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Steve's Language Learning Tips, The Motivation of a Polyglot

The Motivation of a Polyglot

Steve: Gabriel, how are you?

Gabriel: Good. Always a pleasure to be here, Steve.

Steve: Okay. Today I have the honor of the pleasure of talking to my friend Gabriel Silva, a fellow Vancouverite, a fellow polyglot originally from Brazil. And, uh, we're going to talk about two subjects. Uh, one why he's a polyglot, what he gets out of being a polyglot.

And two to touch again on the subject of that covered briefly with, uh, Leonardo of Portugal differences between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese. Remember if you enjoy these videos, please subscribe, click on the bell for notifications. And if you follow me on a podcast service, please leave a review.

Gabriel, uh, nice to see you. I'm in Palm Springs. Uh, with my fake bookshelf. You're I think in Vancouver.

Gabriel: I am.

Steve: You are a very accomplished, uh, polyglot. Uh, I have heard you in a number of languages, unrelated languages, Russian, Turkish, you name it. What motivates you? I know what motivates me, but I want to hear from you. And I think it'd be, it would be interesting for my viewers.

What do you get out of being a polyglot?

Gabriel: Well, I love, I absolutely love this question. And, uh, right now I think that, you know, the, my motivation goes through phases. Uh, initially when I started really learning and getting into languages, uh, it was because it was just individually attracted to different cultures.

So, uh, you know, it, it was, I learned English and it took me forever to learn English and really get to a very fluent level. And then I was just like, well, I could, I seemed to really suck at learning languages. So I just want to actually try to learn French and German. Then I started learning them at the same time.

And I, uh, I had a personal challenge that I wanted to be, uh, cause I love Paris. So I just actually, I lived there for, uh, for a year. I may go back. I don't know when, and, um, I had this personal challenge that I wanted to communicate with Parisians in French. And, uh, it also took me forever to accomplish that, to, to get to the point that my French was decent enough for Parisians not to switch to English immediately.

And, um, and then I was also really into, I actually dated a German girl, um, and then fell in love with the, with Germany. So I just, I would go there and I wanted to um, to learn German as well, especially because it seemed like such a difficult language. So it was also a bit of a challenge. So then when I, when I managed to learn those languages and reach fluency, it was just like, well, you know, like I, now I know how to learn language.

So I just started going, you know, getting into different ones and uh, because I was attracted to Russian literature, I thought like, why not someday learn Russian so that I can actually understand those stories? And I thought it was going to take me 20 years to learn Russian, but it was quicker than expected.

And then I started getting into Chinese and I started dabbling into a ton of languages. And then I found my, uh, an even greater motivation, which is actually something that I didn't, uh, originally suspect would really happen, but it's just how languages connect people. And I, that's something that I, that fascinates me so much because you know, one thing that I absolutely love to do, um, and this may seem random, but I just, like, I always like to, you know, strike up conversations on the streets.

Uh, I talk to random people like it was, uh, I was in London for a little while. Um, after I went, I lived in Paris and uh, it was just so much fun to just, you know, start, start off talking to people. And when you're a polyglot and you speak these, like these different languages and you, you know, you hear like whatever, I hear some Chinese start speaking Chinese.

I would hear some, uh, Turkish would be just like, oh, is that Turkish? Oh, you're from Turkey. And the barriers just disappear. It's just absolutely insane. How quickly they disappear.

Steve: I want to pick up on some of the things, some of the themes that you mentioned that I think are very important. First of all, we become a polyglot one language at a time.

Now we may study two languages at the same time, but we begin by learning one other language and then another language. So at the beginning on the sort of journey towards becoming a polyglot, it starts with one language. For whatever reason, we're motivated to learn one language. We're motivated to learn another language.

We realize we know how to do it. We can do it. And then it kind of snowballs. That's very much been my experience. The second thing you're saying is that languages connect us. And I think if we look at like, what's the purpose of life, I think we are never happier than when we are connecting with other people and we can connect with other people like in the here and now or through books and movies, and we can connect with people in far away countries or far away centuries. And so the opportunities to discover human... human beings, human activity is, is so much enhanced by learning different languages. So the things that you mentioned are absolutely, I totally agree with what you have to say there.

Gabriel: Absolutely, and like that I, one person that comes to mind is, uh, Ari, uh, Xioma New York city.

Steve: Right.

Gabriel: And he, because he, uh, and basically like I do, do some similar, like similar videos, like in a different kind of context really. Cause I, um... and he connects, he goes and he gets, uh, an amazing reaction from people because his Mandarin is so good. And, um, and it's just amazing to see how like, uh, barriers just like absolutely dissolve between people.

Steve: But It's important in doing that to make it about genuine communication and not simply about performing.

Gabriel: Absolutely.

Steve: We have to make sure that we genuinely want to connect with those people. We don't want to just use them as a uh, I'm not saying that Ari does that, but I think it's very important to do, to do this whole thing with respect.

One other thing I should say, uh, you are a genuine polyglot, genuinely interested in people, in literature, in so many different things, but I should point out that one of your major activities at your YouTube channel you help Brazilians with their English or other languages. I'm not entirely sure. And, um, you know, Brazil, people, maybe don't fully realize that like it's like the United States, like it's 200 million people.

It's a huge country, a country with, again, a mixture of peoples from different parts of the world, including the indigenous people. It's a fascinating country with tremendous potential. And you're sort of, single-handedly helping them overcome the obstacles that language school has put in front of them in terms of learning languages.

What are some of your messages to your followers in, in Brazil?

Gabriel: I would say, you know, um, first one of my messages we will, for sure, like, listen to Steve, like check out his channel. He's got so much incredible advice. And second really is, you know, like what I always say, just like um, take language learning into your own hands, and don't really just depend on the little course that you bought and that you're, that you're doing because the language learning process is fun.

You should be engaged in it. You should, um, get exposure to the language as much as you can to do things that you like, do things that you enjoy. And, um, because a lot of students really have this passive attitude towards learning language, especially in Brazil... it's changing now.

Steve: Not especially Brazil, everywhere like it's...

