A real live Hoshi

For all those girls that can't get enough of the British bomber.

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A real live Hoshi

Postby justTripn » Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:51 am

I'm trying to relearn Thai so I'm watching an Thai TV segment on YouTube where the Thai interviewers are interviewing a polyglot "Stuart Jay Raj" who can speak 15 languages. There are English subtitles.

I've skipped the first part where he basically lists all the languages he can speak and everyone says "Wow." Two of the languages are kinds of sign languages, and one is Morse code. Then in the second segment, they have him do some on the spot translations, which is kind of fun, but then it gets wild. They asked how he learned all the languages. He said he doesn't really sit down and study them. He basically picks them up. His parents could do this too. He said that when he was little, his father would turn the shortwave radio to a show in a language they didn't know yet and they would start listening, and suddenly they would start to understand, and whoever "got" it first won! That's when I went WOW! Like Hoshi.

Then they ask him what language do you think in? What langauge do you dream in? He said, he doesn't think in languages, he thinks in "meanings"! If's he's talking to someone of a certain ethnicity in a dream, he uses that langauge to say something to them, otherwise he's dreaming in "meanings". Then they ask is it memory or memorization that lets you do this, he says no. Even with Morse code, people who understand Morse code, don't remember the dot-dash system, the sound of the clicks pops out at them as the word itself with a meaning attached.

Anyway, here is the second part of the interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd1nNTyN ... re=related

Here is the first part of the interview, if you want to start at the beginning:
http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/video.p ... ideoid=196
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Re: A real live Hoshi

Postby WarpGirl » Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:56 am

While it's true that a person's ability to naturally "pick up" languages naturally deteriorates with age, the amazing thing is that if you train your brain to regain the ability. Theoretically, any person can train themselves to learn an infinite number of languages and dialects. So people like Hoshi are out there. It's a shame they don't get a lot of recognition. Cool stuff though.
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Re: A real live Hoshi

Postby justTripn » Thu Jul 02, 2009 2:19 am

Oh he can memorize also. He learns to read a new language in half a day if it is closely related to one he already knows. And he is one of those people who automatically associates sounds and even notes with colors, he doesn't know why. And this somehow helps him pick up and memorize languages.
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Re: A real live Hoshi

Postby justTripn » Thu Jul 02, 2009 2:28 am

Ha! He can type in like 10 languages too, each with a different alphabets or set of symbols.
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Re: A real live Hoshi

Postby WarpGirl » Thu Jul 02, 2009 2:40 am

The human brain is the greatest computer ever devised.
Some of these people haven't taken their medication. Let's see what happens now...
Donna Moss: The West Wing


And by people WG had herself in mind, but then the quote would have been ruined.
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Re: A real live Hoshi

Postby justTripn » Thu Jul 02, 2009 2:49 am

When he was 13 or 14 he was living in Australian and woke up one day wanting to learn Danish. So he went through the phone book looking for scandinavian names and created a map of where they lived. So he went to that neighborhood and started hanging out. He went to church services and picnics and met people who could help him and in three or four weeks he was speaking Danish.
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Re: A real live Hoshi

Postby WarpGirl » Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:04 am

The older adults in my life tell me I did something similar as a kid, if friends of ours spoke a different language I'd just sit and listen then start talking. It is amazing though that Hoshi does the EXACT same thing. I wonder why they developed her with a great deal of care than ignored her.
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And by people WG had herself in mind, but then the quote would have been ruined.
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Re: A real live Hoshi

Postby justTripn » Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:10 am

Actually, I should ask if we have any "Hoshis" on this board? Is there anyone one here who can speak like 5 languages or has an easy time learning languages?

(Sadly not me. I'm one of those rare cases where I can speak a language better than I can understand it because I only know what I've practiced. Most people can understand alot more than they can speak.)

Ha! Warp Girl, I see you already posted that you can do it!

