Hi everyone! Welcome to my YouTube Channel! I’m Kazuma, 22 years old. And I’m Japanese who speaks 8 languages. Japanese, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Indonesian, and Russian. And today, I have a very very special guest. Steve Kaufmann, a polyglot who can speak 20 languages at the age of 76. I’m super excited! And it’s my long-cherished dream to talk to him! And we’ll make this interview in 7 languages which I’m studying right now. So let’s get started! Mr. Steve, thank you so much for having me! Thank you so much for having me, I’m looking forward! I would like to ask you several questions about language learning today! OK! (Spanish) So, can we speak in Spanish first? (Spanish) As you wish. Okay! hahaha From time to time, I mix Romance languages especially Spanish and Portuguese. It is because they are very similar. Yes. So, is there any advice to avoid mixing them up? I think it’s very difficult. And not only Spanish and Portuguese, but also Portuguese and Italian. (Portuguese) So (Spanish) So (Italian) So (Spanish) For me (Italian) For me It’s very easy to confuse these things. Yes, it’s confusing. Very similar. If I go to Spain, I’ll speak in Spanish. If I go to Italy, I’ll speak more in Italian. And I’ll confuse less. But if I’m in the same place and I speak a little of Italian, a little of Spanish, I’ll confuse. It’s inevitable. And it doesn’t prevent the communication. So for me, I don’t have any pretension to be able to speak perfectly. Therefore, I’m gonna make mistakes. “erros’ in Portuguese, “errores” in Spanish! But for me, it’s not important. Yes! So it’s normal to confuse all these languages? Completely it’s normal. Even for the natives, I think. Yeah I think so... Especially language students. Yes. (French) Then, can we continue with French? (French) Of course. Thank you so much! Actually, I have been studying French for around 1 year. But I still have trouble pronouncing words. Yes. So, is there any advice to improve the pronunciation? But first of all, your pronunciation is quite good! Oh really? Thank you so much! We must not have any illusions. I think it’s very difficult to speak like natives. For example, if you’re going to live in France for 3 to 5 years, The pronunciation will improve little by little. But otherwise, it’s difficult. For example, there is a sound like [y], which doesn’t exist in Japanese. I think it is first priority to master the sound [y]. It’s not [u], it’s [y]. And there are also some sounds that sound nasal to work on. It is because there is a difference among “on”, “an”, and “in”. Yes. I think French is a little difficult to pronounce. Actually, it’s more difficult than Spanish. Yeah... In general, you have to work a lot on pronunciation. Yes. But you have a good pronunciation because it’s natural. It is the intonation and the cadence that are important. Speaking the sound individually, but rather the cadence is very very good anyway. It’s comfortable for the listener. Thank you so much... (Portuguese) So do you speak Portuguese, too? (Portuguese) I speak Portuguese, but less well than Spanish. Because I’ve learned Spanish first. And then, Portuguese. So I speak more like “Portunhol(mixture of Spanish/Portuguese)” than Portuguese only. But when I went to Brazil, I didn’t have any problem to talk with people. So, again, I think it’s not very important. But I speak Spanish better than Portuguese. I see. Then did you chose the accent from Brazil? I’ve studied both. Both! I’ve listened many things Portuguese from Portugal and Portuguese from Brazil. I’ve visited these 2 countries. Ah, that’s excellent. And I understand both. I think people who want to study Portuguese language. They have to get used to both of them. Getting used to it, yes. Portuguese from Portugal and Portuguese from Brazil. From Brazil. Yes, I agree, thank you very much. (Russian) Then, can we talk in Russian a little? (French) No problem! (Russian) Yeah, I don’t speak much Russian now, but of course! (Russian) Ah, thank you! In Russian language, I always make mistakes grammatically, especially cases. So I would like to know how did you practice its grammar and so on? It’s a matter of habit. Habit. I see. I speak with errors, too. It is because cases, motion verb, all of this are very difficult. Yes, it’s difficult... Because these things don’t exist in our languages. That’s why it’s difficult. And especially now I almost never speak Russian. There will be a little more errors. But it’s not important. It’s important to communicate. Yeah the most important things is to communicate. I don’t have a secret. You need to listen a lot and read a lot. And when I read, if there is “с ошибками(with mistakes)”. Sometimes, I will notice. It’s not”с ошибок”, it’s “с ошибками”.
(about Russian cases) I try to, how to say, notice these problems. In every Slavic languages, there is the same problem. And it’s the matter of habit. I see... Then, focusing too much on grammar is not very good? I can’t because I prefer to read a lot and listen a lot. And I hope it will become better little by little. And if I don’t use this language for a very long time, then it gets worse. I see... Thank you very much. (Arabic) Then, can we talk in Arabic language a little? (Arabic) Arabic language is difficult. Very difficult, yes. hahaha Difficult. I’m trying to study Arabic language. But there are many dialects. Levantine dialect, Egyptian dialect, Gulf dialect, and Modern Standard Arabic. Yes. And for me, it’s difficult. (Russian) But I try... Now my brain is completely frazzled. Ahaha I’m sorry. I want, and for me, it’s very exciting. Very exciting. Arab culture, history, Arabic countries... Yeah politics, too. I need to continue. Yes. For me, the most difficult thing in Arabic is the dialect because it’s very different. Yes, it’s not “very” different, but different. Yes. (Levantine dialect) So.
