Sunday, January 16, 2011

A Speech by Zaryn Dentzel, founder of "Tuenti"

I guess you are all preparing your graduation speeches; I hope this post will help you to calm down and take it easy.

I would like you to listen to this speech given by Zaryn Dentzel, the founder and CEO of "Tuenti" (the most successful social network - mainly for teenagers - in Spain) at the IE University of Segovia during the opening acts of the school year 2008-09 .

His speech is interesting from many points of view. Zaryn is well known for his informal and friendly approach in his speeches (as well as for his casual dress code), so I´m sure you´ll enjoy listening to him. First of all, for its content, what he says about both his education and his professional career: he came to Spain as an exchange student when he was 15 years old and this experience was decisive for his future. But then I would like you to focus on the speech itself. Zaryn speaks in Spanish but, even though he is very fluent, he makes some mistakes and this is what I want you to pay attention to: his mistakes do not affect his message,  the communication gets through, and that is what matters. His American accent is very strong too but that doesn´t hinder his message. Remember this when you deliver your speeches: do not get nervous if you realize you make mistakes from time to time, we all do. As for your accent, only a few privileged people can imitate foreign accents to the extent of sounding like natives; unfortunately, most of us can´t. By the way, imitating native speakers of English speaking Spanish is a very good way of getting acquainted with the sounds of  English -apart from the fun!

The speech is divided into three parts; watch and listen to one of them at least to fully appreciate his style. I must admit I found the first one mesmerizing and had to keep watching all three of them at a go.

PART 1


PART 2


PART 3

16 comments:

  1. Laura Rodríguez de la Sierra16 January, 2011

    I like his speech very much.
    Before I watched it, I didn't know who was the founder of Tuenti and now, I know more things about this social network.
    Apart from that, I like his accent when he speaks Spanish, I think that the most important thing when you learn a language is not the accent. You don't need to speak like an American or a British and, in fact, I like listening to foreign people speaking Spanish with their own accent.
    Focusing on the speech,I agree with him when he says that we should have priorities in our lifes. I always say the same.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for your comment, Laura! I´m glad you enjoyed the speech. You learn something new every day!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've heard all the speech, and it has been very interesting.

    Thank you very much, Rosa

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jacobo 2ºB17 January, 2011

    I think this speech is really interesting. Firstly, I like most of the things he says. I agree that we should live the moment but, at the same time, we should think in the future.
    Secondly, I think that he makes some mistakes but we can understand him without problems and I believe that we can speak English with some mistakes as well, but, if the mistakes are not so important, English and American people can understand us.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I´m glad you found it interesting. My pleasure!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jacobo, nice comment; by the way I have only found one mistake there(and it is not "carpe diem") so well done!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ana Rodríguez17 January, 2011

    Laura I agree with you that it is not so bad to speak a language with foreign accent because people can understand you perfectly, and from my point of view it is more important the fluency than a perfect pronunciation.
    I think this video can be useful for us in order not to pay so much attention when making pronunciation mistakes in our valedictorian speeches.
    Furthermore, I liked a lot his opinion about thinking of the future and not only in our day-to-day life and we should take it into account when doing the final exams.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Carlos Robles 2ºB17 January, 2011

    For me, as for Laura,Zaryn Dentzel was a completely unknown person,apart from the speech, which was very interesting, I'd like to comment some things: watching videos like this, make you think that americans have a natural talent for encouraging people, they are special speaking in public, even speaking in a foreign language this guy looks comfortable. The other point I think we should try to imitate, is the fact that north americans never surrender, they have clear aims, and they know that although they are not perfect and they aren't going to succeed in everything, they never back down.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ana, I´m glad you learned a lesson -and a good one- from his speech.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Carlos, you make two very important points there; shouldn´t we do something to be like them in these two aspects? Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I agree with you, Ana. It´s almost essential to think about the future, to have some aim in your life, but.. you know.. so many things can happen in a second, imagine what will happen in two months or in two years, you never know...
    Apart from that, I don´t share your opinion, Carlos,I don´t think it´s a `good idea´to talk about the Americans in general because of the seeing of a small group of them, I don´t know if you know what I mean... for example, it´s annoying for me when some people class galician people as yokels. I know it´s not the same, but... I think all we could try to know a person individually without thinking in his/her country´s stereotype

    ReplyDelete
  12. Andrea, I know we shouldn´t judge a whole country according to a stereotype but I think that stereotypes are useful and helpful -bearing in mind the proverb that says "the exception proves the rule". What about discussing this topic in class one day?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Carlos Robles 2ºB20 January, 2011

    That's true, I think generalizing is not correct, many times is unfair (like your exemple of the galician people) and always puts different people at the same level, no matter how good or bad they are. I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings but, that is the image that they sell, as the amercian dream, not everybody became rich in the United States, but they made us belive that America (north america)was a land full of opportunities.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I´ve decided to stand aside and let you argue. I comment too much so this is much more fun

    ReplyDelete
  15. Laura García 2ºD13 February, 2011

    I really like his speech.Next wednesday I'm going to do my own, so this is very useful for me.
    I think he did it very good, he was funny and close, but he was also encouraging and polite.
    I think that the accent is not a problem as long as we understand each other.
    Good example! :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Laura, I´m glad you enjoyed it and you found it useful as well. Good luck with your speech next week!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...