Gabriel: Everywhere, everywhere.

Steve: Unless you live in Europe where the neighboring countries speak so many different languages. In Brazil, that's less motivation to learn I guess.

Gabriel: No, no... but the thing is just like, I think that, um, it's just because the, a lot of residents are very, they have have like a traditional mindset, more orthodox way of thinking. And, you know, there's nothing wrong with that, but just like the mentality is normally yeah like I'm just going to go take a course to learn a language and rely on that, rely on it and not go that much further, but it is changing.

And like you said, yeah, it's, it is a universal problem. Uh, too many, especially, for example, like in North America, first thing that pops up when you say, oh, Um, I'll pick up Duolingo or Rosetta Stone to learn a language. And that's just the way that people think about it. Normally like the average person, right.

If they, when it comes to learning a language.

Steve: If they go that far.

Gabriel: If they go that far. Exactly.

Steve: Listen, one last thing. Uh, we can talk forever. We all know. Um, so Brazil is this fascinating country, 200 million people. I'm not sure I have the stats right, but it's around 200 million people. Uh, and yet...

Gabriel: I think it's 210, maybe it's a very big.

Steve: 210. And Portugal in Europe is a much smaller country, 10 million people.

But of course, for Europeans, it's a much more likely tourist destination than Brazil because Brazil is that much further away. Uh, North Americans may be more likely to go to Brazil. But for people who want to learn the Portuguese language, how important are the differences between Portuguese in Europe, in, in, in, uh, Portugal or for that matter Mozambique or wherever else Portuguese is spoken versus the form of the language or the different regional forms of the language in Brazil? How important are all these regional varieties of the language?

Gabriel: Uh, I think that a lot of, uh, Portuguese people may disagree with me, but I would say that they're not that relevant really in the sense that, especially for instance, that that is a question that I get for English all the time, too, like, oh, should they learn British English or should they learn, uh, American English or Australian English if I'm going to Australia? I would say, learn English, learn the language, um, and then really worry about your, your specific, uh, local accent or dialect later. But of course that, you know, like you may encounter some minor issues if, uh, let's say you learn American English and then you move to Scotland.

Um, then you know, they have a very...

Steve: That's an extreme example, but yeah.

Gabriel: You're in Glasgow and then like, you're going to be struggling to understand. Then of course you can get a lot of exposure to content from that area to just get acquainted with the accent. And the funny thing too is just like, for instance, just even in the UK alone, there's so many regional accents.

Scouse is so different from, uh, an, any accent from the south or even the Jordie accent in Newcastle. But anyway, so the Portuguese basically, there is just so much, uh, content in Brazilian Portuguese, really. And in Brazil we have so many also like different accents, uh... so like basically, um, slang and all sorts of different things.

But I would say learn the language. And of course, um, Portuguese in Portugal is very beautifully spoken. It tends to be more formal. Uh, of course they have their slang. But, uh, often if you get exposure to a lot of content from Brazil, you may come across a lot of, uh, local slang and things that are going to be used in Brazil, but are not going to be used in Portugal.

And there will be, you know, vocab that's going to be different as well. I love Portugal, I've been there twice. And, uh, it was just very, very, like, I'm fascinated, um, about like the different little differences, you know, like sometimes there'd be just like a word that's just like, oh, you guys say that, you know...

Steve: Yeah, but, but you're at a very high level, obviously in all languages, but in particular, in your native language. I think the average beginner would have trouble telling whether this is Brazilian or Portuguese, wouldn't even know, um, as is true with Spanish as is true with all these other languages that have different regional areas.

So you can't even hear the difference. So beginners, shouldn't worry about these differences. They should just learn words. And certainly when I was learning Portuguese, I listened to both Portuguese and Brazilian. I want to be able to understand people, uh, wherever they may come from. And so I tend to feel that people make too much of an issue out of this.

You know, which variety are you going to learn? Is this Portuguese from Portugal or is it from Brazil? You have to get pretty good. You have to be well into intermediate before you can even hear the difference.

Gabriel: Yeah. Absolutely.

I think that like, friend, I've heard some people say like, oh, you know, Portuguese from Portugal sounds more like Russian to a foreign person versus Brazilian Portuguese may sound more like a, I don't know, like some broken form of Spanish or whatever, like to whoever doesn't speak the language or whatever.

But, um, yeah, I think that, you know, Steve, you're absolutely right because you need to learn the language then if you just really want to focus on a specific area, let's say that you're learning Portuguese and then you want to move to Lisbon or you want to move to Porto or, uh, versus São Paulo or Bahia, you know, you're going to, you can then later worry about, uh, um, the regional accents, the regional like slang way later in the game.

Steve: If you really don't know that language yet at all, you may think Portuguese sounds like Russian. Once you know words, you're more focused on the words. And at that point, the differences become less important. If you don't know the language at all, you would think that Greek and Casti... iberian Spanish are the same language because they have the same sounds, the same sounds. They don't have the same words at all.

But once you know the words, it's hard to tell if the person is Mexican or Spanish, because you're now focused on the words. And overwhelmingly in Portuguese, like from, from Europe or from Brazil, it's the same words. And it's the same grammar. Period. No more or less.

Gabriel: Yeah. W well, I say like, obviously, you know, the, the, the Portuguese, and that's something that I've noticed that in Portugal, for instance, they speak very, they speak very elegantly, you know, the, the Portuguese, they're very proud of, of the Portuguese language.

And even like, for example, like sometimes every now and then a Portuguese person says like, oh, Hey, you know, like, listen, this is Brazilian. That's not Portuguese. You know, th that's a different language, but it's, it is the Portuguese language, of course, that, you know, there, there are many, um, you know, differences, uh, in terms of specially vocab in, in the, in the long run.

