know the right names for?! i'm not blaming penn, or certainly not you, robbie, lol! i'm just saying, so many of us can't help but step in it when we try to talk about cultures other than our own. there's some great chinese poetry, penn, try rexroth's translations, or ezra pound. there are secret novels written at the peril of the authors' lives during the cultural revolution. worth a look!

[TehBloggaar]

It's painful to see people equating non-racial prejudice (ie: choice) to fictional racial prejudice that you 'think' exists when talking about culture.

Stop playing the (fictional) race card, we're all niggers.

[medicinesocks]

do you know that hundreds of suppressed languages are going or have gone extinct in our lifetime (i'm your age, penn) for want of living speakers? the thing about knowing more than one language, esp an indigenous one is that you haven't just learned more than one word for things. a whole 'nother world view opens up to you. to have insight into a mindset, a whole cultural paradigm outside of your own would be wonderfully enlightening. kudos for yr lifelong curiosity. keep learning!

[Rahab111222]

That Kalahari Bushmen language is really cool.

[GetMeThere1]

If Mandarin is too difficult...

You don't want to learn a "common" language...

San (Bushmen) language, they say, is impossible if you don't start as a child...

You'd like one that contains great literature...

Then I suggest: Greek or Russian.

An interesting third choice might be Arabic (or, for that matter, Farsi--the language of Persia/Iran).

[archivesbc]

The history of Bleek's research about the!xam language (now extinct) is quite horrible. The guy learnt the language and wrote it down but.... in his own key. There's still now way to decipher his key and find out how the language should be spoken. His research is all there in Cape Town - just waiting for someone to have a revelation and tell everybody how it works.

[zingaman]

man Penn.. you seem to becoming more and more sensitive as to what you say that may offend people. Are you becoming paranoid of being sued, or do you just not want to deal with the hoards of email you'll get if you offend someone that speaks the "click language"? (I hear that they are all big Penn Jillette fans :o)

[aknightofswords]

Finnish is a beautiful and lyrical language. For literature though, I would take a stab at an Arabian dialect.

[Oppp2]

hilarious

[Adoggman]

swahili?

[vezrig]

FYI, there's more than one click language.

[KarateKidX]

If you're all for literature, greek is the way to go.

[BadYahweh]

Learn finnish if you want a real challenge. Don't expect to have any use for it though.

[garveya1]

Penn you will only be adding people to talk to if you actually come in contact with you. How often do you come in contact with Africans that know the 'click language'?

And unfortunately people in general can't appreciate a talent like knowing click language as much as music like your bass. So people probably wont identify you with it.

I think you will be unsatisfied learning something like the click language. I would go for chinese or a European language.

[garveya1]

if you actually come in contact with them**

[garveya1]

Or try Japanese, I took a year of it about a year ago and it's fun. You get to learn a new script and the pronunciation of words are cake compared to Chinese. The only downfall is many Japanese people do know English. Just a thought though.

[slefi]

Learn icelandic, great literature history, the icelandic sagas and such things.

[TehBloggaar]

I second this. It will also help with learning other languages later, such as Danish and the language of Faroe Islands, (old) Irish Gaelic, Norwegian and and perhaps Swedish.

[15kalas15]

haha sweet you should totally learn click language

[kbrinks]

Penn is really hitting his midlife crisis.

[eirefrance]

I think the language is called Kung?

[JesTr82]

I believe the Kung are the name of the African bushmen but their language is probably the same or something like kungese, idk.

[Fitz2393]

Khoisan or Khoesan is the name of the Language family. It is spoken natively by the members of the Khoi and San peoples of South Africa.

[ragekage52]

love pen love you