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Benny's American accent in Chinese is thick (the tones are often wrong on individual words), and his speech is halting, but even with the mistakes in grammar an

Benny's American accent in Chinese is thick (the tones are often wrong on individual words), and his speech is halting, but even with the mistakes in grammar and vocabulary choice, I can understand him. (I am an American native speaker of English who has been learning Chinese as a second language since I was a teenager in the 1970s. My HN user profile discloses other languages I have studied over the years.) So, yeah, I guess he's doing not half badly. You won't fail to notice that Benny speaks MUCH more slowly than the native speaker of Chinese he "interviews," and after the prepared remarks he uses to open up the interview, and a few personal stories about himself, he hardly interacts with the native speaker of Chinese except to say "uh-huh." (You will also not fail to notice that the Chinese woman he is interviewing knows English, and presumably has spoken Chinese to other Americans with thick accents before.) I think the rule of language learning in the blog post that has the most plausibility is "#8 – Embrace mistakes." (The interview subject basically says this to Benny in the interview, that he has a good habit of immediately using the language he learns, which he learns to use, and uses bravely.) I know an American man whose first visit to east Asia was simply to use up a one-way portion of an airplane ticket a friend gave him. He arrived in Taiwan in 1982 not knowing a word of Chinese, and having a thick south Boston (specifically Quincy, I think) accent that made his English sound strange to most Americans who met him. But he was very bold in striking up conversations with local people in Taiwan, and practiced his Modern Standard Chinese (Mandarin) relentlessly, so he gradually outpaced a lot of more shy Americans in his actual communication proficiency. He eventually found work in a high-tech company operated mostly by Hong Kong Chinese people, and has had a very satisfying career working both in east Asia and on the west coast of the United States. I was DELIGHTED to remake acquaintance with him by LinkedIn a few years ago and to endorse his language ability. He earned it. Of course Benny is promoting his new book, and here is a link to some press coverage generated by his publicity efforts: http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/13/benny-lewis-the-man-who-says-you-can-learn-a-language-in-three-months-4545062/ http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/13/benny-lewis-the-man-who-says-y... Perhaps the statement in the article, "Lewis says: ‘The problem here, though, is that if you have such high criteria for fluency, then I have to confess, I’m not even fluent in English, my native language’" helps put his claims in context.

irishpolyglot 13y ago
"Benny's American accent in Chinese is thick" I'm Irish.
- xiaoma 13y ago
  While we're on nationality, I have to say I find it hypocritical in the extreme that you wrote a long angry blog post about problems you have with Americans, which include overzealous marketing. And then you make ridiculous claims like "fluent in 3 months". I saw your ChinesePod video after three months of study and it wasn't even remotely fluent. As tokenadult said, other than the intro it was slow and heavily accented. In fact, I would go so far as to say the average college aged student I've met who has done an intensive program such as IUP in Beijing or ICLP in China not only has better reading skills, but also larger vocabulary, clearer accent and more fluid speech. To clarify, I'm not saying you didn't manage to learn a good amount in three months. ICLP and IUP are top programs and very intense, and you're definitely ahead of the average university student who isn't in a great immersion program. Why the over-the-top claims? It's completely possible to make a successful language learning business without them. Just look at Steve "the linguist" Kaufman (a pretty good Chinese speaker, btw). Benny speaking Chinese - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOmG-ufK0UI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOmG-ufK0UI Steve Kaufman - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmXVN2t2seE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmXVN2t2seE
- tokenadult 13y ago
  I'm Irish. I appreciate you pointing that out. Thank you. As the Chinese women pointed out, you have a good habit of boldly speaking the languages you are trying out. 「我覺得你有一個很好的習慣。就是，你的目的是在用語言。你學一點以後，你馬上出去用和別人說話。而且，你很勇敢。」 (The transcription into Chinese characters from the soundtrack of the video is my own. The English translation was already provided as captions on the YouTube video, which I was listening to, but not watching, as I typed my first reply.) I had never heard you speak English in person and only in snatches of quoted speech while listening to the video, so I didn't place your English accent to a particular country among the countries you have visited in your world travels. I see now from looking at the linked videos that the Chinese woman in the interview has HUGE experience in speaking Chinese to foreigners with very little proficiency in Chinese, and has strong English of her own. I'll comment for onlookers that according to Chinese social-science surveys, barely more than half the population of China is conversant in Modern Standard Chinese (Mandarin), the official language of the country.[1] So Mandarin is a very "fault-tolerant" language, as many people who speak it in China are speaking it with other people with a poor command of the language. [1] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/07/content_5812838.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/07/content_5812838... http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-23975037 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-23975037

irishpolyglot 13y ago

"Benny's American accent in Chinese is thick" I'm Irish.

xiaoma 13y ago
While we're on nationality, I have to say I find it hypocritical in the extreme that you wrote a long angry blog post about problems you have with Americans, which include overzealous marketing. And then you make ridiculous claims like "fluent in 3 months". I saw your ChinesePod video after three months of study and it wasn't even remotely fluent. As tokenadult said, other than the intro it was slow and heavily accented. In fact, I would go so far as to say the average college aged student I've met who has done an intensive program such as IUP in Beijing or ICLP in China not only has better reading skills, but also larger vocabulary, clearer accent and more fluid speech. To clarify, I'm not saying you didn't manage to learn a good amount in three months. ICLP and IUP are top programs and very intense, and you're definitely ahead of the average university student who isn't in a great immersion program. Why the over-the-top claims? It's completely possible to make a successful language learning business without them. Just look at Steve "the linguist" Kaufman (a pretty good Chinese speaker, btw). Benny speaking Chinese - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOmG-ufK0UI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOmG-ufK0UI Steve Kaufman - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmXVN2t2seE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmXVN2t2seE
tokenadult 13y ago
I'm Irish. I appreciate you pointing that out. Thank you. As the Chinese women pointed out, you have a good habit of boldly speaking the languages you are trying out. 「我覺得你有一個很好的習慣。就是，你的目的是在用語言。你學一點以後，你馬上出去用和別人說話。而且，你很勇敢。」 (The transcription into Chinese characters from the soundtrack of the video is my own. The English translation was already provided as captions on the YouTube video, which I was listening to, but not watching, as I typed my first reply.) I had never heard you speak English in person and only in snatches of quoted speech while listening to the video, so I didn't place your English accent to a particular country among the countries you have visited in your world travels. I see now from looking at the linked videos that the Chinese woman in the interview has HUGE experience in speaking Chinese to foreigners with very little proficiency in Chinese, and has strong English of her own. I'll comment for onlookers that according to Chinese social-science surveys, barely more than half the population of China is conversant in Modern Standard Chinese (Mandarin), the official language of the country.[1] So Mandarin is a very "fault-tolerant" language, as many people who speak it in China are speaking it with other people with a poor command of the language. [1] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/07/content_5812838.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/07/content_5812838... http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-23975037 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-23975037