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How many languages to be a polyglot? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7375 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes  12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 123 02 July 2005 at 12:26am | IP Logged |
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Words like polyglot have a subjective meaning. Everybody can agree that it means 'a person who speaks several languages', but just how many languages is that?
We have had several discussions about this topic but it seems everybody has his own idea of the number of languages. Let's have a poll to see what is the average number of languages people on this forum think a person should speak in order to be called a polyglot. In other words, the question is: In your book, how many languages does it take to be called 'a polyglot'? Edited by administrator on 03 July 2005 at 4:41am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Raistlin Majere Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Spain uciprotour-cycling.c Joined 7151 days ago 455 posts - 424 votes 7 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish*, Catalan*, FrenchA1, Italian, German Studies: Swedish | Message 2 of 123 02 July 2005 at 2:02am | IP Logged |
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Mmmmm... For some reason, I'm not allowed to vote in this poll.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Magnum Bilingual Triglot Retired Moderator Pro Member United States Joined 7116 days ago 359 posts - 353 votes Speaks: English*, Serbian*, French Studies: German Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 123 02 July 2005 at 2:41am | IP Logged |
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I can not vote either. It just shows the results.
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| Nephilim Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 7144 days ago 363 posts - 368 votes Speaks: English*, Polish | Message 4 of 123 02 July 2005 at 3:05am | IP Logged |
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Good idea but how do we vote? What is the significance of the results chart at the top of the page? Can we vote or not? Am I missing something here?
Administrator, could you please make this more confusing. ;-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Mr. Speaker Diglot Newbie United States Joined 7109 days ago 28 posts - 32 votes Speaks: English*, Russian Studies: Mandarin | Message 5 of 123 02 July 2005 at 3:29pm | IP Logged |
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I was under the impression that the root word "poly" means three or more. So denotatively I assumed a polyglot is someone who speaks three or more languages. However, I suppose we have the word trilingual for that. In which case I would think it would move up to four or more languages by connotation at least. Edited by Mr. Speaker on 02 July 2005 at 3:44pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7375 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 123 02 July 2005 at 3:34pm | IP Logged |
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Now everybody can vote. Speaker, the point is that everybody can make known how many languages they think a person should speak in order to be called a polyglot. If you think 2 languages are enough, that's fine for me. Edited by administrator on 03 July 2005 at 3:11am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Magnum Bilingual Triglot Retired Moderator Pro Member United States Joined 7116 days ago 359 posts - 353 votes Speaks: English*, Serbian*, French Studies: German Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 123 02 July 2005 at 7:25pm | IP Logged |
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It appears the consensus for designating the number of languages for a polyglot is the lowest option, 4 languages. I agree with Mr Speaker, 3 or more is "poly", at least in the English sciences. It would follow something like monosaccharide, disaccharide, polysaccharide.
Who benifits by a more restrictive definition? Does a higher number of languages make the designation polyglot more prestigious? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7375 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 123 03 July 2005 at 3:21am | IP Logged |
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The point of this poll is not to excavate the English language to dig out the 'true' meaning of the word polyglot if such a thing exists. It is only to understand how people use it. What does it mean to them.
5 persons have voted this message useful |
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