 Hello everyone and welcome back to Conversations with Tyler today. I am honored to be here with Vaughan Smith Who is a hyper polyglot and he lives in nearby Maryland Vaughan? Welcome. Thank you How many different languages do you dream in? Dream let's see. I think I've had dreams in about 10 languages or so and what would those be? Recently I was dreaming in Czech. I think I had some Latvian words sprinkled in there I dream in Nahuatl, Spanish, Russian English, of course Some others I can't exactly remember. It might have been a long time ago Slovak also. Oh, yeah, I did. I had dream in Slovak. I was speaking something Slovak in my dream, of course and That's about all I can remember right now and to varying degrees How many languages would you think you have at least a beginner's grasp of at least a beginner's grasp of Would be about 36 or so and fluent in fluent in about eight about eight What's your history with being a hyper polyglot? Did you wake up one morning and you're five years old and you just start learning other languages or you realized in school? You were good at this or how did this happen? Slowly a realization, you know, I grew up bilingual when I was very young because my English and Spanish English and Spanish my mother would take us to Mexico and learn Spanish there come back so as far as I remember being bilingual and Then I think when I was about let's say 11. I took an interest in learning French and When I was about 13 in school started learning German just on my own And this was not directed by the school. You just did it No, it was not directed by the school So it started with my mother having material in French and my mother's fascination herself with the French language and Did they make you take language classes in school without a form of torture or are you enjoyed it or I know? No, no one made me take any classes. I didn't take any classes. I simply just took out it started out of my own interest and Was there this moment in your life where you think well, I'm gonna do this as a thing or just you kept on going and here You are you know dreaming and speaking however many languages when I was about 15 Leaving Alice steel junior high school going to Wilson. That's when I decided okay. I want to do this I want to learn more languages and this is gonna be my thing. This is gonna be something that I'm good at I can see that I can learn it pretty quickly My peers had told me wow. I've got good pronunciation. I can memorize the words the vocabulary pretty fast So that was the turning point Which languages of those you know, do you think are best for expressions of humor? expressions of humor Definitely Spanish Russian To a degree finish I Think those three what makes Spanish and Russian good for humor Spanish what we are from particularly the Mexican Spanish variety that we speak which is from Orizaba Veracruz state. It's a very vulgar and a very colloquial Spanish and every other sentence that anybody says and on a regular daily basis is either some sort of insult or a pun on something a metaphor and It's it's a very rich language in that in that sense and Russian Russian So it's like the Russian friends that that I learned from are also very witty and They enjoy, you know telling jokes all the time Mucha, what makes no idle such a beautiful language now water is I Think it's just the the sound the way it flows. It's a very quickly spoken language and I like when I'm when I'm listening to it when I speak it it's just kind of puts me in the place and the place where it's spoken is a very beautiful lush mountainous Natural bucolic place and there's no I've never spoken now out of that associates me with some with someplace boring about it and the people are very Friendly when they speak the novel language and I think those things kind of like Give me the picture of now what being beautiful It also has this very rich civilization behind it, which is not in every way still there today But unlike a lot of languages spoken only by say two million people it has it was language of an empire, right? Absolutely. Yep. Oh, could you say something for us and now what'll Go one no nothing I won't get up on what left all I'm bad. Yes. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'll issue it Need let's go on. It's a on it. Let's see. Go in what left only even said no. You'll make it yet. Chantine a willy-sapang if I'm say a cheating I'll take it. It's okay, son a Raphael Delgado No, so San Juan de Rio And a wattle varies a lot from village to village. How do you decide which one to learn? I learned the one that was closest to me You mean physically closest to you. Well, I talk about this, you know, I'm sorry. Let me back a little bit So I forget to mention that For a part of each year. I live in Mexico in Orizaba. That's my yes mother's hometown and just south of the City about like a 10 15 minute bus ride is the village of Rafael Delgado That's where everybody speaks it on the street. That's they speak mostly now what and then Spanish is secondary to them So that would be That's the proximity that gives me that plus the fact that it's a distant cousin of mine Who is a professor of the novel language who taught me and you try to study written a lot? So that's hard to do right there just isn't that much or you just speak it And that's it. Now when you say written now what you're talking about the phonology. That's the Latin That the Spaniards imposed on no wattle in varying forms, you know after the conquest. It's not difficult for me at all No So you have you could read something in no wattle if I could write it perfectly. Yes. Yeah, okay great as far as as well as as far as the Actual words that I know if there's some new word I might have to find out but usually if I go by pronunciation Then I can write pretty much anything Do you think it's more fundamental to your learning the written form of the language or the spoken or spoken spoken? Spoken and then you move to figuring out how to read it. Yes Do you feel you think different thoughts in different languages? Yes, I do and how does that operate? I don't know. I think when I get angry Um When I you know was somebody cuts me off or something I'll curse out in Slovak and I think that the reason for that is because when I lived with Dushan and Tanya Pavelkovi, they were the people from Slovakia that the Easterners the Eastern Slovaks Vichodniaria, that's what we call them Eastern Slovaks are known for their aggressive demeanor just just hot-blooded people and they're always cursing and swearing and and When they get upset, they always have something to say which is pretty nasty And I picked up on this lot because I spend every day working with these people and it pretty much picked up as a habit I'm driving someone comes to me. I was like, I don't want to say it because you know bad things They would be bad words please I'm Bohu like I swear to God that