�Must have languages� for polyglots? (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

�Must have languages� for polyglots?
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Language Learning Forum : General discussion

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morprussell
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
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Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French

Message 9 of 149

08 December 2005 at 2:53am | IP Logged

Walshy wrote:

What languages do YOU believe a 'true' polyglot should know? Add reasons.

I think a true polyglot should know whatever languages are useful to him/her. I don't think someone is any less of a polyglot of they don't speak English, French or any of the major world languages.
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Walshy
Triglot
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Australia
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Speaks: English*, Spanish, German

Message 10 of 149

08 December 2005 at 3:27am | IP Logged

Raistlin Majere wrote:

I think it depends on whether one wants to be a polyglot for practical reasons or just for the love of languages. In this second case, it wouldn't matter a lot.

Also, if one is a humanitarian helper in the middle of Africa, it would be far more useful for him to know the languages of that region rather than to know any "very useful language" such as English or Mandarin.

morprussel wrote:

I think a true polyglot should know whatever languages are useful to him/her. I don't think someone is any less of a polyglot of they don't speak English, French or any of the major world languages.

I'm not asking what are the most common spoken or the most useful languages, but what you BELIEVE to be important languages for a true polyglot to know. For example, the admin states on the Spanish language summary that Spanish is 'A must on any language lover shopping list'. Do we understand now?

Besides, who would you have higher linguistic regard for, a 4 language polyglot who speaks Russian, Mandarin, English and Arabic or a polyglot who speaks Elvish, Klingon, Bengali and Esperanto? I would definently believe the former to have much greater linguistic ability, but maybe you don't, thats what I'd like to know.
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Andy E
Triglot
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United Kingdom
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Speaks: English*, Spanish, French

Message 11 of 149

08 December 2005 at 6:01am | IP Logged

Walshy wrote:

Besides, who would you have higher linguistic regard for, a 4 language polyglot who speaks Russian, Mandarin, English and Arabic or a polyglot who speaks Elvish, Klingon, Bengali and Esperanto? I would definently believe the former to have much greater linguistic ability, but maybe you don't, thats what I'd like to know.

Since you'd like to know.... I don't.

Andy.

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Raistlin Majere
Trilingual Hexaglot
Senior Member
Spain
uciprotour-cycling.c
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Message 12 of 149

08 December 2005 at 8:08am | IP Logged

Walshy wrote:

I'm not asking what are the most common spoken or the most useful languages, but what you BELIEVE to be important languages for a true polyglot to know.

A polyglot is a TRUE polyglot whatever languages he speaks, if he speaks many of them.
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patuco
Diglot
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Gibraltar
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Message 13 of 149

08 December 2005 at 8:13am | IP Logged

Raistlin Majere wrote:

if he speaks many of them.

Although this brings us back to the debate of how many languages qualifies someone as a polyglot!

I think that a good starting place for a polyglot would be the seven official languages of the United Nations. He or she could then branch out from there.

Edited by patuco on 08 December 2005 at 8:13am
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Chung
Diglot
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Message 14 of 149

08 December 2005 at 9:53am | IP Logged

A true polyglot is one who speaks several languages...

I agree with Andy E. A polyglot who speaks 4 artificial languages is no less a polyglot than someone who speaks 4 human languages. However, if we want to consider usefulness, that's a different matter. However, who said that polyglots are meant to be useful? ;-)

At the risk of sounding testy, I think that asking someone what are 'must have' languages for a prospective polyglot reflect individual preferences or ulterior motives rather than any objective criteria.

But just to humour Walshy, I say that a polyglot should (not *must*) know English merely because of the language's ubiquitous nature. Anything else is up to that person who wants to be a polyglot... Take your pick from any of the remaining 3000 to 6000 or so languages out there.

Edited by Chung on 08 December 2005 at 9:54am
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hokusai77
Triglot
Senior Member
Italy
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Speaks: Italian*, French^B1, English^C1
Studies: German^B1, Japanese

Message 15 of 149

08 December 2005 at 12:12pm | IP Logged

patuco wrote:

Raistlin Majere wrote:

if he speaks many of them.

What's the seventh? English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and...?
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Sir Nigel
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United States
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Message 16 of 149

08 December 2005 at 12:40pm | IP Logged

There are only six languages according to the Wikipedia.

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