Levelling Up With Moses (laoshu505000): Part 3
but you know a lot of people sit in
their Spanish class at the local
community center for years and don't get
as far as you do in all these different
languages that you're dabbling in so
it's you got to have the goal but also I
think a lot of people are pretty passive
and they're in the language learning you
know they go to the class and whatever
the teacher brings to the class and
tells them to do that's what they do and
and it just like they're treading water
they never get anywhere so so you know
yeah you may not be c2 but to get to a 2
in all of those languages nevertheless
quite a bit yeah yeah you can talk about
politics or something crazy but yeah to
you pretty you you your conversational
you can have fun you know exactly
so it's not always about trying to get
to this high c2 level you don't have to
set yourself but I mean it's good if you
want to do that
right but you know everyone's goal is
different so it really all depends on
the person I mean what I like to do is I
would like to get to the point where I
can pick up my my podcast in the morning
in Arabic or Persian and understand most
of it just by listening just by
listening that's kind of where I want to
get to because I don't have that many
people to talk to
yeah I'd like to be able to listen to
stuff and understand it like right now
in Russian if I get something if there's
a father different people on Twitter in
Russian and Ukrainian polish the 19
understand what they're saying I'm happy
I can't possibly maintain conversations
with you know you know everybody I don't
have that yeah you don't have that so
that's fine too ladies that's perfect
like if you want to just learn how to
understand exactly is it that there's
nothing wrong with that yeah you have
good understanding and you're put in a
situation where you have an opportunity
to speak the speaking comes pretty
quickly
I find oh yeah oh yeah absolutely yeah
so so you're in Arizona whereabouts in
Arizona if Phoenix okay I'm here for you
yeah yes so we're in Palm Springs in the
winter my wife and I if you do a lot of
traveling you were just in California
who are you I am in California I am oh
you are California right now yeah yeah
yeah oh you just sent you
okay yeah doesn't look like Vancouver no
no my wife doesn't like it when it rains
all the time I don't mind
I play old-timers hockey goes
cross-country skiing and I'm quite
happily and cooler but she doesn't like
it
so we're down here for the winter yeah I
we're not when I tell people about cuz I
got a lot of people for older people
also and I always use you as an example
I like they say well I don't know if I
want to learn I'm too old and I said
well you know you need I know someone
who's up there he's still learning
languages so you need to check him out
for some inspiration because you know
that's that that right there a lot of
people date even even someone that's
thirty yeah believe that it's too late
to learn a language they think that
they're too old
oh I'm thirty years old and you know
what should I do I'm like you know I'm
38 I'm about to be 39 right and I'm
still learning I just start learning
languages and so I was 18 so it's really
not the age but I think it's a what do
you call it it's a misconception yeah in
the so called neuroplasticity we retain
our neuroplasticity and and the more
languages we learn the better we get but
interesting you didn't start till you're
18 like so when you were because
obviously if as a young child you hear
different languages I think that makes
the brain more flexible if you've only
had one language then it's a little more
difficult to break out of that but then
once you start learning more language
than the brain becomes more flexible but
you know on YouTube like there's all
kinds of different people so somebody
said all you know when you're old you
can't learn languages so I went back and
I said what what is old to you what is
oh yeah right the person said 44 yeah
yeah that's great that's great it's a
it's great that you that you're on
YouTube doing that cuz a lot of it
there's a lot of people out there they
see stuff and they see they get inspired
and they want to learn but they have
second thoughts because they're
reluctant because they feel that it's
gonna be difficult for them because
they're because of their age so when
they see someone
that's up there doing that then that
inspires them even more and giving them
more belief you know I can do it and I
think you need those there's so many
things that get us going like certainly
you know if you have a session where you
go and speak to someone in Khmer and you
do it well then you want to go back and
study more command right like that right
yeah it's of achievement there but the
other thing is just to see people and I
think to see you know you're essentially
a model initially a monolingual
Anglophone North American and you're out
there speaking all these exotic
languages and even more so like there's
there's not as many african-american
polyglots like there's more you know and
so that's another perhaps I don't know
that inspires other African Americans
who might not see themselves as
potential polyglots although I tell you
when we have our polyglot conference in
Montreal gotta be quite a number of both