sort of thing and that's just like a lighter version of what they say but Um Yeah, and it's just like that's it stuck with me over the years. So that would be one of the examples Yeah, the feelings of the you know Little fits of rage here and there they come out in Slovak a lot even if I'm in Mexico, I'll say it Yeah Now when I hear Russian and Russian is a language spoken in my home though not by me It often sounds to me like the people are angry When you speak Russian, do you sound more like you're angry when I speak Russian? You know, I tell people this when I'm teaching them Russian or a tooting Russian Russian is a loud language just Taking into consideration the majority of the people that I've met that speak Russian. It's always loud всегда громко надо по-russ ski громко говорит это не хватит так тихо это американцев вот тихо говорят It's like it's twice the energy output when someone's speaking Russian even if you're just at a table at the house Yeah, do you read much historical linguistics or you just focus on learning languages? I focus on learning languages and periodically. I'll delve into The history of linguistics one of my favorite books is a one that was sent to me by Neola script skate there. She's a Lithuanian and she sent me a book called the history of the Lithuanian language and It's a very fascinating Read that's I'll look at I haven't read the whole thing from front to back but I'll read little chapters here and there when I have some free time I look into it and it goes into the The older Baltic variants that were much closer to well, I guess what people consider Sanskrit for example some of the lone words from old Norse and Yeah, the other interesting little facts of how the words are put together So something like Jomsky and structural linguistics. Do you have an opinion on that? I have not read the book Sapir warf hypothesis I'm not familiar with it Do you think the romance languages are in fact better for romance? No What's the best language for romance and why I don't think about it that way What's the best language for romance? I guess any any language has a capacity of being romantic. Mm-hmm. If you're thinking about the romantic feelings of you know Couples getting in love that sort of thing. Yeah. No, I feel like even finish is more romantic to me than then say Portuguese That's amazing and what makes finish so romantic relative to Portuguese. Well, I had a I had a girlfriend who? Taught me finish. I will do it. Yeah Which kinds of languages are hardest for you to learn? What kinds of languages like would it be tonal a glutinative, you know click languages or I Think it's you know when when I study language the grammar is super important to me So I think it's always like I don't have a problem with pronunciation. I can Learn different writing scripts. That's fine. So I think the two biggest challenges here for me would be something That's a very complicated grammar for example Estonian or Finnish Hungarian-Lithuanian I think to me are grammatically very challenging and as far as Orthography and writing systems certainly kanji or Chinese symbols Chinese characters Mandarin characters would prove difficult because it's there's a lot more to memorize What do you think has been for you the hardest language to learn? The hardest language for me to learn I would say Hungarian and what makes Hungarian so hard the several noun cases and a very rich vocabulary very large vocabulary and A lot more words are in regular use to say specific things more so than say any of the Germanic languages An opposite that would be for example Norwegian was super easy. You just have one little word. It doesn't change. It doesn't inflect the Verb That's the verb the person of the verb is the same and no matter who is it that does it there's simply the infinitive form there's the past participle and then there's the The present which you simply put the letter R after the vowel and the of the infinitive and That's you know Grammatically just giving an example of how easy it is for me to learn Norwegian grammar Everything is difficult about Hungarian as the case is knowing what case the singular the plural form the the verb changes when The recipient of the verb if it's in the first-person verb it changes when the recipient is a There's in the second person singular Said at nailak instead of said at nake for example said at nailak. I like you said at nake. I like and these little nuances and all these Exceptions to rules and irregularities that make the language grammar very difficult Do you ever learn languages through music? Yes, I can say that By singing by listening to songs or how do you do it translating lyrics listening? listening I started with When I was back at Wilson High School. I met Sergey Kuznetsov and he loved music and he gave me these tapes back This is the early 90s. Everybody used cassette tapes. He gave me these cassette tapes worth with bands like Kino crematory Nautilus Pompilius Russian bands and from there I've listened and Already some of the words I could recognize, you know little words here and there But then I started putting it together if I listened to the songs if I knew about 50% of the vocabulary of a sentence I could figure out the rest of it and I could guess some of the words or at least bracket Bracket down the possible meanings of certain words and later find out. Oh, okay. It was this or it was that it meant this and certainly a lot of Other music that I get from in Czech and Slovak. I decipher it the same way How do you think about your own memory? Do you feel you have a good memory for all things or just languages or the variance of your memory is high? Or what what's your own model of that? I have a good memory for languages, certainly, but also for numbers words Directions how to get places good land navigation As far as things that are difficult for me to remember it's difficult for me to remember I find it sometimes schedule memory for example Someone say Havan at seven o'clock on Saturday Do this? And the time would come around. I'm not thinking about it. It's simply that's an attention span thing It's not like the recollection but it's simply not memorized not Catching something at the time when it was scheduled Now of course I have a calendar. I put everything in the calendar. So it's not a problem But that was difficult for that was a difficulty for me prior to that I have a good memory for economic arguments, but I have a very poor episodic memory That is I don't remember episodes from my life very well, and it's hard for me to tell stories from them Does that sound familiar to you at all? Not really. No, so you have good episodic memory. I've good episodic memory. Yeah, that's good The other hyperpolyglots, I mean, do you know them? You're like what's up with them? Or just like you read about them once and that's it. Oh I'll see some here and there. I met Richard