Proportion of polyglots (Polyglots) Language Learning Forum

Proportion of polyglots
Tags: Number of Languages \| Foreign Languages \| Polyglot \| English \| German \| French
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Language Learning Forum : Polyglots

51 messages over 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next >>

dadafeig
Diglot
Groupie
United States
Joined 6989 days ago
82 posts - 83 votes

Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: German, Dutch

Message 9 of 51

23 November 2005 at 5:54pm | IP Logged

Sierra wrote:

Maybe some people you know have hidden talents :)

Half the people I know aren't aware that I speak pretty good Swedish. Also, I recently found out that my gym teacher, absolutely the last person in the world I would have expected it from, was in the Peace Corps and speaks fluent Spanish and French. Granted, it may not be as high as thirty percent, but some number of your acquaintances may know languages which you don't know they know simply because the subject has never come up.

Definitely True. One time in my class, I was writing to practice my German and Spanish and this Girl walks by and starts talking to me in Spanish. Then she asks if I want to switch to German and I said that's fine. Anyway the point is this girl is very lazy and just shocked me that she could speak those languages.
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ferdi
Tetraglot
Groupie
Netherlands
Joined 7078 days ago
41 posts - 41 votes
Speaks: Turkish, Dutch*, English, German

Message 10 of 51

30 November 2005 at 2:30pm | IP Logged

I guess in Holland you are considered polyglot when you speak 5 languages or more, most people here speak English , Dutch and a little German and some people even a little bit French, so i guess with 5 languages they would be impressed.
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Bart
Triglot
Senior Member
Belgium
Joined 7163 days ago
155 posts - 159 votes

Speaks: Dutch*, French, English
Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese, Swedish

Message 11 of 51

30 November 2005 at 4:26pm | IP Logged

In Belgium you should AT LEAST speak 5 languages to be considered a polyglot, as every (Flemish) Belgian speaks Dutch, French and English and a lot of people speak German too.

(For example; in my family there is not a single person older than 15 who doesn't speak Dutch, French and English, and quite a few who speak Spanish too.)
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Skandinav
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Denmark
Joined 6890 days ago
139 posts - 145 votes

Speaks: Danish*, English, German, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian

Message 12 of 51

26 January 2006 at 9:58am | IP Logged

Andy E wrote:

The European Union recently released (26th September) a survey on Europeans and Languages. While not aimed specifically at polyglottery, it makes for interesting reading in looking at the percentages within European countries that are willing to confess to no knowledge whatsoever of a non-native tongue.

The PDF is here.

What I found interesting is that the UK is not bottom. Apparently, 30% of the UK population "can speak at least one other language than their mother tongue at the level of being able to have a conversation".

Although I'm looking for "the people who speak more languages than most people around them" and although that number of languages for most is invariably "one" in the UK and the "more than" figure is "two", I'd still have great difficulty in finding the 30% .... in fact I'd probably have great difficulty in finding 3%.

As I survey my vast panorama of acquaintances, co-workers and friends, I find me, my dad (doing advanced French & Italian), my nephew (studying French at university), my mate's fianc�e (but she's French so doesn't count, two of my co-workers (but one's German and the other's Italian so they don't count) and ...... er....that's it. Quite depressing really.

Andy.

With the danger of pissing off some of my British neighboors, I believe that result is incorrect. I cannot believe that 30 pct. of the Brits speak a foreign language good enough to participate in a conversation. I would suspect Portugal, Poland, Britain and Spain (and possibly Ireland depending on the definition of foreign language). Also I'm surprised to find Hungary so low-ranked. I have always been impressed by the Hungarians German skills, especially outside the tourist and/or economic centres.
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Steve
Diglot
Groupie
South Africa
Joined 6897 days ago
56 posts - 58 votes

Speaks: English*, Afrikaans
Studies: Norwegian

Message 13 of 51

26 January 2006 at 1:42pm | IP Logged

I wonder what percentage of those Brits that speak foreign language are second generation immigrants?
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patuco
Diglot
Moderator
Gibraltar
Joined 7018 days ago
3795 posts - 4268 votes

Speaks: Spanish, English*
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Message 14 of 51

26 January 2006 at 3:47pm | IP Logged

I think that Skandinav's astonishment at such a high percentage can be answered by Steve's suggestion.
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Skandinav
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Denmark
Joined 6890 days ago
139 posts - 145 votes

Speaks: Danish*, English, German, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian

Message 15 of 51

26 January 2006 at 4:22pm | IP Logged

But in general Eurostat are quite thorough whenever it comes to surveys meaning that I'm sure that respondents mirror the British society. Of course there are many immigrants in UK, but still 30 per cent...
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Steve
Diglot
Groupie
South Africa
Joined 6897 days ago
56 posts - 58 votes

Speaks: English*, Afrikaans
Studies: Norwegian

Message 16 of 51

26 January 2006 at 4:52pm | IP Logged

Well, I got some old statistics, and only 90 percent of people living in England 5 years ago were born in the UK. I know these stats are a wee bit irrelevant, but that still gives quite a high percentage of people not even born there...

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