But when it comes to, when it comes down to it, it is the same language, essentially. And it's the same thing, for example, like, let's say let's take Spanish, for instance, someone from Colombia, normally the Colombian accent is regarded as very clean and pure. Um, they speak very clearly and so on. So, and then if you take someone from Chile, Chile has a lot of, uh, you know, they have like a lot of um, slang. They, they cut the words and especially because they they're more geographically isolated right by the Andes and stuff, Andes? I don't know. Um, so then if you, but you know, if you, if you're going to move to Chile, you're going to learn Spanish anyway. Then later you like, when you're, like you said, when you're at an intermediate level, then you're going to be, you know, wanting to focus on the regional accent and so on, but it is the Spanish language. It doesn't really...

Steve: Trouble with Gabriel is that we always agree on everything. So on that point of agreement, learn Portuguese, it's a wonderful language there's I don't know, 250 million speakers around the world. Just learn that language.

Don't worry about which version and that applies to whether you're learning Portuguese or Spanish or French or English or Chinese or any other language. Gabriel, as usual, I, we could speak for hours, but maybe we'll just stop it there and thank you very much for coming on my channel.

Gabriel: Sounds good. Always a great pleasure, Steve.

The Motivation of a Polyglot Die Motivation eines Polyglotten The Motivation of a Polyglot La motivación de un políglota La motivation d'un polyglotte Le motivazioni di un poliglotta ポリグロットのモチベーション 다국어 사용의 동기 부여 Motywacja poligloty A motivação de um poliglota Мотивация полиглота Bir Poliglotun Motivasyonu Мотивація поліглота 多语言者的动机 通曉多種語言的動機

Steve: Gabriel, how are you? Steve: Gabriel, jak się masz? Steve: Gabriel, como você está?

Gabriel: Good. Gabriel: Bom. Always a pleasure to be here, Steve. Zawsze miło tu być, Steve. É sempre um prazer estar aqui, Steve.

Steve: Okay. Steve: Ok. Today I have the honor of the pleasure of talking to my friend Gabriel Silva, a fellow Vancouverite, a fellow polyglot originally from Brazil. Dzisiaj mam zaszczyt porozmawiać z moim przyjacielem Gabrielem Silvą, kolega z Vancouver, kolega poliglota pochodzący z Brazylii. Hoje tenho a honra do prazer de conversar com meu amigo Gabriel Silva, um colega Vancouverita, um colega poliglota originário do Brasil. And, uh, we're going to talk about two subjects. I, uh, porozmawiamy na dwa tematy. E, uh, vamos falar sobre dois assuntos. Uh, one why he's a polyglot, what he gets out of being a polyglot. Äh, einer, warum er ein Polyglott ist, was er davon hat, ein Polyglott zu sein. ええと、彼がポリグロットである理由の1つは、彼がポリグロットであることから得られるものです。 Uh, po pierwsze, dlaczego jest poliglotą, co czerpie z bycia poliglotą. Uh, um porque ele é um poliglota, o que ele ganha sendo um poliglota.

And two to touch again on the subject of that covered briefly with, uh, Leonardo of Portugal differences between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese. En twee om het onderwerp nog eens aan te halen, kort behandeld met, uh, Leonardo van Portugal-verschillen tussen Braziliaans Portugees en Europees Portugees. I dwa, aby jeszcze raz poruszyć temat tego, o którym pokrótce omówiono, uh, różnice między portugalskim Leonardo z Portugalii między brazylijskim portugalskim a europejskim portugalskim. E dois para tocar novamente no assunto que abordou brevemente com, uh, as diferenças de Leonardo de Portugal entre o português brasileiro e o português europeu. Remember if you enjoy these videos, please subscribe, click on the bell for notifications. Pamiętaj, jeśli lubisz te filmy, zasubskrybuj, kliknij dzwonek, aby uzyskać powiadomienia. Lembre-se se você gosta desses vídeos, inscreva-se, clique no sininho para notificações. And if you follow me on a podcast service, please leave a review. A jeśli śledzisz mnie w usłudze podcastów, zostaw recenzję. E se você me seguir em um serviço de podcast, por favor, deixe um comentário.

Gabriel, uh, nice to see you. Gabriel, uh, prazer em vê-lo. I'm in Palm Springs. Jestem w Palm Springs. Estou em Palm Springs. Uh, with my fake bookshelf. Uh, z moją fałszywą półką na książki. Uh, com minha estante falsa. You're I think in Vancouver. Myślę, że jesteś w Vancouver. Acho que você está em Vancouver.

Gabriel: I am. Gabriel: Jestem. Gabriel: Eu sou.

Steve: You are a very accomplished, uh, polyglot. Steve: Jesteś bardzo utalentowanym poliglotą. Steve: Você é um poliglota muito realizado. Uh, I have heard you in a number of languages, unrelated languages, Russian, Turkish, you name it. Uh, słyszałem cię w wielu językach, językach niepowiązanych, rosyjskim, tureckim, co tylko chcesz. Uh, eu ouvi você em várias línguas, línguas não relacionadas, russo, turco, o que quiser. What motivates you? O que te motiva? I know what motivates me, but I want to hear from you. Eu sei o que me motiva, mas eu quero ouvir de você. And I think it'd be, it would be interesting for my viewers. Myślę, że byłoby to interesujące dla moich widzów. E eu acho que seria, seria interessante para meus espectadores.

What do you get out of being a polyglot? Co máš z toho, že jsi polyglot? Co czerpiesz z bycia poliglotą? O que você ganha sendo poliglota?

Gabriel: Well, I love, I absolutely love this question. Gabriel: Bem, eu amo, eu absolutamente amo essa pergunta. And, uh, right now I think that, you know, the, my motivation goes through phases. I, uh, teraz myślę, że moja motywacja przechodzi przez fazy. E, uh, agora eu acho que, você sabe, a, minha motivação passa por fases. Uh, initially when I started really learning and getting into languages, uh, it was because it was just individually attracted to different cultures. Uh, początkowo, kiedy zacząłem naprawdę uczyć się i uczyć się języków, uh, to było po prostu indywidualne przyciąganie do różnych kultur. Uh, inicialmente quando eu realmente comecei a aprender e entrar em idiomas, uh, foi porque eu era apenas individualmente atraído por diferentes culturas.