Simcott via Skype. So I've met him Spoken with him that was while the Washington Post article was being written and are they fun like are those the people you hang out with or they're just another group of people Well Richard Simcott, I've never hung out with him in person But I really enjoyed the conversation and I made plans to meet with him in Mexico in October for the polyglot conference that he is hosting But other than that, I have not met polyglots that know more than say eight languages or so And the ones that I do that know some languages We have a meeting that we do every Sunday that these the district language exchange And it happens at different places on typically on Sundays at about 5 p.m We used to meet at Meridian Hill Park on 16th Street, Northwest DC. We'll meet at places such as a dacha beer garden and when So I'll meet with some and it's really fun just skip from language to language and we're just kind of like yeah We're practicing. We're impressing all these other people that are standing around us looking at us And so it's yeah, it's always fun to just but okay. I know this one too and we'll jump from this to that Yeah, they're not people that I hang out with on a daily basis I don't have a close friend. That's a polyglot or I nor do I have a close friend that knows more than I Don't know regularly that would speak more than five languages How many hyper polyglots do you think there are? I don't have no idea But we know what a thousand at least thousand at least a thousand at least That's what I would imagine and is it your intuition that everyone who has that skill Learns it and does it or if there's some expansive people out there who could do it, but somehow have never been attuned to it I I agree with that second Possibility there are people that are simply they have the capacity, but they just don't live in a place where they're exposed to the languages And they might not They might not participate in active language learning To the degree that I have or that other hyper polygots have they might use Superior memory capabilities for other things How does language retention differ from language acquisition or is it just the same? It's you have to maintain languages or they just stick with you. So I'll give an example recently I Think it was two weeks ago. I was in front of the Bulgarian Embassy and It was a Saturday that the European European Union embassies are having their open house and we're going from embassy to embassy I went to the Latvian Embassy had a pretty good conversation and I realized I had not spoken Latvian for more than 15 years But I was still able to converse. Yeah Some of the words they they're there, but it might take me some time to think about the words. Okay. Well, that word is sell daeum's or yaw daeum's Little simple words like that. Actually those the poor examples because those are words that I know too well, but if I that is Vetsinat They would just come slowly it's just a matter of Just putting myself in the place of the language and let's just kind of like a slow computer rebooting Information bring it to the forefront. So that's ready for use And Bulgarian was the same thing. I was in front of the Bulgarian Embassy and Then someone comes up and I had not spoken Bulgarian for about 10 years or so and Here I am having a conversation Bulgarian again, but it was a lot faster than for example the Latvian conversation for the Latvian Embassy so I So in answer to that I Remember I don't have a problem Memorizing the words that I studied well, but some of them if like if I'm Learning new words then of course I have to come back to it repetitively to actually Commit them to a long-term memory. You mean some technique of spaced repetition. Yes Could you say something in Latvian for us? for example Manly a cousin Manly a cousin who didn't least let us are a and well That's beats all the varboot what would What would well a speed saw? Nezino Now you're in a typical case, but you have views on how we should teach languages to other people better How to teach languages other people better? Don't cram so much vocabulary into one little session Mix it up some writing some reading but a lot of listening people learn by listening humans Grow up listening doing nothing but listening and that's how they acquire a language and That should be reflected in teaching methods If you think of your own acquisitions, so for most individuals It's relatively easy to learn a new language without an accent also at a young age and it gets progressively harder Do you think that applies to you or not really? I think that it got a little bit more difficult, but not by much But not by much Are you willing to tell us how old you are? Yes 46 46 And you just think that will keep on going for some while still and you can just keep on learning. Yeah And you have particular aspirations Such as well. I want to learn Otomi or you know, whatever the next thing is or it just happens Well, to me it's pretty interesting that you say that because it's one of the ones I would like to learn some good Yeah, and why you told me well to me because that is spoken also in the state of our crews and I've had some contact with some otomi speakers, but never really Sat down with them to learn anything, but I have literature and music that is written in Otomi. It looks very beautiful No, tell me probably is dying out or don't you think so dying out as far as The state of indigenous languages in Mexico. It's pretty it's pretty much the same It's like they're okay. Well, there's less few and fewer speakers every year because The the youngsters are not willing or they're just for some reason Sticking to Spanish instead of their own indigenous language or the language English instead As far as actual numbers, I'm not exactly certain But I know that many indigenous communities are putting efforts into preserving their languages Do you worry much about language loss as an issue? Absolutely. And is there anything we can do? Yes, absolutely. There is There are a different The different methods I see one one for example, I'm an Orizaba Mexico the professor that that I Two of them. There are two professors on Armando Alonso Limón Miguel Torre They're both related one is a uncle and one is nephew the two pretty much the the fluent Go to people of the town They just know all the vocabulary the words for every plant and animal pretty much as far as memory can go and they are Actively thinking of Ways efforts that they can continue to teach the language They teach at bilingual schools. So the kids go to the school. They're learning Spanish They're learning now at the same time and he speaks to them in a lot of as much as he can And so looking at these methods, you know, when I started to learn it, they'll know what language about 25 years ago I Arrived at Armando's house with a pen and a book to start writing things down And then I realized