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Women with 11 languages? (living or dead) | ||
Tags: Hyperglot | Female Polyglot | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| zdri Newbie United States Joined 6282 days ago 29 posts - 74 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 13 16 May 2012 at 6:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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Does anyone know of any women, living or dead, who know 11 languages or more? I am curious
because 11 languages is the number Erard picked to distinguish polyglots from everyone else. Some assume women usually do not appear in discussions about polyglots because they are shy. I am wondering how many of them even exist. The only historical one I can think of is Emilie du Chatelet, but I am only aware of five languages she was fluent in. She knew French, Latin, Italian, Greek, and German before age 12. I imagine she could easily learn more, but I don't know if she ever did. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Hekje Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4706 days ago 842 posts - 1330 votes Speaks: English*, Dutch Studies: French, Indonesian | Message 2 of 13 16 May 2012 at 10:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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To distinguish hyperpolyglots from everyone else, not just polyglots. A polyglot
is simply someone who speaks 3+ (hence, "poly") languages. Erard mentions a few living examples of women who speak 11+ languages in irishpolyglot's survey thread. Keep in mind that 11 is a relatively arbitrary number with which to make distinctions here. It seems as if you doubt that many female polyglots exist at all, but I can assure you that lots do. Just think about countries where picking up English in addition to one's native tongue is almost a matter of course. Add a third language to that and you've already met the bare minimum for polyglottery. Do women in those cultures just not do that like the men? Edited by Hekje on 16 May 2012 at 10:57pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| lingoleng Senior Member Germany Joined 5301 days ago 605 posts - 1290 votes | Message 3 of 13 17 May 2012 at 12:14am | IP Logged | ||
Whenever I hear this definition it reminds me of the old joke: "How do people in x (enter any country with very intelligent people) count? One, two, many ..." 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5850 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 13 17 May 2012 at 7:36am | IP Logged | ||
I agree with this statement. There is one dead woman to be mentioned: The wellknown Kató Lomb from Hungary. And another woman presented in Michael Erard's book "Babel No More" is Helen Abadzi from Greece. Mavericks personified: Helen Abadzi Short summary about Helen Abadzi with foto Curriculum Vitae of Helen Abadzi with her languages listed These are Helen Abadzi's languages: QUOTE: "FOREIGN LANGUAGES Very good knowledge of Greek (mother tongue) English, Spanish, French. Working knowledge of German, Hindi, Hebrew, Italian, Nepali, Bangla, Portuguese, Romanian, Arabic. Also studied Russian, Sinhalese, Japanese, Malay. Finalist in the 1990 Polyglot of Europe contest in Brussels, Belgium." Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 17 May 2012 at 8:08am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lapislazuli Tetraglot Senior Member Austria Joined 7039 days ago 146 posts - 170 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, ItalianB1 Studies: French, Hungarian, Esperanto, Czech | Message 5 of 13 18 May 2012 at 10:39am | IP Logged | ||
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There are a few women registered in this forum, who seem to speak more then 11 but it looks like most of them have never posted here.
I remember, when I started studying Hungarian at the university-department for Finno-Ugric languages here in Vienna, there was a woman working there, who I was particularily impressed with. She worked there as a Finnish-teacher and she spoke Finnish, German, Swedish, English, Hungarian, Estonian - and those were the languages she could speak very well, certainly what we would call Advanced Fluency here, I heard her speak a few of them, so I believe she did not lie in her vita. And then there were also some more languages, that she was said to speak but "not as well" as the others (but still must have been good at them) I think among them were Russian, Spanish, French and some more, I think also some of the smaller Finno-Ugric languages. I don't remember exactly what those were, and I cannot find her vita anymore. She is exactly as old as I am (so I was even more in awe) which was in the middle/end of her twenties at that time, so now a few years later I could imagine she even knows more languages nowadays, or has certainly improved those she knows already. After a year or two she went back to Finland, where she now seems to be persueing her academic career. And she was not the only one, most people at this department, mostly women spoke in addition to German and English also Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian and most of them a few others as well, One of those three Finno-Ugric languages would have been their native language, the language they usually spoke among each others was Hungarian, but I also heard them switch comfortably between a few of their languages (as much as I could tell Hungarian-Finnish-German and Estonian at times). I think at university language departments one would find lots of women who know an impressive number of languages. And those would probalby not hang out in language forums in there spare time, they probably also have families that need attention in addition to a time-consuming and demanding job. If someone knows so many languages, I guess they would tend to also use them in their jobs or even make them the center of their professional activities, or their occupation is the reason, why they know so many languages in first place. So they would also have enough language-related interaction during their days so they won't feel the desire to get active in online-forums. Just an idea, why they are not present in those online-communities. Not everything that cannot be found on the internet does not exist :-) There are so many language-learners and polyglots in the "offline-world"´ and that are just not as easy to be found. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6473 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 6 of 13 22 May 2012 at 7:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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I studied more than 11 languages, but am not as yet good at that many (see my detailed
language profile). Give me time, I will definitely get there. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| jdmoncada Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5037 days ago 470 posts - 741 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Finnish Studies: Russian, Japanese | Message 7 of 13 22 May 2012 at 9:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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My personal ambition doesn't reach to 11 languages. The thought of it makes me feel tired in sympathy with all that work! I'll stick with my 7, thanks. Edited by jdmoncada on 22 May 2012 at 9:34pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 Mae Trilingual Octoglot Pro Member Germany Joined 4994 days ago 299 posts - 499 votes Speaks: German*, SpanishC2*, Swiss-German*, FrenchC2, EnglishC2, ItalianB2, Dutch, Portuguese Studies: Russian, Swedish Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 13 17 June 2012 at 12:13am | IP Logged | ||
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"Getting there" is what I aim for, too. It's just a matter of time. My priority is now to
finish Medical School first. I'll totally plunge myself back into languages when I have more time. Right now I'm taking smaller challenges such as becoming fluent in Dutch. My personal goal: Becoming fluent in at least 15 languages. Strategy: How Do You Eat An Elephant? - One Bite at a Time. I'll get there too ;-) 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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