So, uh, you know, it, it was, I learned English and it took me forever to learn English and really get to a very fluent level. Więc, uh, wiesz, to było, nauczyłem się angielskiego i zajęło mi wieczność, aby nauczyć się angielskiego i naprawdę osiągnąć bardzo płynny poziom. Então, uh, você sabe, foi, eu aprendi inglês e levei uma eternidade para aprender inglês e realmente chegar a um nível muito fluente. And then I was just like, well, I could, I seemed to really suck at learning languages. A potem pomyślałem sobie, no cóż, mógłbym, wydawało mi się, że naprawdę jestem do niczego w nauce języków. E então eu pensei, bem, eu poderia, eu parecia realmente ser péssimo em aprender línguas. So I just want to actually try to learn French and German. Więc chcę po prostu spróbować nauczyć się francuskiego i niemieckiego. Então, eu só quero realmente tentar aprender francês e alemão. Then I started learning them at the same time. Wtedy w tym samym czasie zacząłem się ich uczyć. Então comecei a aprendê-los ao mesmo tempo.

And I, uh, I had a personal challenge that I wanted to be, uh, cause I love Paris. A ja, uh, miałem osobiste wyzwanie, którym chciałem być, uh, bo kocham Paryż. E eu, uh, eu tive um desafio pessoal que eu queria ser, uh, porque eu amo Paris. So I just actually, I lived there for, uh, for a year. Więc właściwie mieszkałem tam przez rok. Então, na verdade, eu morei lá por, uh, por um ano. I may go back. Mogę wrócić. Eu posso voltar. I don't know when, and, um, I had this personal challenge that I wanted to communicate with Parisians in French. Nie wiem kiedy i, hm, miałem to osobiste wyzwanie, że chciałem porozumieć się z Paryżanami po francusku. Eu não sei quando, e, hum, eu tive esse desafio pessoal que eu queria me comunicar com os parisienses em francês. And, uh, it also took me forever to accomplish that, to, to get to the point that my French was decent enough for Parisians not to switch to English immediately. Und, äh, ich habe auch ewig gebraucht, um das zu erreichen, um an den Punkt zu kommen, an dem mein Französisch anständig genug war, dass die Pariser nicht sofort auf Englisch umsteigen würden. そして、ええと、それを達成するのにも、私は永遠にかかりました。それは、私のフランス語が、パリジャンがすぐに英語に切り替えないように十分にまともであるという点に到達するためです。 I, uh, zajęło mi też wieczność, aby to osiągnąć, aby dojść do punktu, w którym mój francuski był wystarczająco przyzwoity, aby paryżanie nie przerzucili się od razu na angielski. E, uh, também demorei uma eternidade para fazer isso, chegar ao ponto em que meu francês era decente o suficiente para que os parisienses não mudassem para o inglês imediatamente.

And, um, and then I was also really into, I actually dated a German girl, um, and then fell in love with the, with Germany. I, um, i wtedy też bardzo się zainteresowałem, umawiałem się z Niemką, um, a potem zakochałem się w Niemczech. E, hum, e então eu também estava realmente interessado, eu na verdade namorei uma garota alemã, hum, e então me apaixonei pela Alemanha. So I just, I would go there and I wanted to um, to learn German as well, especially because it seemed like such a difficult language. Więc ja po prostu tam pojechałam i chciałam um, nauczyć się też niemieckiego, zwłaszcza że wydawał się taki trudny język. Então, eu ia lá e queria aprender alemão também, especialmente porque parecia uma língua tão difícil. So it was also a bit of a challenge. Było to więc również nie lada wyzwanie. Então também foi um pouco desafiador. So then when I, when I managed to learn those languages and reach fluency, it was just like, well, you know, like I, now I know how to learn language. Więc kiedy ja, kiedy udało mi się nauczyć tych języków i osiągnąć biegłość, to było jak, no wiesz, tak jak ja, teraz wiem, jak się uczyć języka. Então quando eu, quando consegui aprender essas línguas e chegar à fluência, foi como, bem, sabe, como eu, agora eu sei como aprender uma língua.

So I just started going, you know, getting into different ones and uh, because I was attracted to Russian literature, I thought like, why not someday learn Russian so that I can actually understand those stories? Więc po prostu zacząłem wchodzić, wiesz, wchodzić w różne i uh, ponieważ pociągała mnie rosyjska literatura, pomyślałem, dlaczego nie nauczę się kiedyś rosyjskiego, żebym mógł naprawdę zrozumieć te historie? Então eu comecei a ir, você sabe, entrar em diferentes e uh, porque eu estava atraído pela literatura russa, eu pensei, por que um dia não aprender russo para que eu possa realmente entender essas histórias? And I thought it was going to take me 20 years to learn Russian, but it was quicker than expected. Myślałem, że nauka rosyjskiego zajmie mi 20 lat, ale poszło to szybciej niż się spodziewałem. E pensei que levaria 20 anos para aprender russo, mas foi mais rápido do que o esperado.

And then I started getting into Chinese and I started dabbling into a ton of languages. A potem zacząłem uczyć się chińskiego i zacząłem parać się mnóstwem języków. E então comecei a aprender chinês e a me interessar por uma tonelada de línguas. And then I found my, uh, an even greater motivation, which is actually something that I didn't, uh, originally suspect would really happen, but it's just how languages connect people. I wtedy znalazłem moją, uh, jeszcze większą motywację, co jest właściwie czymś, o czym początkowo nie podejrzewałem, że naprawdę się wydarzy, ale tak właśnie języki łączą ludzi. E então eu encontrei minha, uh, uma motivação ainda maior, que na verdade é algo que eu não, uh, originalmente suspeitei que realmente aconteceria, mas é apenas como as línguas conectam as pessoas. And I, that's something that I, that fascinates me so much because you know, one thing that I absolutely love to do, um, and this may seem random, but I just, like, I always like to, you know, strike up conversations on the streets. I ja, to jest coś, co mnie tak bardzo fascynuje, ponieważ wiesz, jedna rzecz, którą absolutnie uwielbiam robić, hm, i to może wydawać się przypadkowe, ale ja po prostu lubię zawsze, wiesz, wyskakiwać rozmowy na ulicach. E eu, isso é algo que me fascina muito porque você sabe, uma coisa que eu absolutamente amo fazer, hum, e isso pode parecer aleatório, mas eu apenas, tipo, eu sempre gosto de, você sabe, começar conversas nas ruas.