when I went into his house that about six other kids had come also with pens of books to do the Same thing. I think that when the kids saw that an outsider even though I'm half Mexican to them I'm an outsider. I look like an American I don't speak 100% native Spanish like a typical everyday Mexican there because I don't live there all the time so to For them to see an outsider someone coming from the United States, even though I spent my childhood in Mexico I'm looked at as a pretty much a gringo and Here is this American coming and he wants to learn a language. Well, wow, that's all of a sudden they realized Okay, well people want to learn our language our language has value and I see that when I it's It's kind of like I'll take interest in in the language It's not spoken by very many people and when I do and I'll have sometimes my niece will be with me And she'll want to learn some words too and we have this really friendly approach Hey, I'd like to learn some of these words. What does this mean? And it just really just kind of gives them a sort of reminder. It's an uplift if these things that This this language that we know that spoke a very few people and this culture of ours is very valuable people see it and they appreciate it Linguistic issues aside, how do you feel rural Mexico is doing now? rural Mexico rural Mexico Struggles economically Absolutely that much there So many different ideas how to put it all together Their land is sort of being Taken away and used for commercial reasons. They're being exploited They're very You know, they're laughed at when they come to the city and they get a lot of discrimination Especially from the young kids and they'll go to school and they'll be made fun of because they're indigenous That would be like indigenous people from rural areas all over Mexico Yeah, I think You know, when I when I see the people they seem very happy and they're smiling and they're going about their business but I think there's there's an underlying sort of melancholy and this sort of like This feeling of being second-class They don't say it directly, but I can sense it And if you could change one thing in the parts of rural Mexico, you're familiar with other than just more resources in every way What would that be? If I could change it Well, certain set up schools prioritize the language and make it so that Rural people see themselves The way city people or urbans see themselves and and they live that just in that Same amount of pride that that value that self-worth needs to be brought up Of course, yeah, I'm sorry go ahead But do you think more people should leave rural Mexico or fewer should leave leave your for the city's not for the u.s. But just Move to Mexico City move to guadalajara vet or cruise wherever that would be something that's That's really not for me to say that's people they they move for economic reasons or something they need to find a job here Uh, or there or they just need work. No, I think that There's uh, there's an importance to the rural way of life That's for every place even in the united states Uh, a lot so in Mexico too. Um, and I think that uh, it's just more resources um, a better I can like, um A better economic stance, uh, just an economic foundation for rural areas people need to stay where they are It's it they move away from the rural areas and the rural areas are missing something already um What's your favorite food in rural Mexico my favorite rural Mexico either, uh, it would be barbacoa Yeah, it's amazing when they put it under the earth. Yes overnight. It's incredible. It's the best barbecue in the world I think I've seen it done. Yeah Molle, of course But that means many things. I mean, which moley moley, uh, the one that that is made in orizaba is really the mixture of like the the chocolate base and all the nuts and, uh Oil and the the various kinds of pepper and seeds Uh, it's when they when they say moley they only mean that one thing. It's that brown sauce And it's usually served with turkey. Yeah, you'll put turkey in there. It's really good. So I like and that's very rural Uh that and the barbacoa As far as other things like they'll probably just like roast the chicken, but that's not that's not Especially a rural thing that could be done anywhere But I just happen to you know, enjoy a rural barbecue here and there the part of mexico I used to go to in guerrero moley would mean a sauce with pepitas and maybe white onion and herbs But nothing like chocolate nuts not at all like pueblo and pueblo or wajacan moley No, that's very different. Okay. I'm not familiar with that Yeah, with that variety of moley in that case and very very hot sometimes almost impossible for me to eat And wajacan moley is not really spicy, right? Yeah No, but I think it's moley is actually the other now a word for sauce. Yeah, that's all it means. Yeah Yeah, it's striking to me. There's a whole bunch of no idle words in english like tomato coyote, right coyote chocolate. Yeah Your abilities with language learning What is it exactly that you think makes you special with those abilities? Is it memory or Dedication or some combination of qualities or I think it comes into those memory the dedication and the love of language And the love of language. Yes, so it's just super fun for you. It's very fun for me And it will just always be fun. It'll always be fun. Yeah It'll always be rewarding You know up down the street, I'll be at the grocery store people speaking They'll sing something Lithuanian or like they're looking for something in Russian. They don't know where to find it I'll point it out. It's okay. Cool. And so I just help somebody You know, maybe there are some people that don't speak English very well. So I'm always there to lend a hand And that's always rewarding dual lingo apps. Are they good? Do you use them? I use a dual lingo app to learn welsh Welsh yes, it has been very useful to me. Although it's very slow paced for me Welsh is hard. How is your Welsh? Uh, I can speak Welsh. Um I can have a basic conversation in Welsh. And what is well inshara tipin bachel gum rhaig nawr That sounds good. What do you think of? Tutors, you know online tutors on services such as italki I am not familiar with those at all But you can use you, you know Use a zoom call or skype or and just talk to someone around the world You might have to pay them but they'll talk to you for as long as you want In their language, I think the tutoring, you know for someone who cannot go to the country. You cannot be immersed I think that would be a very valuable tool certainly Thinking of your own life if you were to go back to your like 12 or 16 year old self and tell that person something Advice whatever, what would it be? Keep at it keep at it, but you did keep at it, right? So that's not what you needed to hear not necessarily because uh, I Uh wasted time in doing other stupid things So I think