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You are not a real polyglot if... | ||
Tags: Polyglot | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4639 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 17 of 299 10 October 2013 at 8:32am | IP Logged | ||
But you don't need to sound like a native in order to speak a language to a high level. In fact few people will reach this stage. If there is some mutual comprehension between a pair of languages then it must be an easier ride to learn one of them if you already speak the other. But I also agree with emk, who makes the point that closing the gap between speaking a language well and speaking it perfectly is a huge effort in any language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4656 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 18 of 299 10 October 2013 at 9:39am | IP Logged | ||
I couldn't agree more. I've lost count of how many discussions there have been around the word polyglot on this forum just in the last year. Let's face it, there will always be disagreement about members here as to what it really means or should mean, so let those who wish call themselves a polyglot. I prefer not to. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4724 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 19 of 299 10 October 2013 at 10:24am | IP Logged | ||
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If people want to call me a polyglot, then I'll indulge them. But it's just a name and I
don't feel particularly more talented than anyone else. I make just as egregious mistakes as everyone else. The only thing that really grates on my nerves is people saying but you know French/Russian/Basque/Navajo/Chuvash/Greenlandic/whatever. And I'm like. Only to a certain extent. The fact I can talk French doesn't mean I understand literature (ok, here I probably might have a shot)... but in other languages it doesn't. You don't know or not know a language. You have a spectrum and anywhere in between can be useful at the right moments. Edited by tarvos on 10 October 2013 at 1:56pm 12 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4845 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 20 of 299 10 October 2013 at 5:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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In fact the expression "to learn a language" is so problematic, that I try to avoid it.
It is used by some people (typically not HTLAL members) as though it were a one-off process like learning to drive a car or ride a bike (and even those are really on-going processes...not the "technical" side, but the dealing with traffic, etc). "To study a language" may sound a bit precious, but it's a bit more accurate, I feel. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4724 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 21 of 299 11 October 2013 at 10:26am | IP Logged | ||
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Study implies to me I am working through details and reading grammar books all day. Not
entirely accurate. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4926 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 22 of 299 11 October 2013 at 12:16pm | IP Logged | ||
*Glances over at the list of languages listed under "Studies" for Tarvos.* ;) I have to agree with montmorency on this: "learning" usually implies some sort of specific attainment, while "studying" is just the process of learning. If I say, "I learned German in high school", that would mean I still "know" it. If I say, "I studied German in high school", most people would take that to mean that it's pretty rusty at best (depending on how old I am!) Tarvos is right that to most people study implies sitting at a desk burning the midnight oil, poring over arcane texts and the like. However, that comes from a traditional point of view that "activities" are somehow less valuable. Education is changing these days, and active methods are being proven to be effective and valuable. Hopefully as more people experience the value of active learning, they will realize that studying Hindi (for example) includes reading comics, watching films, listening to music, skyping people, etc, etc. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4639 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 23 of 299 11 October 2013 at 1:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've seen quite a few of these polyglot videos where they demonstrate their ability in a bunch of languages.
The only one I can assess (besides English) is German. I often find that their level - while good - isn't exactly earth shattering. I admit I often get a little buzz, hey I speak this language better than a polyglot. Of course I'm fully aware that in a game of poker, four jacks will always beat two kings. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4845 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 24 of 299 11 October 2013 at 1:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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Fair enough comments....I didn't want to start an argument about "learn" versus "study".
Interesting that we seem to need to refine the language that we use in order to talk about language "acquisition" (yet another imperfect word, probably). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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