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Fem. polyglots: Too few or camera shy?

 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots Post Reply
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Mae
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 Message 9 of 65
03 April 2012 at 9:43am | IP Logged 
What a solid objection! You are absolutely right...
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Solfrid Cristin
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 Message 10 of 65
03 April 2012 at 11:18am | IP Logged 
tmp011007 wrote:
translator2 wrote:
Perhaps unwanted sexual harassment unfortunately plays a
part in the dearth of female polyglots on YT.

it could be one of the main reasons but there are lots and lots of women posting videos -having big
youtube channels- so it seems to be is not the real one, the ONE reason, we're looking for


I doubt that there is ONE reason. Both culture and tradition play a role too. Women my generation were
taught not to put themselves forward. Younger women may be concerned about unwanted attention. And in
countries like mine noone, man or woman are supposed to brag.And just saying " I am good at this" is
considered bragging.
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Pisces
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 Message 11 of 65
03 April 2012 at 1:58pm | IP Logged 
I think the reason is the same as why women are not as interesting in collecting things. Posting videos of all the languages one knows shows, to some extent at least, that one sees one's languages as a collection. I don't know why women are less interested in such things, but I wouldn't see that as a disadvantage for women.
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jeff_lindqvist
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 Message 12 of 65
03 April 2012 at 5:28pm | IP Logged 
Maybe learning languages is more of a male interest, who knows? There aren't that many clips with a woman solving the Rubik's cube/teaching tunes on the five-stringed banjo/doing close up magic/doing celebrity impersonations/guiding the viewer through an online strategy game/etc.,nor are there that many males posting videos about fashion/gossip/shopping/relations/etc. (not that I'm a fanatic follower of those topics...).

One can't force people to post videos on Youtube.
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frenkeld
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 Message 13 of 65
03 April 2012 at 7:37pm | IP Logged 
Pisces wrote:
I think the reason is the same as why women are not as interesting in collecting things.


My younger daughter has been spending a lot of time on youtube lately watching videos about cosmetics and nail polish. Apparently, many young women making those videos have "ginormous" collections of nail polish, far in excess of anything they could ever use. So, perhaps women are not averse to collecting things, but because they are more likely to collect shoes than stamps, men may not even realize that the collector bug can thrive in women just as well.

Women are certainly no strangers to foreign languages. I am not certain, but I suspect that at least in my time you would find more women than men enrolled in various foreign language programs. Among my older daughter's high school friends, I hear of more girls who are into languages. There has never been a shortage of women teaching foreign languages at all levels, and many of them know more than one foreign language. It is possible, however, that there are fewer women among the "obsessive" polyglots. I don't really know, but I have a suspicion that a woman with a talent and interest in languages may learn several and slow down, making those languages part of a reasonably balanced life, where a man might think that learning as many as possible in one's lifetime is the only life worth living. And those who are in that mode seem more likely to feel the need to show the world what they can do.

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Serpent
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 Message 14 of 65
03 April 2012 at 8:12pm | IP Logged 
frenkeld wrote:
It is possible, however, that there are fewer women among the "obsessive" polyglots. I don't really know, but I have a suspicion that a woman with a talent and interest in languages may learn several and slow down, making those languages part of a reasonably balanced life, where a man might think that learning as many as possible in one's lifetime is the only life worth living. And those who are in that mode seem more likely to feel the need to show the world what they can do.
This.
And I'm one of the few that do want to learn many, yet I don't have any desire to make youtube videos. Maybe because I myself am more impressed with flawless writing than with a flawless accent.

Also, I used to study at a linguistic lycee and a linguistic university, and now I study at the linguistic faculty of a big uni - all those places have had 90% (or more) female students.

Perhaps that's why I'm upset when people here assume that I'm male - to me language learning is totally a unisex hobby so to say, just like reading, music or movies.
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frenkeld
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 Message 15 of 65
03 April 2012 at 8:37pm | IP Logged 
Serpent wrote:
... to me language learning is totally a unisex hobby so to say, just like reading, music or movies.


It's possible that men are just more into self-promotion and make more youtube language videos as a result, but women do make plenty of videos in other areas, so they are certainly not youtube-shy as a gender, which is why I suspect there may be more to it.

Perhaps you would have more insight into whether women approach polyglottery somewhat differently from men, or have different motives for taking it up, granted that both male and female polyglots exist. I would be especially curious to know if there's any difference among the genders on the "depth versus breadth" issue.


Edited by frenkeld on 03 April 2012 at 9:00pm

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Arekkusu
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 Message 16 of 65
03 April 2012 at 8:43pm | IP Logged 
I think there are two main reasons. First, while women are usually better at languages than men, few are driven to push it to an extreme. Kind of like cooking, I guess. Second, it takes a certain willingness to expose yourself to criticism, which tends to appeal to women less than men.


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