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Interesting documentary about hyperglots

  Tags: Hyperglot | Video
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
12 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
timwatt
Triglot
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Canada
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Speaks: Indonesian, English*, French
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 1 of 12
18 September 2014 at 11:44am | IP Logged 
This is an interesting, short Canadian news documentary all about hyperpolyglots. Tim
Doner and Richard Simcott, as well as other hyperglots, are interviewed. The documentary
attempts to find out what makes these people so special that they can learn and speak 20
or more languages fluently.

Word Play: Hyperpolyglots speak so many
languages

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Josquin
Heptaglot
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Germany
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 Message 2 of 12
18 September 2014 at 1:01pm | IP Logged 
This was already posted on the forum when it came out. Our forum member Arekkusu participated in the show:

Canada's Global TV hyperpolyglot program

Arekkusu's TAC 2012 Team ne nur

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shk00design
Triglot
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Canada
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Studies: French

 
 Message 3 of 12
18 September 2014 at 1:47pm | IP Logged 
Tim Doner and Richard Simcott are just a few on the list including Moses McCormick from Pittsburgh,
Luca Lampariello from Italy and of course Steve Kaufmann from Vancouver.

Besides being men, what many of these people have in common is a passion for languages. Like people
who are into music, those who are into languages would spend hours a week reading books, newspapers,
listening to the radio, TV broadcasts and interacting with people in different languages. A lot of people
who study French in a Canadian school would just be picking up as much as they do in class but would do
next to nothing outside class (especially during the 3 months summer break).

I am a member of a band who perform music with violin as the main instrument. Some years later (pass
my teenage years) I decided to get my hands on a piano keyboard. For people who know how to read
music, violin music is written on a Treble Clef while piano music is on the Treble & Bass Clefs. Those who
have not played piano before would give all sorts of reasons why they wouldn't be able to play including
left & right hand coordination, reading the Bass Clef, etc. 2 years ago around November I started working
on a piece I learned a while ago: the first movement of the Bach Italian Concerto in F. The piece is roughly
3½ minutes depending on your playing speed. I practiced just that piece (the same piece) everyday for 3
weeks and ended up performing it from memory at a Christmas party. Another band member showed up
and stood next to the piano for the whole piece. At that time he took up piano for just over a year. I am
sure if he practices often enough, he would be able to play the piece as well.

The debate whether acquiring languages is a talent or hard work will be debated for many years. Like the
"nature" vs. "nurture" debate. Personally I think a lot can be achieved by hard work given the right
circumstances.
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smallwhite
Pentaglot
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Australia
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 Message 4 of 12
18 September 2014 at 4:10pm | IP Logged 
shk00design wrote:

The debate whether acquiring languages is a talent or hard work will be debated for many years. Like the
"nature" vs. "nurture" debate.


I don't think it's debated. Those who have worked hard says it's hard work, and those who haven't says it's talent. That's not a debate :D

Nice experience with the piano, by the way. I did something similar with a grade 6/7 piano piece. My normal instruments aren't even written on 5-line staves. Unless you count the drums :D
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Speakeasy
Senior Member
Canada
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Studies: German

 
 Message 5 of 12
18 September 2014 at 5:41pm | IP Logged 
Interesting discussion. Now, can I have a little fun, here? Since polyglot and hyperglot already exist as distinct words, why is it necessary to create the ponderous amalgam hyperpolyglot? By logical extension, would this not lead to the creation of polyhyperpolyglot and hyperhyperpolyglot or other meaningless variants?

Edited by Speakeasy on 18 September 2014 at 5:44pm

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Bao
Diglot
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Germany
tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5
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Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin

 
 Message 6 of 12
18 September 2014 at 6:20pm | IP Logged 
Speakeasy wrote:
Interesting discussion. Now, can I have a little fun, here? Since polyglot and hyperglot already exist as distinct words, why is it necessary to create the ponderous amalgam hyperpolyglot? By logical extension, would this not lead to the creation of polyhyperpolyglot and hyperhyperpolyglot or other meaningless variants?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHVSshgPlQs ?
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robarb
Nonaglot
Senior Member
United States
languagenpluson
Joined 5061 days ago

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Speaks: Portuguese, English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, French
Studies: Mandarin, Danish, Russian, Norwegian, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Greek, Latin, Nepali, Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 7 of 12
19 September 2014 at 7:00am | IP Logged 
Speakeasy wrote:
Interesting discussion. Now, can I have a little fun, here? Since polyglot and
hyperglot already exist as distinct words, why is it necessary to create the ponderous amalgam
hyperpolyglot? By logical extension, would this not lead to the creation of polyhyperpolyglot and
hyperhyperpolyglot or other meaningless variants?


Polyhyperpolyglot (n) A person who knows an extremely large number of several different kinds of language. For
example, twelve natural languages, nine constructed languages, eight programming languages, ten formal
languages in mathematics, and eleven speech-ciphering systems like Pig Latin and Gibberish.
2 persons have voted this message useful





Iversen
Super Polyglot
Moderator
Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6705 days ago

9078 posts - 16473 votes 
Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan
Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 8 of 12
19 September 2014 at 10:47am | IP Logged 
Ahem, if we follow Erard there must be at least 11 languages of each kind. Dick Hudson only demanded six languages, but it would be against the whole idea of this absurd naming convention to lower the bar. The goal must be to define the notion in such a way that nobody would even attempt to try to achieve it.




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