(Egyptian dialect) So. (Levantine dialect) “So”. It’s Levantine. (Egyptian dialect) “So”. It’s.... Yeah Egyptian dialect. (Modern Standard Arabic) So. (Modern Standard Arabic) (Levantine) (Egyptian) So. So, it’s difficult. And that’s why it’s also exciting. That’s the thing I like in Arabic language. I mix up all of my dialects now. But I like. Yes, Arabic culture, Islamic religion are very fascinating. Yes. (Japanese) Then, lastly can we talk in Japanese? (Japanese) Oh Japanese is... (Arabic) What a day. ahaha So, I’ve been focusing on Persian for 3 months. Oh, Persian! Yes. Mix? Yeah I mix them up. Now you got me totally. All my words are crossed. I’m so sorry! It’s difficult. In fact, Japanese is easy to learn. I lived in Japan for 9 years so I can. (Russian) Now (Arabic) Now It’s all confused. But I like Japanese language very much. Compared to Arabic and other Romance languages, Japanese grammar is not that complicated in my opinion. The easiest grammar is Chinese. And Slavic languages and Arabic language are more complicated in terms of grammar. Japanese is “sense” rather than grammar. In Japanese language, there isn’t a big mistake. You can speak any way. It’s not exactly true. ahaha But in my case, we say something by feeling the movements and attitudes of others, right? We don’t have to say correctly in Japanese. Yeah, the word order is also flexible. That’s why it’s easy to learn it. Of course, in any language, the habituation is important. But in Japanese, the habituation is especially important. That is, it’s not about rules or anything like that. In contrast, Arabic and Russian have strict rules. But I don’t know any rules in Japanese. It’s just like “Japanese is like that, so I will say it like this.” Something like that. Chinese is similar. Chinese is more flexible. Can you speak Chinese? Actually not yet, hopefully next. There is no grammar in Chinese so to speak. Oh really!? I didn’t know that. “I go today, I go yesterday, I go tomorrow”, something like that. I see! But it’s reasonable. We don’t need complicated grammar in my opinion. I see, I’ve heard that you are especially good at Japanese next to French. You’re right. It really is. I lived in Japan for 9 years. You lived in Tokyo? I lived in Tokyo at work. Those 9 years were really fun. With my family. Ohhh I’m happy to hear that! Yes! I’m glad. Are you okay for time? Yes, it’s okay! Thank you. I’ve studied languages by myself. And for me, it’s difficult to reach intermediate to advanced level. Do you have anything to put effort into in order to get out of intermediate level? There is a level like A1, B2, right?
(CEFR - Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) I think that the beginner level is the most fun time. From scratch, you can say something, understand something! Woo-hoo! Yeah it’s exciting. But it takes a long time to become really fluent. And at the beginning, high-frequency words appear, right? So it’s easy to learn them because they always appear. However, at some point, the frequency drops sharply in any language. It reduces so sharply. You need tons of vocabulary before you can speak fluently. But it takes a lot of time to study low-frequency words. You have to read a lot. You have to listen a lot. So the problem is the content to study. The content to study. I see. It should be not extremely difficult, but fun. If there is a content like that, you can continue, right? In my case, I listen and read a lot. But if it’s too difficult, you will get frustrated, right? On the contrary, if it’s too easy, it’s not interesting. Therefore, the important thing is “sweet spot” in English. Sweet spot! The content which is moderately difficult, yet interesting. Furthermore, listening is important. If there is your favorite topic, you’ll grow rapidly. But if you can’t find them, it’s difficult after all. Studying for study’s sake is very difficult to continue. But if Japanese history is interesting, you can continue, for example. If there is something interesting in Arabic countries, or Russian speaking countries, etc. In that case, in order to understand them, you can listen/read and improve little by little. Of course, if you study by yourself and don’t live in that country, You can’t speak all day through Skype. So basically listening and reading, right?
That’s why the interesting topic is important. And then, your brain will get used to it. Then, if you have an opportunity, you can visit the country. You can hang out with people from that country and so on. You can take advantage of the opportunity if there is such a thing. But when there isn’t something like that, you have to listen and read a lot. In addition, the appropriate content is important. I see. Comprehensible input? Comprehensible and compelling input. Compelling! I see. Comprehensible is relatively easy one, you can’t improve just by doing simple things. I see! So the balance is important. I learned a lot today! Thank you so much for everything! Okay! Thank you very much! Thank you so much again Mr. Steve.
This is by far the best experience in my life. I realized once again that
there are no shortcuts to language learning.
I would like to work hard every day slowly but surely.
