Alexander Koryagin to Anton Shepelev:

AS>> A  language  does  not  consist of words. It merely has
AS>> them. You may say that  the  vocabulary  consist[s]  of
AS>> words.
AK> A machine has details or consists of details?

A  machine consists of details, but a language does not con-
sist of words because words do not  constitute  a  language.
There is much more to language than a set of words.

AK> When they (the Russian animators) record sound they very
AK> often speed up voices and dialogues.

No, not often.

AK> A funny film demands speed and dynamic.

The artificial speed and dynamics (not dynamic!) of a  sped-
up  tape  is  not  the  best  idea. Imperial records used to
speed-up the Fasts Domino phonograms  before  release.  They
did  it for two purposes: to add "dynamics" and to make them
harder to cover. The negative effect of the speed-up was  so
tremendous  that  Ace  records  had to release them on CD at
their correct pitch.

AK> Our famous Winnie-the-Poor also speaks quicker than  the
AK> actor who voiced him.

That  is  true. But looky -- your spell-checker did not help
you spell the name correctly, eh?

AK> You don't understand -- most Russian people should  gain
AK> skills  in  quick word processing if they want to under-
AK> stand quick English speech.

First, your recommendation is not  entirely  exact,  because
learners  need  to train their speech-recognition (word-pro-
cessing, as you call them) skills in the language  they  are
learning.  There  is no such thing as the general, language-
agnostic speech-recognition skills.  Second, your advice  is
true for any other learner of any other language.

AS>> I should never recommend this with real speech, because
AS>> that way you lose all emotional content.  While  remas-
AS>> tering
AK> When  my  aim  is  focused on training my speed skills I
AK> don't pay too much attention on such details.

Good for you, but I grow bored and disgusted when exposed to
second-rate  content.  When  the  material is good, however,
learning anything becomes a pleasure.

AK> Besides -- you can watch two time more shows and movies.

Good for you, but I go for quality instead of quantity.

AK> It is shame to spend time watching serials ->

I should agree if your sentence ended here, but you  contin-
ue:

AK> -> in  Russian,  but if you speed them up you waste less
AK> time and get more hearing skills.

You mean TV series? English or Russian ones? In my  opinion,
TV series almost never rise to the level of art and remain a
sort of  cultural  cud.  I  did  moderately  enjoy  "Downton
Abbey",  though, when it was screened on our "Kultura" chan-
nel, ad-free. Most good TV series are  by  today's  measures
either  very  short  or otherwise non-conventional, e.g. the
original Rod Serling's "Twilight Zone", or  Tatiana  Liozno-
va's "Seventeen moments in spring."

AK> IMHO,  first, a learner should learn how to hear and un-
AK> derstand quick speech. Then he can enjoy emotions.

I beg to differ, for emotions facilitate both  understanding
and learing.

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