a better word would be stop doing the stupid stuff and focus on this Yeah And you were a kind of roadie for a punk rock band. That's right. Was that a smart thing or a stupid thing? No, that uh, to me that was not a stupid thing. No, that sounds like fun. What was the band? Uh the goons The goons. Yes. I drove the van I was pretty much a designated driver for about a year. It was I think it was 2000. Yeah. Yes, and that was traveling in the u.s Uh They might have traveled somewhere in the u.s. But uh, when I went it pretty much took them from dc to new york Hartford, Connecticut and all those shows we'd stay with um Gabby of uh Molotov cocktail in Manhattan Or uh stay some places in Hartford, Connecticut We'd see boiling man and other shows and a lot of other uh bands would come and play together the same shows And that's still what you like best in music is punk? Uh, that's my I think my um, it's in my formative years Why listen to the most punk and hardcore? So yeah, that's like my go-to music. Yeah, great. Yeah What's the story of how you ended up in your current job as carpet cleaner? Oh, it's my brother's business So you work for your brother? Yes Does being a carpet cleaner make it easier to learn languages because your mind is not full Say in the way it would be if you were a lawyer that you have to worry about Memorizing parts of the law and you're just free to focus on language or that doesn't matter No, there's nothing rewarding about carpet cleaning that has that's conducive to learning languages at all I think my most rewarding job was uh um Just the caretaker at the grounds of the central east european art foundation because that's where I was speaking language All the time every day. It's where I learned to speak Czech fluently where I learned to speak Slovak fluently It's where I brushed up on my Bulgarian Uh, and uh, Romanian and Serbian as well. I would speak those languages because I worked with people from those areas Um, as far as carpet cleaning, maybe I'll have a customer or I've had a customer speaks Latvian The customer speaks Finnish a Norwegian customer. I had uh, Uh, a customer the same customer. I think three times or so Uh A woman from Ireland speaks, uh, irish gaelic And she was very surprised, you know, that's oh, I'm sure Yeah, how good is your irish gaelic? Um, it's like as about as good as my Welsh, you know, yeah And how do they react when you just speak to them? Uh, wow, they uh, they get this like a This look of the they're just taking it back. It's like what is it cutting? Uh, with gay geogat Yeah, and what do you tell y'all? What do you tell them? Um What I tell them, uh, if you be a fool, I'm going to get a, uh, Jamie and annus, I've been speaking, you know, at that time is like I've been learning irish for about like 10 years um I'll say, um Not a while at all He has a study because because the carpet to hey gael, you know, would you like to come down and have a Look at the carpet, you know stuff like that Little sentence here and there not much of it like a standard conversation and getting into details, but um, just some like, uh, simple sentences What's the hardest stain to get out of a carpet? The hardest stain to get out of the carpet. Uh, I would say Wood stain, um Cool aid dies cool aid. Really? I'm surprised. Yeah It's all just die. I don't they might have changed the formula. So it's not as, um, a permanent of a color, but Uh, like colors color dies that sort of thing. Um Nearly impossible the the purpose of die is to stain that's what it was designed for So if you've seen the carpet the the stain the die did its job and there's no reversing it because it's that good of a die Yeah Would it make sense for you to work as a translator or do you think being interested in so many languages? Is in some way inconsistent with that? I uh, I would be interested in working as a translator. Yes For the languages, you know best for the language. I know best. I would say yeah Do you still put time into learning those even better or it's more like I want to do otomi next? Uh, I'm always very uh, I'm always switching it out. I'm always going from book to book. So no, the Certainly there's much more to learn And even the language that that I speak more or less fluently. I'm still Learning specific words. I don't know the words for makeup in a lot of those languages because it's never A subject that I had spoke about Scientific terms Being able to speak about chemistry physics, uh, that's also kind of important. That's something I want to learn to do in Areas that I can explore to improve languages that I know Are you keen to do an interlude where you just speak a few languages for us? Yes, I could okay Shall we try vietnamese? Vietnamese, uh, I'm not doing vietnam five. I'm just like a simple question. Like do you speak vietnamese? But uh, my vietnamese is just it's it's super elementary. It's really not enough to say to have a conversation How about that? That's um, that yeah, netherlands can I well speak? I had a friend um out uh, chronigan uh, he's out of the north and I hate uh, brahm stahl and uh, uh, the friend of warden are three year and I have to make on some uh, server spring uh, for a hair summer finish I don't You speak sinhalese Like simple again, like vietnamese. It's just very simple. Very much. Yeah, portuguese Um, oh, but how's putting I know that one today's thursday, uh, portuguese Um And you know both portugal portuguese and brazilian portuguese I would not know how to specifically, uh Imitate the accent of portugal portuguese because I don't have enough exposure to it And even in english, can can you speak different ways? So could you speak the way a scottish person would speak or that just doesn't count? I don't like a little scottish person though. I suppose I was uh, I met someone who's talking about the color green She was talking about the color green the whole time I'm just kind of like mimp mimpicking her accent, but um, yeah, I really like the way the scottish uh, english sounds Um, as far as other dialects, uh I spent a lot of time on the bayou and the wall that come through the house That's all the people talk about is the wall that come through the house and uh Yeah, how much do you travel in terms of going to these places? Uh, last time I was in new orleans was in 2007 that was post Katrina 2006 and then 2007 Uh, and uh, I think that was that was it for Louisiana, but I spent a good two weeks there with a uh with a with a knee-leg family in uh Uh, just outside of shell met shell met Louisiana Uh, and as far as other places uh, my father used to have this, um Pilgrimage where we would travel all across the u.s. Yeah and go visit my grandparents who lived in santa rosa california it's in Sonoma county about an hour north of the bay area and uh on the way We'd stop at different places explore um Lewis and clock national park for example in montana the badlands