Uh, I talk to random people like it was, uh, I was in London for a little while. Uh, mluvím s náhodnými lidmi, jako by to bylo, uh, byl jsem na chvíli v Londýně. Uh, rozmawiam z przypadkowymi ludźmi, jakby to było, uh, przez jakiś czas byłem w Londynie. Uh, eu falo com pessoas aleatórias como se fosse, uh, eu estava em Londres por um tempo. Um, after I went, I lived in Paris and uh, it was just so much fun to just, you know, start, start off talking to people. Hum, depois que eu fui, eu morei em Paris e uh, foi muito divertido apenas, você sabe, começar, começar a conversar com as pessoas. And when you're a polyglot and you speak these, like these different languages and you, you know, you hear like whatever, I hear some Chinese start speaking Chinese. E quando você é um poliglota e fala essas, como essas diferentes línguas e você, você sabe, você ouve qualquer coisa, eu ouço alguns chineses começando a falar chinês.

I would hear some, uh, Turkish would be just like, oh, is that Turkish? Eu ouvia alguns, uh, turcos seriam como, oh, isso é turco? Oh, you're from Turkey. Oh, você é da Turquia. And the barriers just disappear. E as barreiras simplesmente desaparecem. It's just absolutely insane. É absolutamente insano. How quickly they disappear. Com que rapidez eles desaparecem.

Steve: I want to pick up on some of the things, some of the themes that you mentioned that I think are very important. Steve: Eu quero pegar algumas coisas, alguns dos temas que você mencionou que eu acho muito importantes. First of all, we become a polyglot one language at a time. Za prvé, stáváme se polyglotem jeden jazyk po druhém. Em primeiro lugar, tornamo-nos poliglotas, uma língua de cada vez.

Now we may study two languages at the same time, but we begin by learning one other language and then another language. Agora podemos estudar duas línguas ao mesmo tempo, mas começamos aprendendo uma outra língua e depois outra. So at the beginning on the sort of journey towards becoming a polyglot, it starts with one language. Então, no início, no tipo de jornada para se tornar um poliglota, começa com uma língua. For whatever reason, we're motivated to learn one language. Seja qual for o motivo, estamos motivados a aprender um idioma. We're motivated to learn another language. Estamos motivados a aprender outro idioma.

We realize we know how to do it. Percebemos que sabemos como fazê-lo. We can do it. Nós podemos fazer isso. And then it kind of snowballs. E então meio que bolas de neve. That's very much been my experience. Essa tem sido muito a minha experiência. The second thing you're saying is that languages connect us. A segunda coisa que você está dizendo é que os idiomas nos conectam. And I think if we look at like, what's the purpose of life, I think we are never happier than when we are connecting with other people and we can connect with other people like in the here and now or through books and movies, and we can connect with people in far away countries or far away centuries. E acho que se olharmos para qual é o propósito da vida, acho que nunca estamos mais felizes do que quando estamos nos conectando com outras pessoas e podemos nos conectar com outras pessoas como aqui e agora ou através de livros e filmes, e nós pode se conectar com pessoas em países distantes ou séculos distantes. And so the opportunities to discover human... human beings, human activity is, is so much enhanced by learning different languages. E assim as oportunidades de descobrir humanos... seres humanos, a atividade humana é muito melhorada aprendendo diferentes línguas. So the things that you mentioned are absolutely, I totally agree with what you have to say there. Então, as coisas que você mencionou são absolutamente, eu concordo totalmente com o que você tem a dizer lá.

Gabriel: Absolutely, and like that I, one person that comes to mind is, uh, Ari, uh, Xioma New York city. Gabriel: Absolutamente, e assim eu, uma pessoa que me vem à mente é, uh, Ari, uh, Xioma New York City.

Steve: Right. Esteve: Certo.

Gabriel: And he, because he, uh, and basically like I do, do some similar, like similar videos, like in a different kind of context really. Gabriel: E ele, porque ele, uh, e basicamente como eu faço, faz alguns vídeos parecidos, como em um tipo diferente de contexto realmente. Cause I, um... and he connects, he goes and he gets, uh, an amazing reaction from people because his Mandarin is so good. Porque eu, hum... e ele se conecta, ele vai e tem, uh, uma reação incrível das pessoas porque o mandarim dele é tão bom. And, um, and it's just amazing to see how like, uh, barriers just like absolutely dissolve between people. E, hum, e é incrível ver como, uh, barreiras como absolutamente se dissolvem entre as pessoas.

Steve: But It's important in doing that to make it about genuine communication and not simply about performing. Steve: Mas é importante fazer isso para falar sobre comunicação genuína e não simplesmente sobre performance.

Gabriel: Absolutely. Gabriel: Com certeza.

Steve: We have to make sure that we genuinely want to connect with those people. Steve: Temos que ter certeza de que realmente queremos nos conectar com essas pessoas. We don't want to just use them as a uh, I'm not saying that Ari does that, but I think it's very important to do, to do this whole thing with respect. Não queremos apenas usá-los como um uh, não estou dizendo que Ari faz isso, mas acho que é muito importante fazer, fazer tudo isso com respeito.

One other thing I should say, uh, you are a genuine polyglot, genuinely interested in people, in literature, in so many different things, but I should point out that one of your major activities at your YouTube channel you help Brazilians with their English or other languages. Outra coisa que devo dizer, uh, você é um verdadeiro poliglota, genuinamente interessado nas pessoas, na literatura, em tantas coisas diferentes, mas devo ressaltar que uma de suas principais atividades no seu canal do YouTube você ajuda os brasileiros com o inglês ou outras línguas. I'm not entirely sure. Eu não tenho certeza. And, um, you know, Brazil, people, maybe don't fully realize that like it's like the United States, like it's 200 million people. E, hum, você sabe, o Brasil, as pessoas, talvez não percebam completamente que é como os Estados Unidos, como se fossem 200 milhões de pessoas.

