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Do you consider yourself a polyglot? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Midnight Diglot Groupie Czech Republic Joined 4637 days ago 54 posts - 111 votes  Speaks: Czech*, English | Message 49 of 89 31 March 2012 at 8:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm learning German, because I'm 1/8 Austrian and feel that this particular language has not only influenced my native language, but my culture as well. I want to learn Esperanto out of curiousity and because it is really easy. I really like the sound of Spanish and Portuguese. I want to learn Mandarin, because it's really challenging and it can improve even my non-linguistic skills. I find Finnish very beautiful and I like how complex yet logical the language is. I would do with just learning Northern Saami, but I want to save some of the others and publish books about them. Also want to compare one with another. As to resources, I want to meet the native speakers myself and get whatever resource there is.
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| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6866 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 50 of 89 31 March 2012 at 8:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm currently learning Czech, as I'm living in Prague for the time being, but I look forward to when I will be able to focus on Finnish, as well. I also find it to be a very beautiful language.
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| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5922 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 51 of 89 17 April 2012 at 10:19am | IP Logged | ||
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How did I miss this thread? I think this is a great topic.
1. Do you consider yourself a polyglot? No, not yet. I still use way too much English in my daily life. 2. Are you planning to become one? Yes, but I may not actually become a polyglot as I have other interests that I refuse to totally give up on. 3. If you are, what are you planning to achieve before you can call yourself a polyglot? I will be comfortable calling myself a polyglot when I reach B2 level or better in at least half of the languages I am learning. Edited by mick33 on 18 April 2012 at 10:00am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zerrubabbel Senior Member United States Joined 4598 days ago 232 posts - 287 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Mandarin | Message 52 of 89 25 April 2012 at 12:07am | IP Logged | ||
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Yes... I consider myself a Polyglot... with one stipulation... Im still in training, but
my ambitions (as of yet) are to specifically reach at least B2 level, in five languages (which includes English) and In Japanese and chinese, I probably wont be Satisfied with B2... I dont limit myself on which languages to or not to learn, even for languages I dont particularly care for, I just know My list so far contains (in order) English, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, Korean... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Elizabeth_rb Diglot Groupie United Kingdom polyglotintraining.b Joined 4634 days ago 54 posts - 84 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: GermanB1 | Message 53 of 89 17 May 2012 at 5:24pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes, it's an interesting question and I agree with those who've said, in effect, that they feel too outclassed by some of the really accomplished linguists on forum to consider themselves polyglots. I also like the comments by two contributors, one saying they preferred to call themselves a linguist and the other saying they'd rather be a polymath. I think I find myself in both of those comments. To meet the requirements of the 'basic fluency' level on this forum, I just about make the grade with Mandarin and no others yet. Actually, definitions of fluency vary and mine is generally 'not knowing everything in the language, but using what you do know so well that no-one can tell the difference'. Also, I'm interested in gaining and improving skills in a few areas including language, such as sciences, history, creative arts and so on. To answer the questions more directly: 1) No, I don't call myself a polyglot. One of my blogs, however is called "A Polyglot (in training)" As someone whose taught Mandarin and so on, I would call myself a linguist. 2) Yes, I think I can say I am planning to become a polyglot. I read somewhere that a polyglot was a speaker of 3 or more languages and a super-polyglot spoke 6+. As has been said, there seems to be no reliable definition and I don't think it counts in either direction whether the languages spoken are closely related or not. To learn Spanish after French may well be 'buy one get one half price', but it still takes a lot of work and practice to learn. It may not be as impressive as languages from several families, (to those who ever even think that way and, frankly, most Brits - who consider themselves genetically unable to learn foreign languages - certainly wouldn't), but it's still x number of languages. I digress....sorry! 3) I've just re-taken up Spanish and I hope to get really moving forward with that, including up to 3 years of classes if finances, time and strength allow. I also plan to really buckle down with resurrecting my French and moving my German forward as well as ploughing on with more Mandarin and even writing some materials for post-beginners. I also want to get on with Dutch soon too and will come back to Italian when most of the Spanish feels comfy and I'm ready to take on a related language without worrying about confusion and 'fighting'. Plans are to get to C1+ with Mandarin and B2/B2+ with all the others. If we ever have to move to Germany, then I'll be looking tor C1+ with German too. Excuse my blethering on. It's so nice to talk about multiple language learning plans with people who are actually interested and don't think you're nuts!=) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| NC181818 Tetraglot Newbie Hong Kong Joined 4347 days ago 17 posts - 24 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 54 of 89 29 January 2013 at 1:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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1. No
2. No 3. N/A 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sterogyl Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4365 days ago 152 posts - 263 votes Studies: German*, French, EnglishC2 Studies: Japanese, Norwegian | Message 55 of 89 23 March 2013 at 7:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am not a polyglot. Besides my native tongue German, I speak French and English quite okay (both C1 level), but I'm far from perfect. And I don't always feel comfortable speaking them. Really depends on my mood. I need more practice and immersion. My other languages I don't speak well at all.
A polyglot for me is someone who speaks several languages fluently and comfortably. Being able to read is not enough, "Assimil with ease" level is not enough. A typical polyglot would be someone like Amanda Lear who speaks fluent French, English, Italian and enough German to host a TV show. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tmp011007 Diglot Senior Member Congo Joined 6067 days ago 199 posts - 346 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese | Message 56 of 89 24 March 2013 at 12:11am | IP Logged | ||
buy "assimil perfectionnement" then :P 1 person has voted this message useful |
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