#41: Becoming a Diplomat & Making Friends on Omegle [2]
Awesome, amazing people, but also, um, some really weird people.
So I'll, I'll start, I'll start with the latter.
So the very first time, the only reason I started making Omegle videos
was because I, someone left me a comment that said, Hey, you should
go on Omegle and practice languages.
I'd never gone on Omegle before.
And one of the first interactions I had was with this, uh, Finnish guy who, um,
elected to remain anonymous, who spoke over easily over a dozen languages.
And we just had this really cool back and forth like, oh, you
speak that, oh, you speak that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I speak a little bit.
And he even shocked me with, uh, like some Taiwanese.
Which was really cool because I had just gotten back from Taiwan.
So it was so cool to hear that language again.
Um, so that was definitely one of the cooler ones.
Uh, weird ones...
I mean, take your pick, you know...
I can imagine I'm sure we all can.
Again, we talked about this before we came on, the, the old version of Omegle
is Chat Roulette and yes, I had some experiences with suddenly a naked person
showing up when you shuffled to the next or just people who were there to maybe not
just have a nice conversation, you know?
Yeah.
Something else in mind.
bit of an ulterior motive, perhaps.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I, you mean a wide array of people.
I, I had a guy, um, serenade me with a guitar, like a jazz guitarist.
I've had people try to play pranks on me.
Try to test me on geography, probably for like a TikTok or a YouTube video.
You just get every single kind of person under the sun.
Right.
You never know what you're gonna get, the old Forest Gump quote.
Yeah.
I've seen those geography ones actually now I come to think of it, like scrolling
on something where they ask you like five countries that start with whatever.
I dunno, but Hm...
it seems like a very interesting place, yes.
you could say that.
Yeah.
Uh, back to the language learning, I didn't ask you when we talked about,
when you told us, uh, the languages that you have learned that, you
know, uh, what language learning, learning methods, uh, work for you?
So I've gone back and forth, um, with a lot of different methods.
Personally, I like the whole input approach because I don't necessarily need
to learn a language out of necessity.
So if I were to, um, if I had to speak a language in very little time,
then I'd focus on output, which is simply just speaking and writing.
There's really no way around that.
You just have to keep doing it until you get better at it.
Um, Getting a tutor, a native speaker tutor helps a lot.
Um, I, I always say that everything changes once you meet someone who
speaks that language, that, uh, can be very patient and understanding of you.
And, and of course, most people are, but if you have like a
dedicated tutor, it helps so much.
So, um, what I usually do is I just try to get like a lot of the basic
words, basic verbs, like to live, um, to work, uh, to want, um, modal verbs.
Um, common questions.
Like where are you from?
Uh, what's your name?
How do you say this in this language?
And then I just build off of that with, uh, interacting with a lot
of people by using apps pretty much anywhere I can, I can get, I,
I can get, uh, words and phrases.
I.
excellent.
There, there really is no like golden method.
I know everyone looks for that one, like universal method.
That's gonna make you fluent in a language in one week, but it really doesn't exist.
You just have to find what works for you and whatever you enjoy the most
will allow you to progress the fastest.
If that makes sense.
Yeah, totally.
Totally.
What, um, what language or languages are you learning now, or do you, are you one
of those people who just kind of exists studying every single one or catching,
you know, doing something, not every single one, but you know, some people
do a little something in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening?
These polyglots.
I, I wish I could.
I wish I could study every single one.
Honestly.
Let's see...
I was I'm I'm learning a little bit of Hindi today.
Oh, nice.
Um, but other than that, I just, I try to live my life in different languages.
Like I have a lot of dead time, everyone does, where you're doing
something where you could be doing something else at the same time.
Like I like to go for walks.
Sometimes I have to clean and cook, exercise.
So when I do, when I do activities like that, I turn on a podcast
or a song in another language.
And that helps me to retain what I've learned or even to learn new words.
If it's, if it's a podcast, uh, built for learners um, but when I go out, when I
go outta my way to deliberately sit down and do my input learning, I, I usually
only focus on one or two languages at a time and then review what I've learned so
that it stays in, in my memory for longer.
Um, but I don't really worry too much about maintaining my languages
because I know that at any given time, I can just kind of, uh,
what's the word like revitalize.
