ProfASAr's Channel
 
 
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A Polyglot's Daily Linguistic Workout
Introducing the Language Coach
Shadowing Step by Step
 
Profile
 
Name:
Alexander Arguelles, Ph.D.
Channel Views:
124,023
Style:
Educational
Age:
45
Joined:
March 09, 2008
Last Sign In:
1 month ago
Subscribers:
3,283
About Me:
 
I studied comparative literature as an undergraduate at Columbia University and the comparative history of religions as a graduate student at the University of Chicago because these are the closest fields to comparative philology, which sadly no longer exists as an independent discipline.

I have studied scores of languages by now, and while I did acquire a good number in the course of my own schooling, I have learned most of the languages I know by studying on my own.

I have taught languages as a college professor on four continents over the past dozen years, and for most of that time I was also either the director of foreign language education or the chairman of the department in which languages were taught.

My overall experience has been that it is extraordinarily difficult to integrate efficient language learning into the structure of most existing educational programs.

I make my videos to share my knowledge and love of languages with all who might be interested in them, and in the overt hopes of inspiring and encouraging others to study foreign languages.

In particular, I am attempting to gauge and stimulate interest in a new kind of intensive institute for language study.

The goal of my institute would not be to teach languages directly to students; rather, the goal would be to teach students how to teach themselves languages.

Thus, during a relatively brief period of exclusive focus, highly motivated and disciplined students could acquire a transferable skill that they could use repeatedly throughout their lives, and not merely a specific level of abilities in a particular language.

My long-term hope is that enough students interested in effective and intensive language study will share my own primary motivation of learning how to read classic texts in their original tongue of composition.

If that comes to pass over time, then I will succeed in founding the new interdisciplinary academic field of polyglottery, which, simply put, is comparative philology wedded to great books education.

If you would like to read more about my ideas, please visit my website: foreignlanguageexpertise.com

Please understand that I receive so many requests for advice about language learning that I cannot possibly answer them all.
Country:
United States
Occupation:
Professor, Language Specialist
Companies:
SEAMEO RELC
Channel Comments (237)
qarf1 (16 hours ago)
holy moley man! I know english and spanish and study arabic, and am always looking for new ways to learn. I came to your channel from people singing their praises about you, but damn man your so boring and I watched 4 videos and I couldnt find one thing to help me. Abridge man!
concertmatell (1 day ago)
This is just a brief post to make the obvious even more overt: unfortunately, I simply do not have any time to budget for the forum these days. I am relocating to an utterly new corner of the globe and an utterly new set of professional responsibilities, so I cannot predict when I will have time again, though I do know that it will not be within the coming few months.

Please feel free to continue discussions in older threads in Lessons in Polyglottery on your own, but until further notice do not pose questions here in the hopes that I will answer them any time soon.

I wish you all the best of success in your language studies!

Alexander Arguelles




Taken from the forum in which the Professor participates in.
blindside70 (4 days ago)
What happened to the language coach? Too many people?
fiskpinnj (5 days ago)
It would be great if you could make a video concerning grammar, where to start and in what order one should try to learn it.

Hilsen fra en fan!
ThePhilosorpheus (1 week ago)
Please post videos about slavonic languages like polish and finnish (I´m not sure if finnish is one, but it´s really interesting anyway..)!
YukiNekoPrincess (2 weeks ago)
Oh yay, what a nice channel! I'm glad this was featured. I'm majoring in linguistics, and I love comparing languages!! Thanks for making this channel, it's excellent! ^_^
simonsko1 (2 weeks ago)
Taal tu swensk?
sonrisa86 (2 weeks ago)
I have just discovered your channel while looking for some information about polyglots. Your video "daily workouts" is really impressive! I think i gotta steal some ideas for myself :) I'm a finance person but studying foreign languages is something i just can't resist. Friends say I have a talent for languages but I think its rather an attitude. I believe every language opens peoples hearts. And what can be better to read a book in its original language!
Sometimes I mix 2 similar languages when I speak (e.g. German and Dutch) but I suppose to get rid of this problem I just need more practice...
I've subscribed and will definitely check out your other videos.

Thank You and Good Luck! /S.
P.S. By the way, do you speak some Latvian? It's a language of my country with about 2 million speakers worldwide
BMtodaP (2 weeks ago)
Do you have a way of 'qualifying' certain languages so that you can provide a number if someone asks you how many languages you know? If so than how many languages do you know, or are virtually fluent? Or is it just kind of a big spectrum of different skill levels with each language?
Valdiviation (2 weeks ago)
can you do some more videos on Arabic? I saw your polyglot workout and those writings really peaked my interest.

All the best..
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