ProfArguelles Moderator United States foreignlanguageexper Joined 7257 days ago 609 posts - 2102 votes
| Message 9 of 18 25 June 2005 at 10:43pm | IP Logged |
Indeed, I know that my father's father's family orginally came from Asturias. Once I was in a library that had phone books from capital cities all around the world. I looked up my name in those of various South American metropolises and was surprised to find that while in some places there were hundreds of listings, in others there were none at all. I suppose this must have to do with historical emigration patterns...
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Maestro Groupie Chile Joined 5872 days ago 40 posts - 40 votes
| Message 10 of 18 02 April 2009 at 3:41am | IP Logged |
I was reading a some great poetry of Ivan Arguelles, I wonder whether the poet and the polyglot are the same man?
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Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5848 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 11 of 18 02 April 2009 at 7:27am | IP Logged |
Thank you, Prof Arguelles, for presenting the polyglot achievements of your father in this forum. This is indeed very interesting to read. I think with such a family background it is easier to become a polyglot. In my experience parents like their children to orientate in a similar direction. Unfortunately, there are no polyglots in my family, so my focus on language learning is not always appreciated.
Fasulye-Babylonia
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Alkeides Senior Member Bhutan Joined 6149 days ago 636 posts - 644 votes
| Message 12 of 18 02 April 2009 at 1:03pm | IP Logged |
It certainly seems so, given that the short biography at amazon given describes the author as being a librarian at UC Berkley!
It seems there are more samples of his work on Google.
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portunhol Triglot Senior Member United States thelinguistblogger.w Joined 6253 days ago 198 posts - 299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (classical)
| Message 13 of 18 06 April 2009 at 12:46am | IP Logged |
Do you think that your father's love of Latin languages, and partial rejection of his German roots, is perhaps some of the reason you have become so well versed in the Germanic languages and their older dialects? I once read that you were anxious to study German in college. Was that for the same reason?
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ProfArguelles Moderator United States foreignlanguageexper Joined 7257 days ago 609 posts - 2102 votes
| Message 14 of 18 07 April 2009 at 1:00pm | IP Logged |
A psychologist would doubtlessly confirm what you surmise. His presence was more intimidating than inspiring to my own nascent language journeys, and by going into a branch that he did not touch, I avoided entering into competition with him and his love of Latin and her daughters. However, in developing into the inveterate Teutophile that I have been for as long as I can remember, I am also reacting against my mother, who is an avid Anglophile.
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portunhol Triglot Senior Member United States thelinguistblogger.w Joined 6253 days ago 198 posts - 299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (classical)
| Message 15 of 18 07 April 2009 at 5:10pm | IP Logged |
Thank you for your response. I didn't mean to be presumptuous or rude. My own recent study of German was influenced by you and two other hyperpolyglots I know who value the language. Before then I had little intention to ever learn it. I do believe quite strongly in free will but I also acknowledge that much of what we do is a reaction to external influences rather than the manifestation of internal initiatives.
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