and South dakota or we'd stop somewhere in kentucky and the accents they change from place to place some of their they're a lot deeper than others uh Especially what especially stood out to me was the english spoken in um rural kentucky, uh the southern tips of Indiana and illinois and then going into missouri just those rural areas Oh, it's just It's a very different there might be some you know, it's a super old style of speaking Uh, a much deeper accent than what I would typically hear in the middle of west virginia for example But say do you want to go to the netherland so you can hear dutch for two weeks? Oh, certainly Yeah So but you don't have the chance to or like is it part of your program or you think you will you hope you will or You have or I hope I will just um looking for other employment, you know, it's um I am post co vid Work got pretty slow and I started doing like five different jobs at five part-time jobs And uh, solely I've been doing away with those because it works a little bit busy, but I'm not in a no financial um Scenario where I could do that very easily now And is there a country where you think well that that's where I want to go if you had a number one choice A number one choice to go and live for a month two months Finland Finland. Yes, and why don't you about Finland in addition to finish? uh, yeah, this finish um the uh The lapland just the the the northern climate The the lakes and the nature and that people say it mimics, uh, minnesota, of course I'm familiar with minnesota and the Just like hundreds of lakes all over the place Uh The um being able to go north and see the northern lights um the reindeer Uh, the flora and fauna of the country and uh visiting friends It's one of the very best countries for architecture. I think yes And oddly for russian food russian food in finland is much better than russian food in russia Which is generally not that good It's pretty interesting. Yeah. Well the ingredients are better. It's it's more of a market economy This is all presanctions, of course. Yes. I've only been to finland once but I really quite liked it I want to go back. I was only in Helsinki But I thought it was quite an underrated city Yeah, that's what I hear from other people as well It's a it's a place I got to go and visit and there are just no hassles to being there I mean not an issue for you, but you can just speak english to people if you want, right? Of course, of course Um What's your favorite movie? Favorite movie the thing the original the thing the original the thing. What do you think of the remake? uh I think the remake was they made a a prequel to it. It's not is it not exactly a remake or no Actually, there is an a there is an original of the thing that's prior to the curve the james r s And then there's what the 1982 one the 1982 one is the one that that's my favorite. That's excellent I think the the earlier one is also good though. Mm-hmm. It's scary only by Say 1950s standards, but if you can get yourself into that mindset, it's quite a good movie Yeah, that's the key to enjoying a film from different areas getting yourself into the mindset That's right. I'm glad that you mentioned that. Yeah, and a lot of people can't do that It's not unrelated to linguistic issues It's like you have to crack the cultural code of some era. Yes. That's that's very true And most remakes of movies are are much worse, but with the thing it wasn't worse They understood what was good about the original but still improved on it. Yes. Yeah Is it like the the horror element or the science fiction element that draws you more to the thing? I think it's a combination of both. I do like science fiction as long as it's not too Far-fetched and so come on. This doesn't make sense, but uh, certainly, um fathomable in what goes on in the thing Uh, and I really like the the creepy aspect of it not knowing that someone's infected before that person's infected Uh, that mystery, uh, that it's kind of like a surprise later. It's oh, this person was one of them this whole time and that really that's what really brings out the That that's scary element What are the open tabs on your browser right now? Open tabs on my browser. I don't know language learning. There are different languages or just that's all up in your head That's just all up in my head. Yeah, it's tabs on my browser Uh, I would you I guess like the phone browser just things that I've been looking up, you know Like I have an open browser tab the washington post article about you because that's what i'm working on for instance No, I just don't keep open tabs like that Yeah, I have a lot of open tabs at the moment about other hyper polyglots because I read up on them to talk with you Yes, yeah, that's a good analogy, but that's a good example, but I don't really keep the open tabs in that manner I'm more of an old-fashioned person. I carry books around with me. I read books. Yeah, yeah paper books They're in my car. I probably have 10 or so books in there Uh, but open tabs on my browser. I think maybe I'd see like the youtube Um, I'm trying to put more youtube channels up. So it's something that I'm looking into So you might reopen your youtube channel. Well, it's the youtube channel is It's active, but I want to upload more videos So I yes, I'm going to upload more videos on the youtube channel. How many videos are on it now Probably only three There are more and I took some of them off because I simply didn't like the quality of them Some of those are open tabs on my browser until I finished listening to them last night Uh, and what's your goal with the youtube channel? uh to promote language, um Talk more about language give lessons in Languages here and there give some cultural advice along with it have little snippets of conversations with other people And uh, just giving an example. Hey, this can be done. Uh, this is something that's not impossible If you go this if you want to visit this country here are some important words and phrases to know Uh things such as of this manner and also all I'd like to focus on a digital language as well Nahuatl and uh other languages that are found throughout the uh, north american continent Being a hyper polyglot. What do you think would be something other than the languages themselves? But something that you've learned that the rest of the world should know better than they do Language is a key to someone's culture to someone's world Even if you happen if even if even if you do not happen to be in that person's country at that time Uh, it's very sacred and it's very private for some people Uh, not everyone will be, um, very open to immediately speaking to you in their own language But the majority of the people that I That that I approach or I'll ask about they have this very pleasant sort of um Uh reaction to it, uh, and then when When you get into learning the language you start to think in it in a