ever African and Canadian
african-american polyglots that show up
it's being five six seven languages so
I'm not sure that the african-americans
are underrepresented in the polyglot
community but certainly I'm sure you're
an inspiration
yes definitely yeah it's always someone
that looks like you that's doing
something like that it's always
inspiring exactly you know see you know
that's I think that's important also
yeah yeah and and and I think sometimes
we think it's like I saw this I spoke
with this other with this fellow calls
himself Shama who has a channel and he
goes along to people and so-called you
know like level up type thing and and oh
here's this white guy speaking Chinese
or you know here's this african-american
or a black guys big time like there's
nothing inherently strange about a white
guy or a black guy speaking anything any
more than it's strange that a Asian
looking guy speaks English so I do we
can learn any language it's not related
doing I think it's when it comes to that
type of stuff I think it's because more
media thing in an image right so that
people look at they associate that with
image and then so like anybody can learn
language
were you from doesn't matter what color
you are any language but I think it I
think when it comes to like racial stuff
I think it's more of image in a more of
media stuff it's haughty portrays
certain thing so it's like when you see
this person doing this you don't really
just like wait on it
that's not normal you know this this is
contrary to my perception right so I
think it comes at the end of day is it's
perception that's what it is but anybody
can learn language it doesn't matter
where you from
I mean anybody I mean that's that's and
and any language like there's nothing
particularly exotic like to us Asian
languages are exotic but they're not
exotic to them and if we have been has
been born there
whatever we speak those languages
naturally I mean there's nothing no
language I mean Quechua like I was in
Cusco Machu Picchu and so they speak
Quechua there it's a great place to go
to because they are very proud of their
traditions there and so while they speak
Spanish they all speak Quechua and I
think sketch was probably the most
widely spoken no maybe I think Guarani
and Paraguay which is the national
language but in Peru is not in Lima but
in in Cusco they all speak Quechua and
he were to try to learn catch but you
learn catch for I drank a truck there's
another language over in Spain it's a
bet no no no it's not bad if there's
another one that I see come up very
often people say you should try the slam
it's not Basque it's not cattle and
Portuguese that's walk in there and I
mean all the languages that are more or
less you know Latin based languages are
more or less similar whether it be
Catalan Gallego or whatever but and of
course Basque is totally different
oh there is no no there either related
to the southern French
languages or related to Spanish
Portuguese I guess other than best I'm
not aware of anything exotic there yeah
anyway listen if you are coming out this
way to Palm Springs in the winter let me
know and wait wait wait the winter so
what is this when are you going back to
Canada I am going to actually have to my
son mark and I are going to Japan you
know here's the deal my son played a
professional hockey for ten years six
years in Europe and three years or so
three or four years in Japan
he's now 49 the team that he played for
has invited him to come back and play in
two games so he's gonna go there and
practice with him for a week and then
play in these two games so I'm going
over as well so I'm flying back to
Vancouver on the 12th I think of March
and we fly over to Japan for nine days
then I come back then I come back here
and then we go back to Vancouver on the
18th of April and then that's it and
then I don't come back down here till
November okay and so typically I spend
four or five months of the year my wife
and I spend four or five months your son
lives in California no no he lives in
Vancouver he lives okay okay he lives in
Vancouver everybody lives in Vancouver
is just that my wife and I winter down
here in Palm Springs to avoid the wetsy
yeah yeah it's beautiful
I mean Arizona's pretty much California
yeah yeah more people coming here we
have more and more people coming here
from California it's crazy I yeah
California place everywhere like there
they're moving all yours oh yeah family
based absolutely yeah yeah yeah no
that's because the taxes are lower and
cost you lower and stuff
yeah nice weather and yeah there's a lot
a lot of things to do it's it's it's
pretty much as similar to California
yeah I think so I've driven from Palm
Springs to Phoenix and it's pretty flat
desert II type climate yeah yeah okay
well listen I hope you don't run out of
languages
I don't know when I reach your age we
ought to see when I reach you got a few
you got 35 years ago so we got to start
speaking with animals man learn animal
language okay we'll figure something
we'll figure something out as long as
it's fun we keep going same here okay
well it's always the pleasure to talk
with you mr. oh my pleasure Moses I'm
Steve by the way even though even though
I'm whole
[Laughter]
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