It's a huge country, a country with, again, a mixture of peoples from different parts of the world, including the indigenous people. É um país enorme, um país com, novamente, uma mistura de povos de diferentes partes do mundo, incluindo os indígenas. It's a fascinating country with tremendous potential. É um país fascinante com um potencial tremendo. And you're sort of, single-handedly helping them overcome the obstacles that language school has put in front of them in terms of learning languages. そして、あなたは、語学学校が言語学習の面で彼らの前に置いた障害を彼らが克服するのを一人で助けているようなものです。 E você está, sozinho, ajudando-os a superar os obstáculos que a escola de idiomas colocou na frente deles em termos de aprendizado de idiomas.

What are some of your messages to your followers in, in Brazil? Quais são algumas de suas mensagens para seus seguidores no Brasil?

Gabriel: I would say, you know, um, first one of my messages we will, for sure, like, listen to Steve, like check out his channel. Gabriel: Eu diria, você sabe, hum, a primeira das minhas mensagens, com certeza, vamos ouvir Steve, dar uma olhada no canal dele. He's got so much incredible advice. Ele tem tantos conselhos incríveis. And second really is, you know, like what I always say, just like um, take language learning into your own hands, and don't really just depend on the little course that you bought and that you're, that you're doing because the language learning process is fun. E o segundo é, você sabe, como eu sempre digo, assim como hum, tome o aprendizado de idiomas em suas próprias mãos, e não dependa apenas do pequeno curso que você comprou e que você é, que você é fazendo porque o processo de aprendizagem de línguas é divertido.

You should be engaged in it. Você deve estar envolvido nisso. You should, um, get exposure to the language as much as you can to do things that you like, do things that you enjoy. Você deveria, hum, se expor ao idioma o máximo que puder para fazer coisas que você gosta, fazer coisas que você gosta. And, um, because a lot of students really have this passive attitude towards learning language, especially in Brazil... it's changing now. E, hum, porque muitos alunos realmente têm essa atitude passiva em relação ao aprendizado de idiomas, especialmente no Brasil... está mudando agora.

Steve: Not especially Brazil, everywhere like it's... Steve: Não especialmente no Brasil, em todo lugar como se fosse...

Gabriel: Everywhere, everywhere. Gabriel: Em todos os lugares, em todos os lugares.

Steve: Unless you live in Europe where the neighboring countries speak so many different languages. Steve: A menos que você viva na Europa, onde os países vizinhos falam tantas línguas diferentes. In Brazil, that's less motivation to learn I guess. No Brasil, isso é menos motivação para aprender, eu acho.

Gabriel: No, no... but the thing is just like, I think that, um, it's just because the, a lot of residents are very, they have have like a traditional mindset, more orthodox way of thinking. Gabriel: Não, não... mas a coisa é assim, eu acho que, hum, é só porque muitos moradores são muito, eles têm uma mentalidade tradicional, um modo de pensar mais ortodoxo. And, you know, there's nothing wrong with that, but just like the mentality is normally yeah like I'm just going to go take a course to learn a language and rely on that, rely on it and not go that much further, but it is changing. E, você sabe, não há nada de errado com isso, mas assim como a mentalidade é normalmente sim, eu vou fazer um curso para aprender um idioma e confiar nisso, confiar nisso e não ir muito além, mas está mudando.

And like you said, yeah, it's, it is a universal problem. E como você disse, sim, é um problema universal. Uh, too many, especially, for example, like in North America, first thing that pops up when you say, oh, Um, I'll pick up Duolingo or Rosetta Stone to learn a language. Uh, muitos, especialmente, por exemplo, como na América do Norte, a primeira coisa que aparece quando você diz, oh, hum, vou pegar Duolingo ou Rosetta Stone para aprender um idioma. And that's just the way that people think about it. E é assim que as pessoas pensam sobre isso. Normally like the average person, right. Normalmente como a pessoa média, certo.

If they, when it comes to learning a language. Se eles, quando se trata de aprender uma língua.

Steve: If they go that far. Steve: Se eles forem tão longe.

Gabriel: If they go that far. Gabriel: Se eles forem tão longe. Exactly. Exatamente.

Steve: Listen, one last thing. Steve: Ouça, uma última coisa. Uh, we can talk forever. Uh, podemos conversar para sempre. We all know. Todos nós sabemos. Um, so Brazil is this fascinating country, 200 million people. Hum, então o Brasil é esse país fascinante, 200 milhões de pessoas. I'm not sure I have the stats right, but it's around 200 million people. Não tenho certeza se tenho as estatísticas corretas, mas são cerca de 200 milhões de pessoas. Uh, and yet... Ah, e ainda...

Gabriel: I think it's 210, maybe it's a very big. Gabriel: Acho que é 210, talvez seja muito grande.

Steve: 210. And Portugal in Europe is a much smaller country, 10 million people. E Portugal na Europa é um país muito menor, 10 milhões de pessoas.

But of course, for Europeans, it's a much more likely tourist destination than Brazil because Brazil is that much further away. Mas, claro, para os europeus, é um destino turístico muito mais provável do que o Brasil, porque o Brasil está muito mais longe. Uh, North Americans may be more likely to go to Brazil. ええと、北米人はブラジルに行く可能性が高いかもしれません。 Uh, os norte-americanos podem ser mais propensos a ir para o Brasil. But for people who want to learn the Portuguese language, how important are the differences between Portuguese in Europe, in, in, in, uh, Portugal or for that matter Mozambique or wherever else Portuguese is spoken versus the form of the language or the different regional forms of the language in Brazil? Mas para as pessoas que querem aprender a língua portuguesa, quão importantes são as diferenças entre o português na Europa, em, em, em, uh, Portugal ou a propósito Moçambique ou onde quer que se fale português versus a forma da língua ou as diferentes formas regionais da língua no Brasil? How important are all these regional varieties of the language? Qual a importância de todas essas variedades regionais da língua?