different way you realize it's It's every language works differently. It makes people think differently and uh There's there's the the the nuances of how the words work when they put them together But then when you learn the language you realize there's there's more to it. There's like there's a soul to the language It's like you're uh, you're starting to become this new miniature other person version of yourself when you use that language and um Um It comes with uh, it comes with the uh the native speaker's sense of home sense of belonging sense of identity uh language is identity for many people and, uh It's it's much more than just mimicking words. It's knowing what phrases to use being sensitive to uh, they're uh to another language speakers cultural needs And uh, you find out it's like it's like you're going into a different world Recent immigrants aside as you know most americans speak only american english Do you foresee that changing in the future? Do you think they will find persuasive? What to me are quite significant reasons to learn other languages, but most people don't do it don't even really try very hard No, I just when you say most people don't try really hard in america europe can be different other parts of the world different Okay, but if you're not connected to the language through your parents or where you were born Some people learn spanish, uh, fewer yet learn french tiny number try at chinese But not much happens here, right? No, and is that going to change? uh I don't yes or no. I think that uh in Places where it's a requirement to uh know a second language in order to you know I get a job somewhere of course a lot of people are going to seek to seek that out Uh, I've noticed a difference uh in between the generations Me being in my Early 20s mid 20s I met people from louisville, kentucky or from some other city in indiana that are learning russian And that really was not so much of the case in when my father was my was in his 20s people's like no it's There was there there was an immigration people italians would come to the house They'd they'd get a place. They'd just speak english. It's like no it's american. It's time to be american We need to forget italian. It's just english english english And I see this sentiment, um, repeated when I meet others like i'll go new york and i'll see italians And uh, they're like a generation older than myself and they'll say no when when my parents came from italy They spoke only english because they wanted us to learn only english There is already a big difference between the 1950s 1940s 1950s and that time would be I'd say the 1990s Where it's like, uh, no, there's um, you know, the globalization is happening. There's more business There's more incentive to learn another language. They're teaching foreign language in high school They're starting to come up with immersion immersion schools where the kids are are raised They're taught bilingualy starting with even kindergarten or first grade And so I see that trend. That's already a very big difference there So it will continue. Yes, I think it will continue more as you have, uh, more immigration you have Uh, it's much more trade open markets uh between nations, uh, and certainly, um, there is the There is the potential for the increase of interest in in language learning, especially in the, uh Uh, rural, sorry in the urban areas or like, you know, people who, um People looking for, uh Like it lawyers, um, a job such as easy this kind of employment or it's all white collar work Um, then then yeah, but as far as there's there's still always going to be that Um, that population that is not exposed to it. They'll just simply continue with english only And, uh, that will continue as it is What do you think of media coverage of hyper polyglots? Is it accurate off base fair balanced or I really haven't seen enough media call But there's an order about you probably you read it, right? Yes. Did it capture the essence of you or I think it's it was a very well put together story. It was, um, a little bit different from what I expected because it was like I thought that the story was going to concentrate on just me being a polyglot in language and such But no, it was more just like an overall sort of like Uh, the way the story was told was very, um, it was like a very pleasant surprise. I would say A very beautifully written piece. It was just um a lot Larger than I thought it would be and just kind of like a A very nicely put together story, but I don't have I haven't Um Seen other articles other hyper polyglots or polyglots that that would give me any sort of comparison How do people in mexico respond differently? To you being a hyper polyglot than people in america are they more shocked or they just take it in stride or I think it's It's a toss-up. It's it's all the minds of people that are very shocked. There's people that is taken in stride Uh, if I'm in mexico city, I think that's where I get the most surprise. Uh, or if I am in, um In any of the touristy areas where there are hostels Uh, you know, I could go to orisaba. I could go to the south to the to the village and say, oh, I know all these languages Oh, it's like They it's like kind of like they get this wide-eyed sort of look on their face And they would think oh, wow, that's that's pretty impressive. But then that's that's the end of it if I uh In contrast to that I'll be in the city of oaxaca Where you have visitors from all over the world come through and I'm at the hostel and I'm speaking irish gaelic Uh, funny enough the the most instances where I speak irish gaelic are in oaxaca Because you get a lot of people from ireland. They'll go to mexico instead of going to the u.s. And a lot of them speak gaelic Uh, and so they'll hear me speak that language. I'll speak russian. I'll turn on speak check to someone Uh, I've met people from poland from Uh, Serbia from Croatia and then when I'm switching from language to language Then the mexicans themselves they really see it happening. It's a it's a live show and uh number one and number two Of the the mexicans in oaxaca. They're in a place where they're surrounded by languages And it's like in their face. It's like, okay, there are these many languages. It's not just There's there's not just only french german spanish But there's mistak the sapo tech. Yeah wattle. Yeah Oh, it must be 15 languages in oaxaca in oaxaca. I think there are yes I think that's about right 15. Yeah. Yes Yeah, the uh, uh, what so when i'm talking about the um, the mexicans living in oaxaca that are there They just kind of look they look at these european languages Uh, and they think okay. Well, that's what like a real languages. They still have this prejudicial um Sort of like a downplay on their own indigenous languages the the linguistic diversity in the state of oaxaca is phenomenal And uh, that The language is different one from