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Translating 7 Languages (Video)

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21 messages over 3 pages: 1 2
Lugubert
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Sweden
Joined 6869 days ago

186 posts - 235 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, Danish, Norwegian, EnglishC2, German, Dutch, French
Studies: Mandarin, Hindi

 
 Message 17 of 21
30 April 2008 at 10:43am | IP Logged 
Journeyer wrote:
"Polyglot" isn't a very common word for lots of people, I'd wager. Speaking for myself, I would be very surprised if I asked the majority of students I know on my campus if they knew what it meant and got a correct answer. I still think a lot of them would use the term "linguist" instead.

In my book, a polyglot is one who can orally interact with speakers of several languages. A linguist is a person who studies language mechanics at an academic level; not necessarily fluent in many languages. A person who can interpret between even three languages in any combination is a quite remarkable interpreter. One who translates specialized technical stuff from some 7 languages to their mother tongue and has the necessary business skills should be a very well off translator. Unfortunately, I rather fail the economy criterion.
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qklilx
Moderator
United States
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Studies: Korean
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 Message 18 of 21
30 April 2008 at 2:02pm | IP Logged 
24karrot wrote:
The second... what kind of idiot doesn't know what a polyglot is?


Do you know why the people on this forum know what the word means? Because we're all actively studying how to become such a thing and the word is used all over the place to describe the goal. I have rarely met a person who knows what "polyglot" means. "Linguist" is the word most people use because it's much more common. Another little hint that "polyglot" is seldom used is that there are languages which do not have the word. In Japanese and Korean if you want to describe a polyglot you have to say "a person who speaks several languages."

But I see your point about the resume and all that. I still like the commercial though.
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jdmoncada
Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
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 Message 19 of 21
13 March 2012 at 6:42am | IP Logged 
Journeyer wrote:
24karrot wrote:
The second... what kind of idiot doesn't know what a polyglot is? Did he not make it through middle school?


"Polyglot" isn't a very common word for lots of people, I'd wager. Speaking for myself, I would be very surprised if I asked the majority of students I know on my campus if they knew what it meant and got a correct answer. I still think a lot of them would use the term "linguist" instead.



True story. Back about 15 years ago when I was participating in Telnet BBSs, I put the word polyglot in my profile for the meaning that we here know it to be. Unfortunately I was hit on by a man who said that he wasn't turned off by someone who was in to "that kind of lifestyle."

Me: "What kind of lifestyle? Knowing many languages?"

Him: "..."

He eventually went away, realizing I was not poly-amorous or any such thing.


Now that I am older and have added 2 languages to my repertoire in the space of 15 months, I wonder if being a polyglot is a lifestyle choice after all. My book budget and bookshelf seem to tell me it is.
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hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
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 Message 20 of 21
13 March 2012 at 8:13am | IP Logged 
Since the thread's been brought back from the dead...

I find it interesting that people are (or were) insulted by the translator character, when, in fact, it's part of a larger character that Catherine Tate plays, named Helen Marsh - the "I can do that!" woman.

The character constantly overestimates her ability to do things. That, to me, is where the humor is. Search around for that particular character on Youtube. It's a pretty funny character, like most of Catherine's other characters.

I'm a big fan of hers.

R.
==

Edited by hrhenry on 13 March 2012 at 8:14am

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Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6599 days ago

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 Message 21 of 21
13 March 2012 at 11:04am | IP Logged 
jdmoncada wrote:
True story. Back about 15 years ago when I was participating in Telnet BBSs, I put the word polyglot in my profile for the meaning that we here know it to be. Unfortunately I was hit on by a man who said that he wasn't turned off by someone who was in to "that kind of lifestyle."

Me: "What kind of lifestyle? Knowing many languages?"

Him: "..."

He eventually went away, realizing I was not poly-amorous or any such thing.


Now that I am older and have added 2 languages to my repertoire in the space of 15 months, I wonder if being a polyglot is a lifestyle choice after all. My book budget and bookshelf seem to tell me it is.
Imo it is a lifestyle choice, in the sense that simply doing the same things everyone does, but in your target languages, makes a huge difference. (I mean reading, watching movies, playing computer games, listening to music etc)

And here in Russia polyglot is quite a well-known word, nobody confuses it with linguist. Though I suppose many find it confusing how you can know a lot about a language but not be learning it.


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