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I love Dwarkesh's guests. My problem with this podcast, is that the host talks too fast. I have found this rushed "fast" talking amongst westerners, but few s

by max_ 2y ago

I love Dwarkesh's guests. My problem with this podcast, is that the host talks too fast. I have found this rushed "fast" talking amongst westerners, but few seem to complain about it. Any one else experience this?

ajb 2y ago
Hmm, I only listened briefly but it sounds a normal rate to me. Perhaps the high end of norma; podcasters do want to convey enthusiasm and that often translates to speed. As an aside, some people whose first language is not English speak English too fast, because their first language uses fewer phonemes and hence uses a higher syllable rate to reach the same information rate. I wondered if that might be the case here, but this sounds like a native speaker.
- roncesvalles 2y ago
  Just an aside, notions of "first language" and "second language" don't work well in Indian and other Asian contexts. Often, the language that people learn first (their "mother tongue") would be a local language (say, Marathi) which eventually ends up being the second- or third-best language that they know, superseded by Hindi and English. So, for many urban middle-class Indians, English is actually their "first language" as in the language they know best, even though it might be the third language in the order that they learned it. (Actually, even the notion of learning them in an "order" applies only loosely because you'd be learning all 3 languages at the same time). This is also true for many Chinese people. E.g. a person's mother tongue may be Shanghainese but eventually they learn Mandarin and English to a much more advanced degree than Shanghainese.
  - ajb 2y ago
    Oh, that's good to know, thanks.
rocmcd 2y ago
Yes, Dwarkesh does speak quite fast, though I think much of it is nervousness and excitement. He spoke even faster in his first few interviews, but learned to tone it down. Bryan Caplan even mentioned it to him in one of his interviews. I wouldn't say it's representative of westerners, but more of hyper-active, eager intellectuals (over-represented in the programming world, from my experience). Marc Andreessen is another example of someone who talks very fast.
screye 2y ago
I wish he'd match his guest's pace of talking. I'm happy to set watch speed to 1.25x. But if they're mismatched, all speeds feel wrong.

by max_ 2y ago

ajb 2y ago

Hmm, I only listened briefly but it sounds a normal rate to me. Perhaps the high end of norma; podcasters do want to convey enthusiasm and that often translates to speed. As an aside, some people whose first language is not English speak English too fast, because their first language uses fewer phonemes and hence uses a higher syllable rate to reach the same information rate. I wondered if that might be the case here, but this sounds like a native speaker.

roncesvalles 2y ago
Just an aside, notions of "first language" and "second language" don't work well in Indian and other Asian contexts. Often, the language that people learn first (their "mother tongue") would be a local language (say, Marathi) which eventually ends up being the second- or third-best language that they know, superseded by Hindi and English. So, for many urban middle-class Indians, English is actually their "first language" as in the language they know best, even though it might be the third language in the order that they learned it. (Actually, even the notion of learning them in an "order" applies only loosely because you'd be learning all 3 languages at the same time). This is also true for many Chinese people. E.g. a person's mother tongue may be Shanghainese but eventually they learn Mandarin and English to a much more advanced degree than Shanghainese.
- ajb 2y ago
  Oh, that's good to know, thanks.

rocmcd 2y ago

Yes, Dwarkesh does speak quite fast, though I think much of it is nervousness and excitement. He spoke even faster in his first few interviews, but learned to tone it down. Bryan Caplan even mentioned it to him in one of his interviews. I wouldn't say it's representative of westerners, but more of hyper-active, eager intellectuals (over-represented in the programming world, from my experience). Marc Andreessen is another example of someone who talks very fast.

screye 2y ago

I wish he'd match his guest's pace of talking. I'm happy to set watch speed to 1.25x. But if they're mismatched, all speeds feel wrong.