the other much more so than the germanic languages amongst themselves. For example, the roman languages That's um, they're very easily overlooked by uh, the the majority of um The uh urban population of mexico Where do you still want to see in mexico? I would like to see El Caño de Cobre Um, I'll take that train ride. Yeah, I've never done that. I've been to chihuahua, but I didn't have time So that's on my list as well. Yeah, don't go there. I want to explore more of Chiapas I want to meet up with my friend Juan who is uh periodically teaches me he gives me little lessons in tzotzil and uh spend more time in, um San San Cristobal de las Casas And uh, yeah, that's there's a place I would like to spend some more time in and see the north of mexico as well Central america or central america. I would like to see I've been to Belize already, but I would like to go back of course. Um, I'll let you go to Guatemala There are countries where I cannot understand the people speaking english and northern scotland sometimes counts as that Do you have that issue or you just hear through it somehow? You know, it's interesting. Uh, I think that recently The caribbean also can be hard for me when people speak english Yes, it is english, but maybe I understand a third of it Yeah, uh, I've met people from the caribbean that um, I couldn't tell if they were speaking english A very heavy accent english or it was like a creole or a mix sometimes. Yeah, they'll blend it too. Yeah, they were saying, uh Stay ya instead of stay He gone stay ya, you know like and really just sort of um Very altered uh speech, but I could tell the base words were english or at least part of it was Uh, the conversation that I heard on the bus I could make out what they were saying, but not live I listened to the whole sentence put it together and say, oh, that's what she said um As far as To give an example with scottish english I know that the the how the islands the land kind of breaks up the further north you go It's my idea that the further north you go The uh more distant The accent is and the more difficult it is to understand Have you ever studied singlish the singaporean? It used to be slang in a dialect now. It's almost becoming a language. I don't know of it. No very hard for me to understand How about Indian english english? Is that the future of english? Is that the future of english? Well, it's the present of english in india. That's for certain. Sure. Yeah But say 80 years from now as possibly our birth rates fall Uh, uh, indian birth rates are falling as well, but what will english be? Do you think? Most of the speakers won't be north americans, right? It's already the case Oh, I suppose, um Each uh But each variant of english word is spoken will sort of uh Just kind of like what's going by the natural law of language Uh, it'll change But I don't I don't see it becoming a big mush just yet where it's all uniform English used to be uniform And it went into the direction where now there are many different variations of english many different accents So I don't see it coming back together as long as there are different areas where english is spoken. It'll keep Migrate it'll keep evolving in its own natural direction If you meet a young person who has polyglot talent And they they ask you for advice. What do you tell them? Advice on what advice on learning or just they'll say they'll say well, you've done it Okay, let's say, you know, I'm 18. I'm a bit polyglot or potential polyglot. I see I have this talent What is it? I should know you would just say stick with it. Yeah stick with it. Um, I'm assuming that if this person's a polyglot he already has he or she Already has developed a system for himself or herself as to the the most effective way to learn So I don't need to give this person any learning advice. So the systems are different in your view Well, they could be different but as long as if someone's a polyglot that means that They that person came up with a with a system that was effective for himself for them. Yeah, yes Then I instead so I wouldn't give any linguistic advice. I would say Probably ask them like what is it you want to do? I would concentrate on Have that person maybe focus on a On a very useful language At least one at least one very useful language that would give that person on an advantage in In academia, you know, for example, learn Russian learn Spanish one of the one of these big Chinese right. Yeah, Mandarin Chinese French and last question In young people if they show some inclination, do you think you can spot polyglot talent? And if so, what is it you look for that a person might become someone like you or they might stop it like a mere seven languages and just call it a day Children that I've met that have special abilities. Um, some of them being autistic. Uh, I would Spend a few minutes each meeting Showing them something quizzing them. Uh, some of these people were very, uh, some of these kids were very inclined to That look like a math genius or they were good at that science or good at physics and I'd ask them about okay. Well the Why is tungsten uses the filament in a bulb for example? Um, most of the time it was like with with Scientific, um, quizzing and then I would go okay after that I would test them with language Like can you memorize this word? What's this called? I'd start with English, of course I'd point out 10 different things. What are these called and then I'll say do you know any Spanish? Uh, I'll test them in Spanish or I'll test them something else. Sometimes, uh These are these are the chill a lot of these are children of my friends and my friends knowing me They would like their children to learn Spanish, portuguese, whatever it is that that They think is is useful for their child to learn so I would go and test them and some of them actually they do They they pick up they pick up very quickly on the words And I think that the part of it is the fact that they're young for they're still this age where they can absorb language very quickly But After that, I would you know speak to my friends with the kids parents and say hey, this is a good way to go about it Do this I've met customers that um, they speak german, but they only speak english to their kid and I'd say hey Teach your child your language And I say oh really it's like why is this carpet cleaner telling them and I would tell them look it's it's important Teach your child your language speak to her in only german. Don't worry She will learn there's plenty of english all around there will be no problem with her learning english Some uh older people worry that if they teach their own language to their kids, it'll somehow replace english They won't they won't learn english at all. That's simply not Uh, but not realistic because we live in a country where english is spoken Vaughn smith a real pleasure. Thank you very much. Thank you very much