Well, to be honest, the reason I thought they didn't focus on the Hoshi character more was because her language ability was so extreme, it was unbelievable, so we don't want to dwell on it too much. Well, maybe her ability is not so implausible. Hmm . . .
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Re: A real live Hoshi

Postby WarpGirl » Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:15 am

Well I wouldn't go THAT far. I could do it as a five year old. I actually find it easy to read in different languages. I can read all of the German parts in the Play Version of "The Diary of Anne Frank" without a translation and I know one word of actual German. I probably could do it if I had the means, oppertunity, and concentration. But I hope that doesn't sound like I'm bragging. I really hate bragards. Anyway I know Escriba speaks at least 3. BUT she doesn't get back yet. :(
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Re: A real live Hoshi

Postby TPoptarts » Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:07 am

Heh reminds me of my Russian incident, well my internet connection is all fritzed so I'm not gonna type it again but it's here viewtopic.php?f=7&t=68&start=480 :lol: seriously that was WEIRD like literally maybe 20 seconds between not knowing a word in Russian to being able to read and understand every word. :shock: And the feeling was weird too, it didn't feel like learning, it kinda felt like the knowledge was like knocked into me all of the sudden, I can't explain it one moment it's just there. :? :dunno: :shock:

I don't really speak any other languages but I guess that's just because I rarely speak at all LOL... no practice :? I pick up languages somehow though... I dunno I just have this talent for picking up like grammar/syntax even when I don't know what it means, and then after a while the sentences just make sense I guess. I understand like way more than I speak especially reading I don't know why since I'm dyslexic and I have trouble reading :? :dunno: and there's some languages that I only understand from reading because I don't even know what it's supposed to sound like. :?
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Re: A real live Hoshi

Postby justTripn » Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:37 pm

Cool, T'Poptarts. Heh. in that thread, Black'nblue says he can understand Canadian if they talk real slow. Yeah, I have a hard time with English-English, like for example I gave up on Dr. Who because I can't understand them with the accent. People say if I gave it more of a chance I would start to understand.
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Re: A real live Hoshi

Postby Distracted » Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:44 pm

I don't know if I necessarily learn languages faster but I do find them fascinating, and I've been told that I'm an excellent imitator of accents. I only know two languages, English and French. I studied Afrikaans and Xhosa for six months before our trip to South Africa a few years ago, but only a couple of words stuck. Of course, I wasn't immersed. Everyone spoke English to us the entire time we were there. I've been in an immersion situation before. That's how I learned French. I think that people who are able to tune out everything else and become immersed in the language that they're studying have a leg up. Maybe this young man just has formidable powers of concentration combined with an excellent memory.
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Re: A real live Hoshi

Postby WarpGirl » Thu Jul 02, 2009 4:19 pm

Speaking of Canadian English, My sister married a Canadian and lives up there, and her sister-in-law married a boy from Tennessee who lives down here. With a little help from your's truly playing Yenta. Anyway it's hysterical, to hear my sister speaking NY Canadian, her husband slipping into NY Canadian, his sister speaking NY, Tenn, VA, Canadian. Surpisingly her husband just sticks to Tenn English. Me I end up talking like ALL of them during the few times we're all together.
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Re: A real live Hoshi

Postby Linda » Thu Jul 02, 2009 4:34 pm

I find languages fascinating though learning a language does not come easy to me. But a strange thing happens sometimes when I am learning languages. While learning Ojibwe (Chippewa) I would be trying to remember a word - say the word for water (which is nibi) but when I couldn't remember the word in Ojibwe it would come to me immediately and easily in Spanish (agua). And I hadn't been reading or speaking Spanish for years, but if I was trying to remember the word directly in Spanish, it would not come to me. This has happened many times while learning Ojibwe. Then lately, I was trying to think of a word in Spanish and the word in Ojibwe came to me. This is frustrating! I don't understand why my mind works like this. Has anyone else experienced something like this?
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Re: A real live Hoshi

Postby WarpGirl » Thu Jul 02, 2009 4:39 pm

Not to me but I have friends that happens too. Languages are facinating but accents they're unreal. I technically don't have my own accent. I just end up talking like the people I'm with. Which some of my friends say is HIGHLY disturbing. It's also why I pick up things so quickly. My piano teacher once told me I had an inceredibly strong musical ear. Maybe it works that way with languages too. I'm going to Texas this fall because my girlfriend is having a baby. It will be interesting to see if I start talking like a girl from PA living in TX.
Some of these people haven't taken their medication. Let's see what happens now...
Donna Moss: The West Wing


And by people WG had herself in mind, but then the quote would have been ruined.
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May We Together Become Greater Than The Sum Of Us
*Rights,* Wrongs, and Choices


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