|
 |
Do polygots learn languages themselves? | ||
Tags: School Education | Language School | Self-Study | College/University | Polyglot | Learning Strategy | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Recht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5803 days ago 241 posts - 270 votes  Speaks: English*, GermanB1 | Message 9 of 19 06 May 2009 at 5:59pm | IP Logged | ||
Thanks for the vids. I was wondering what you describe as "Basic Fluency", given the plethora of languages you know. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ronp Heptaglot Newbie Australia ronpeek.blogspo Joined 6096 days ago 33 posts - 74 votes Speaks: English, Dutch*, German, Flemish, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: Norwegian, Mandarin, Esperanto, Finnish, Macedonian, Hindi, Greek, Indonesian, Lithuanian, Basque, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic (Written), Sign Language Studies: Turkish, Swahili | Message 10 of 19 06 May 2009 at 7:48pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Hello,
Based on my experience and research/reading so far (e.g. Kato Lomb (2008), Polyglot: Or How I Learn Languages; Gethin & Gunnemark (....) The Art and Science of Learning Languages), virtually all polyglots are highly self- motivated and most of them prefer to study/learn languages on their own for a significant length of time. Some may take classes, but others like to have a teacher or (educated) native speaker(s) at hand, merely as another tool or resource they can draw upon. Particularly so in relation to correction or help with pronunciation, revision of written work and cultural explanations. Polyglots like to set their own language learning pace and that is why classes may sometimes 'hold them back' so to speak or offer not enough, or the right kind of input or room to practice. In sum, some polyglots may view such classes not as the most efficient means for their own learning purposes and hence perhaps 'a waste of time'. That is why private tuition or access to a native speaker on a one-to-one basis may be a more effective tool or resource. Overall, as a polyglot you want to be in charge of your serial, continuous, multiple language learning, rather than letting someone else dictate the pace. :-) Kind regards, Ron 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Eduard Decaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6027 days ago 166 posts - 170 votes 2 sounds Speaks: Dutch*, NorwegianC1, Swedish, Danish, English, German, ItalianB1, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, French Studies: Portuguese | Message 11 of 19 08 May 2009 at 10:00am | IP Logged | ||
|
I guess that first of all you have to be really interested in languages. Then I think that more people actually are interested in languages than you might initially think.
As for me: I had to go through 3 foreign languages at school (in the Netherlands), and the other languages more or less came to me at work (call centre helpdesk covering whole Western Europe). When learning new languages, I now prefer to go straight to the bone: grammar, vocabulary, oddities. Then I just read websides in that languages, listen to web-radio, and generally read things in that language about subjects that interest me (beyond languages themselves) so that I get more out of my time than just actually acquiring a language. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5849 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 12 of 19 08 May 2009 at 7:52pm | IP Logged | ||
|
It's also typical for me that I am highly self-motivated to study foreign languages.I started participating in this forum around October 2008 and I had really no idea about people doing language self-study. So this concept is completely new to me. I am now almost 48 and I have beeen learning languages for quite some years as a participant of language courses at university or adult education centres (= Volkshochschulen). At a young age any form of self-study would have been impossible to me because of my weak study discipline. It is still so that my preferred ways of language learning are working with a private teacher, a correspondence course or a study group. Since I am participating in this forum I have intensified additional elements of self-study such as listening to audio-material, which I like to focus on. Also in my case it has been problematic to sit in classes, where rather unmotivated learners dictate the pace, because I had to perform under my own possibilities. At the moment I've found a suitable solution by learning Turkish with a private study group.
Fasulye-Babylonia Edited by Fasulye on 09 May 2009 at 1:40pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6274 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 13 of 19 08 May 2009 at 11:01pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I think polyglots are often near-obsessive on the subject of language learning and are frequently autodidacts. This does have the advantage of being self-directed, though there are disadvantages as well.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| qklilx Moderator United States Joined 6188 days ago 459 posts - 477 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Korean Personal Language Map | Message 14 of 19 09 May 2009 at 2:50am | IP Logged | ||
Actually nearly every person I've met who claims to be interested in learning foreign languages either never gets past the first (though some will become proficient in it), or has never actually studied a language yet. Furthermore, when they do wind up studying, they see it's not for them for any number of reasons and stop fairly early into the game. Disappointing, really. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| lecorbeau Diglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 6022 days ago 113 posts - 149 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Serbo-Croatian, Turkish | Message 16 of 19 13 June 2009 at 6:34am | IP Logged | ||
I have to second this. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