Gabriel: Uh, I think that a lot of, uh, Portuguese people may disagree with me, but I would say that they're not that relevant really in the sense that, especially for instance, that that is a question that I get for English all the time, too, like, oh, should they learn British English or should they learn, uh, American English or Australian English if I'm going to Australia? Gabriel: Uh, eu acho que muitos, uh, portugueses podem discordar de mim, mas eu diria que eles não são tão relevantes realmente no sentido de que, especialmente por exemplo, essa é uma pergunta que eu recebo para Inglês o tempo todo também, tipo, oh, eles deveriam aprender inglês britânico ou eles deveriam aprender, uh, inglês americano ou inglês australiano se eu for para a Austrália? I would say, learn English, learn the language, um, and then really worry about your, your specific, uh, local accent or dialect later. 私は、英語を学び、言語を学び、ええと、それからあなたの、あなたの特定の、ええと、地元のアクセントや方言について後で本当に心配します。 Eu diria, aprenda inglês, aprenda o idioma, hum, e então realmente se preocupe com seu sotaque ou dialeto local específico mais tarde. But of course that, you know, like you may encounter some minor issues if, uh, let's say you learn American English and then you move to Scotland. しかしもちろん、それは、あなたがアメリカ英語を学び、それからスコットランドに引っ越したとしたら、いくつかの小さな問題に遭遇するかもしれないように、あなたは知っています。 Mas é claro que, você sabe, você pode encontrar alguns pequenos problemas se, uh, digamos que você aprende inglês americano e depois se muda para a Escócia.

Um, then you know, they have a very... Hum, então você sabe, eles têm muito...

Steve: That's an extreme example, but yeah. Steve: Esse é um exemplo extremo, mas sim.

Gabriel: You're in Glasgow and then like, you're going to be struggling to understand. Gabriel: Você está em Glasgow e então, você vai estar lutando para entender. Then of course you can get a lot of exposure to content from that area to just get acquainted with the accent. Então, é claro, você pode obter bastante exposição ao conteúdo dessa área apenas para se familiarizar com o sotaque. And the funny thing too is just like, for instance, just even in the UK alone, there's so many regional accents. E o engraçado também é que, por exemplo, só no Reino Unido há tantos sotaques regionais.

Scouse is so different from, uh, an, any accent from the south or even the Jordie accent in Newcastle. Scouse is zo anders dan elk accent uit het zuiden of zelfs het Jordie-accent in Newcastle. Scouse é tão diferente de qualquer sotaque do sul ou mesmo do sotaque Jordie em Newcastle. But anyway, so the Portuguese basically, there is just so much, uh, content in Brazilian Portuguese, really. Mas de qualquer forma, então o português basicamente, há muito, uh, conteúdo em português brasileiro, realmente. And in Brazil we have so many also like different accents, uh... so like basically, um, slang and all sorts of different things. E no Brasil temos tantos que também gostam de sotaques diferentes, uh... tipo basicamente, gírias e todo tipo de coisas diferentes.

But I would say learn the language. Mas eu diria para aprender a língua. And of course, um, Portuguese in Portugal is very beautifully spoken. E, claro, o português em Portugal é muito bem falado. It tends to be more formal. Tende a ser mais formal. Uh, of course they have their slang. Uh, é claro que eles têm suas gírias. But, uh, often if you get exposure to a lot of content from Brazil, you may come across a lot of, uh, local slang and things that are going to be used in Brazil, but are not going to be used in Portugal. しかし、ええと、ブラジルからの多くのコンテンツに触れると、多くの場合、ブラジルで使用されるがポルトガルでは使用されないローカルスラングやものに出くわす可能性があります。 Mas, uh, muitas vezes, se você tiver exposição a muito conteúdo do Brasil, poderá encontrar muitas gírias locais e coisas que serão usadas no Brasil, mas não serão usadas em Portugal.

And there will be, you know, vocab that's going to be different as well. E haverá, você sabe, um vocabulário que também será diferente. I love Portugal, I've been there twice. Adoro Portugal, estive lá duas vezes. And, uh, it was just very, very, like, I'm fascinated, um, about like the different little differences, you know, like sometimes there'd be just like a word that's just like, oh, you guys say that, you know... E, uh, foi muito, muito, tipo, estou fascinado, hum, sobre as diferentes pequenas diferenças, você sabe, como às vezes haveria apenas uma palavra que é como, oh, vocês dizem isso , você sabe...

Steve: Yeah, but, but you're at a very high level, obviously in all languages, but in particular, in your native language. Steve: Sim, mas, mas você está em um nível muito alto, obviamente em todas as línguas, mas em particular, em sua língua nativa. I think the average beginner would have trouble telling whether this is Brazilian or Portuguese, wouldn't even know, um, as is true with Spanish as is true with all these other languages that have different regional areas. Eu acho que o iniciante médio teria dificuldade em dizer se isso é brasileiro ou português, nem saberia, hum, como é verdade com o espanhol como é verdade com todas essas outras línguas que têm áreas regionais diferentes.

So you can't even hear the difference. Então você não pode nem ouvir a diferença. So beginners, shouldn't worry about these differences. Portanto, iniciantes, não devem se preocupar com essas diferenças. They should just learn words. Eles devem apenas aprender palavras. And certainly when I was learning Portuguese, I listened to both Portuguese and Brazilian. E certamente quando eu estava aprendendo português, eu ouvia tanto o português quanto o brasileiro. I want to be able to understand people, uh, wherever they may come from. Eu quero ser capaz de entender as pessoas, uh, de onde quer que elas venham. And so I tend to feel that people make too much of an issue out of this. ですから、私は人々がこれからあまりにも多くの問題を作っていると感じる傾向があります。 E então eu costumo sentir que as pessoas fazem muito disso um problema.

You know, which variety are you going to learn? Você sabe, qual variedade você vai aprender? Is this Portuguese from Portugal or is it from Brazil? Esse português é de Portugal ou é do Brasil? You have to get pretty good. Você tem que ficar muito bom. You have to be well into intermediate before you can even hear the difference. 違いを聞く前に、中級者になる必要があります。 Você tem que estar bem no intermediário antes de poder ouvir a diferença.