Right.
Yeah.
Like, remember what, what I've learned because, uh, cause while, uh, cause
like recall is one thing, right.
And storage is, is, is another once you have those words in your head,
they're, they're there forever.
Um, your recall might get a little rusty, but once you see.
Again, in like a text or a song or any sort of medium it'll, it'll
come back to you and you'll be able to use it very easily once again.
Right.
And that's been the case with all of your languages?
Is there, are there, is there one or more that you find that's difficult?
Um, I, I would say, I would say Chinese has been very difficult.
That's why I elected to study it in a formal setting at university because
it it's so much easier to have...
uh, well, first of all, being able be able to practice it several days a
week so that you can really nail down those common words and phrases, 'cause
most of, uh, learning the language requires mastering the fundamentals.
I think that's something that people neglect a lot.
So that to get to that intermediate or advanced level, you really have to
nail down those, those fundamentals.
And a lot of people don't like to go back and uh, review, like I want to
eat this and those common questions.
Um, out of pride, perhaps, but I, I find that's where, uh, the
most of my progress comes from is going back to the fundamentals.
Excellent.
Well, Cole, tell us about what's in store for Cole Langs and just
you in general for the rest of the year and, uh, and moving forward.
Oh, God, I actually have some really big plans I haven't talked
about on the channel yet, but what the heck let's do it, so, okay.
Exclusive.
Yeah.
So I, I have a goal, I have an ultimate YouTube goal I'd like to achieve.
Um, I call it, well, I don't have, I don't have a name for it yet, but
it's pretty much like my four or five year plan on YouTube is I want to
speak a hundred different languages with native speakers in person.
Cool.
Okay.
And.
Huh, just learn enough of the language to connect with people.
That's kind of the standard because that's, that's why we learn languages.
Right?
It's all about people at the end of the day.
Wow.
Do you have, do you know the a hundred or you just gonna kind of choose as you go?
Not yet.
Um, after about, uh, like number 50 or 60, the amount of resources there are for
other languages drops off significantly.
So, um, I'll, I'll have.
Kind of cross that bridge when I come to it.
But, um, I, I think it's definitely doable yet uh, utterly ridiculous, or
it sounds utterly ridiculous to the point where people want to, uh, uh, tune
in to kind of join me on my journey.
So that's, that's kind of, the idea is I want to explore as, as much of the world
as I can and educate myself as much as possible about the human experience.
Wow.
Well,
Iy doesn't sound ridiculous.
It sounds intriguing and yeah, like exciting for sure.
Thank you.
I'm glad you think so.
When you get down the list, you should try Welsh.
Oh yeah.
That's already on the list.
Oh, perfect.
Okay.
I always have to try and be an ambassador for Welsh, so...
wow.
So, oh, so it's a four to five year plan and the a hundred languages.
And in each one you wanna be able to engage with a native speaker
and just like have a kind of, you know, a back and forth conversation.
Yes exactly.
Um, enough to explore the culture and to make a connection with
someone who speaks that language.
Right.
Fantastic.
I love it.
Wow.
This is something to tune in for and subscribe to your channel for everybody.
Oh, thank you very much.
Wow.
Okay.
So yeah.
Well, I mean, for listeners who do subscribe, I guess you'll have a name for
it once you talk about it on your channel, but, um, yeah best of luck with that.
That sounds very, very cool.
Awesome.
Thank you very much.
well, listen, Cole, thank you so, so much for joining us and, um, yeah, I
wish you all the best with the, the, uh, exam there um, the UN ambassador exam.
I'm trying to think of what it's called.
What is the name of that exam again?
I'm, I'm very fascinated by this, the fact that they don't
really there's no curriculum.
I wanna check it out online after.
It's it's called the, the FSOT or the foreign service officers test.
Okay.
Well, best of luck with your next attempt at this to me sounds brutal exam . Um,
and best of luck with Cole Langs and this amazing, uh, hundred languages challenge.
And again, yeah.
Thank you so much for coming on Cole.
Yeah, of course.
It was my pleasure.
Thank you so much for having me.
Cheers, bye-bye.
Cheers.
Bye-bye.