#tim doner

[loopsandtwirls]

A quote from Tim Doner

[languages-and-tea]

What do you think about Tim Doner?

Well, I don’t know much about him, though I remember watching his video speaking 20+ languages, and I watched his TEDx talk. So, for the sake of this question and because I got curious, I read a couple articles about him and rewatched his talk so I could give a better opinion about him.

First of all I think that being fluent in the language he himself say he is, which are 6 (Arabic, Persian, French, German, Mandarin Chinese and Modern Hebrew), isn’t impossible or crazy. It is impressive but if you’ve had it for a hobby for years, well, of course you can do it. Still impressive though.

However, I am a little skeptical about him speaking a huge amount of other languages. It is true he doesn’t call himself fluent or even that conversational in all of them, so to me he just has some knowledge and understanding in most of them, and maybe better skills in speaking or understanding a bit more in some.

I guess some people may believe he learned some languages like Arabic too fast. Well, I know I was able to go from A0 to A1 in almost 2 months, and from A1 to A2 in the same time. It’s not the same as Arabic, and I already had some knowledge in French that was in the back of my head from my first years of high school. And yes being Spanish can help. But still, I think it’s impressive but totally possible.

I have to point out though, that you can never know the level a person has in a language just because they say they are fluent, or they are intermediate and things like that. There are tons of definitions for “fluent”, and people call can “intermediate” different things. So nobody really knows how much he really knows in the other languages he doesn’t consider himself that good at, I guess.

That being said, I like his attitude and how he talks about languages in general. I also think his intentions are good and he truly loves what he does. He is in fact getting into linguistics because he likes the field, which kind of goes in hand with his curiosity about learning many different languages, in my opinion. Also, I like how he includes the use of methods like using mnemonics.

And just a little touch about pronunciation and how he stated he has, sort of and easy time with it. I understand that, to be honest. I’m not claiming I’m perfect but I have realized that I seem to pick up pronunciation patterns easier and faster than the people around me. My teachers usually compliment me (again, it’s not my ego talking 😅) because my “accent” or pronunciation are good, fast. In fact, I was never called to read in French class in high school because my teacher thought I didn’t need that practice because I could already read without pronunciation mistakes. That seriously broke my heart because I loved doing it hahaha

Anyway, this is already huge. I hope my answer is decent and maybe slightly useful (I doubt so). Thanks for the question!! 😘

[princess-turandot]

Can I marry Tim Doner already?

Or be his girlfriend, at least.

[unwellmiss]

Language & Culture

Tim Doner, TEDXTEEN

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. if you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” - Nelson Mandela

Language is an ordinary thing because we use it on a regular basis yet it’s extraordinary at the same time because of its elaborative growth from its roots. The continuous development and creativity of each and every language are what makes it difficult for an individual to learn it wholly without leaving anything out. Hence, language is infinite.

The link shown above is a video of Tim Doner as the speaker for TED XTEEN. He knows how to speak a number of languages and learned it through looking it up on the internet and communicating with the native speakers of a particular language. It started when he posted a video on YouTube speaking a different language other than English. Tim discovered that he is great in imitating the accents of different speakers from different countries. (Watch it! It’s worth your time!)

I am currently enrolled in a French class offered in our university. We discuss the language more than the culture of France. Our exams are divided into two, the oral and the written part. I find it easier to take the written exam than the oral one because it’s difficult for me to speak and sound like French. Sometimes I can’t even understand our professor when she says something in French because she really speaks like one after years of teaching the course. We had an activity once where we have to sing a French song played in the movie, Ratatouille. Our professor said that the lyrics have a number of English versions so she chose the one with the closest meaning to the song so we could understand its context. As Tim Doner said, “You can translate words easily, but you can’t quite translate meaning.”.

I also attended a Nihongo class when I was in high school. Compared to my French class, we tackled a lot more about culture than the language of the Japanese. Writing in french is easier because in Nihongo, we had to learn how to write in Japanese characters as well as in the English alphabet. I can still remember a few activities we had done. Once, there came two Japanese women to visit our class who both have really adorable face and speaking voice. If I remember it right, they taught us how to make origami. Also, we went to a university one time to perform a Nihongo song organized by the Japanese who are in the academe. We got to meet some of them who are very approachable and friendly. We tried our best to communicate with them in Nihongo but of course, we only know a thing or two so we leave the talking to our professor. However, even with just a minimal exposure to the native speakers of Nihongo, we learned more about the language and some pieces of information about the culture and values they embody in their country. No offense, but I enjoyed my Nihongo class better than my French class (I still love my French professor though) because of participating in the activities, relating the Japanese characters to an object to understand it better, and learning about the amazing culture of the Japanese that I do adore. With these, I believe I’ll be able to interact with them comfortably if I had a chance to meet one someday.

Language indeed is beyond the words found in the dictionary. It is about the importance of various meanings of words in societies, and how it is being passed down from generation to generation. “Language is a methodology, a folklore, a history and an understanding of the world.”, Tim said. The richness of language reflects the culture of a particular society. It tells the story on how it emerged, how an individual interact with others and how great their values are. Sadly, Tim explained that one language dies every two weeks due to certain reasons like assimilation and famine. What will happen to the next generation of the speakers of this language? How are they going to assert their cultural identity if their own language is gone? With the death of language comes the death of its culture and society. And then, the death of culture means the death of a piece of history. I know you don’t want this to happen so value your language and don’t let it die or else, your culture will be the next one to be buried in the grave, be forgotten and be gone forever.

[tarekaljawi]

You can translate words easily, but  you can't quite translate meaning

Tim Doner

[ladylangelot]

RED ALERT! TIM DONER SIZED ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!fkjdsfjdslfs

MY FRIEND GOES TO HARVARD UNIVERSITY and I was casually creeping on her facebook page and looked at her friends AND SHE’S FRIENDS WITH TIMOTHY DONER AND THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to either have a heart attack or spontaneously combust and I’m not sure which would be better or worse. 

[sasuketheuchiha23]

Polyglot- many languages...

Hi! I love languages so much. I want to learn many, many languages. Well, I suppose, I want to be a polyglot. I was inspired by Tim Doner's video, but before then, I have the wish to be fluent in at least four or five languages. I'm currently learning English and Japanese. It's hard when you learn all by yourself, so.. I want to know if my grammar is correct. Because my mother tongue is Indonesian, I'm struggling to learn English grammar and Japanese grammar. You know, Indonesian is so simple and flexible in grammar that a lot of people just don't use it. Seriously, when you don't use grammar in Indonesian, you would be like a king...whatever Bye!

[kidnapthemuse]