Gabriel: Yeah. Gabriel: É. Absolutely. Absolutamente.

I think that like, friend, I've heard some people say like, oh, you know, Portuguese from Portugal sounds more like Russian to a foreign person versus Brazilian Portuguese may sound more like a, I don't know, like some broken form of Spanish or whatever, like to whoever doesn't speak the language or whatever. Acho que tipo, amigo, já ouvi algumas pessoas dizerem como, ah, sabe, português de Portugal soa mais como russo para um estrangeiro versus português do Brasil pode soar mais como um, sei lá, como algum quebrado forma de espanhol ou qualquer outra coisa, como quem não fala a língua ou qualquer outra coisa.

But, um, yeah, I think that, you know, Steve, you're absolutely right because you need to learn the language then if you just really want to focus on a specific area, let's say that you're learning Portuguese and then you want to move to Lisbon or you want to move to Porto or, uh, versus São Paulo or Bahia, you know, you're going to, you can then later worry about, uh, um, the regional accents, the regional like slang way later in the game. Pero, um, sí, creo que, sabes, Steve, tienes toda la razón porque necesitas aprender el idioma, entonces si realmente quieres concentrarte en un área específica, digamos que estás aprendiendo portugués y luego te quieres mudar a Lisboa o te quieres mudar a Oporto o, eh, versus São Paulo o Bahía, ya sabes, vas a, luego puedes preocuparte por, eh, eh, los acentos regionales, el estilo regional jerga mucho más adelante en el juego. Mas, hum, sim, eu acho que, você sabe, Steve, você está absolutamente certo porque você precisa aprender o idioma então se você realmente quiser se concentrar em uma área específica, digamos que você está aprendendo português e então você quer se mudar para Lisboa ou quer se mudar para o Porto ou, uh, contra São Paulo ou Bahia, sabe, você vai, você pode depois se preocupar com, uh, um, os sotaques regionais, o regional como gíria bem mais tarde no jogo.

Steve: If you really don't know that language yet at all, you may think Portuguese sounds like Russian. Steve: Se você ainda não conhece esse idioma, pode pensar que português soa como russo. Once you know words, you're more focused on the words. And at that point, the differences become less important. E nesse ponto, as diferenças tornam-se menos importantes. If you don't know the language at all, you would think that Greek and Casti... iberian Spanish are the same language because they have the same sounds, the same sounds. Se você não conhece a língua, você pensaria que grego e castelhano... espanhol ibérico são a mesma língua porque eles têm os mesmos sons, os mesmos sons. They don't have the same words at all.

But once you know the words, it's hard to tell if the person is Mexican or Spanish, because you're now focused on the words. And overwhelmingly in Portuguese, like from, from Europe or from Brazil, it's the same words. E esmagadoramente em português, como de, da Europa ou do Brasil, são as mesmas palavras. And it's the same grammar. Period. Zeitraum. Punt uit. No more or less.

Gabriel: Yeah. W well, I say like, obviously, you know, the, the, the Portuguese, and that's something that I've noticed that in Portugal, for instance, they speak very, they speak very elegantly, you know, the, the Portuguese, they're very proud of, of the Portuguese language. Bem, digo assim, obviamente, sabes, o, o, o português, e isso é algo que tenho reparado que em Portugal, por exemplo, falam muito, falam muito elegantemente, sabes, o, o português , têm muito orgulho, da língua portuguesa.

And even like, for example, like sometimes every now and then a Portuguese person says like, oh, Hey, you know, like, listen, this is Brazilian. That's not Portuguese. You know, th that's a different language, but it's, it is the Portuguese language, of course, that, you know, there, there are many, um, you know, differences, uh, in terms of specially vocab in, in the, in the long run. Weet je, dat is een andere taal, maar het is, het is de Portugese taal, natuurlijk, dat, weet je, er zijn veel, um, je weet wel, verschillen, uh, in termen van speciaal vocabulaire in, in de , op lange termijn.

But when it comes to, when it comes down to it, it is the same language, essentially. And it's the same thing, for example, like, let's say let's take Spanish, for instance, someone from Colombia, normally the Colombian accent is regarded as very clean and pure. E é a mesma coisa, por exemplo, digamos vamos pegar o espanhol, por exemplo, alguém da Colômbia, normalmente o sotaque colombiano é considerado muito limpo e puro. Um, they speak very clearly and so on. So, and then if you take someone from Chile, Chile has a lot of, uh, you know, they have like a lot of um, slang. They, they cut the words and especially because they they're more geographically isolated right by the Andes and stuff, Andes? I don't know. Um, so then if you, but you know, if you, if you're going to move to Chile, you're going to learn Spanish anyway. Then later you like, when you're, like you said, when you're at an intermediate level, then you're going to be, you know, wanting to focus on the regional accent and so on, but it is the Spanish language. It doesn't really... Es geht nicht wirklich...

Steve: Trouble with Gabriel is that we always agree on everything. Steve: O problema com Gabriel é que sempre concordamos em tudo. So on that point of agreement, learn Portuguese, it's a wonderful language there's I don't know, 250 million speakers around the world. Bu nedenle, Portekizce öğrenin, harika bir dil, dünya çapında 250 milyon konuşanı var. Just learn that language. Sadece o dili öğren.

Don't worry about which version and that applies to whether you're learning Portuguese or Spanish or French or English or Chinese or any other language. Não se preocupe com qual versão e se você está aprendendo português ou espanhol ou francês ou inglês ou chinês ou qualquer outro idioma. Hangi versiyon olduğu konusunda endişelenmeyin ve bu Portekizce veya İspanyolca veya Fransızca veya İngilizce veya Çince veya başka bir dil öğreniyor olmanız için de geçerlidir. Gabriel, as usual, I, we could speak for hours, but maybe we'll just stop it there and thank you very much for coming on my channel. Gabriel, her zamanki gibi saatlerce konuşabiliriz ama belki burada keseriz ve kanalıma geldiğin için çok teşekkür ederim.

Gabriel: Sounds good. Always a great pleasure, Steve.