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Feelings about being a polyglot | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| andee Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 7080 days ago 681 posts - 724 votes  3 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Korean, French | Message 9 of 36 12 September 2006 at 3:31am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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^^ Likewise.
When asked what languages I speak always say "just English". I feel that unless my ability in another language I'm learning is on par with my English ability (which I know it never will be, hah) I don't mention it. If I'm really pushed I'll say "I know a little ...". But as has been mentioned, my family always pipe up and offer my "fluency in ..." by grossly over-estimating. I know when I return to Poland next year to see family they will be shocked.. for the wrong reasons. Because I asked my parents to buy some books for me (to read in the distant future) when they last visited, they kindly informed the family that I would be reading them once I received them. Even though the truth of it is, I probably couldn't even get through a chapter without driving myself into the ground from flicking through a dictionary. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| el topo Diglot Groupie Belgium Joined 6763 days ago 66 posts - 71 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Dutch | Message 10 of 36 12 September 2006 at 4:24am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Modesty is certainly a virtue, but frankly I do not really care about all this. Whenever people ask me what languages I speak, I say I speak Russian, English and I am studying Dutch. I am not happy with my English, it could be much better, but I use it on a daily basis, actually it's the only language I am using here in Belgium (except for those rare moments when I meet a Russian), so I do not really have time to be modest about my English, I am too busy using it. :)
On the other hand, I sometimes feel a little ashamed that I can't claim to be able to speak more languages, as so many people here know 3-4-5 or even more of them. It's not that they are interested in languages, they have learnt them out of necessity, but it does have a very humbling effect on you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| japkorengchi Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6683 days ago 334 posts - 355 votes | Message 11 of 36 12 September 2006 at 5:42am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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There are many people being jealous of others speaking any foreign language; it is quite a serious situation in a monolingual Chinese speaking environment I am living in (English is not spoken unless necessary in my social circle).
My strategy to deal with this jealousy is to actually talk in the foreign language with native speakers without recourse to English or Chinese. I did it with a Japanese guy in one of my classes and it actually convinced others I could converse in Japanese. However, in order to be humble so as not to provoke the jealousy of others, I then openly admitted both my strengths (listening and speaking) and weaknesses (say, writing a thesis in Japanese will be too hard for me) to other classmates. As this was really my case in Japanese so it worked to “pacify” them and gained me some admiration. ^^ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7018 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 12 of 36 12 September 2006 at 7:08am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I'd like to clarify that I never let it slip that I study any foreign languages at all, except with my family. However, sometimes my studies are mistakenly revealed and that's when the "idiots" try to make light of my efforts by expecting me to instantly give an extended discourse in their language of choice and showing contempt when I obviously can't. It's almost as if they are saying "you see, I knew he couldn't speak another language" when in fact I made no such claim.
Actually, I've found that people are generally bemused when they learn that I'm learning another language. Their arguments go something like: "when will you ever need that language, are you moving there?" and "why do you want to learn another language, can't you already speak two of them." Edited by patuco on 12 September 2006 at 7:11am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| japkorengchi Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6683 days ago 334 posts - 355 votes | Message 13 of 36 12 September 2006 at 7:36am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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There are also some people around me asking questions like that. Usually they are money-oriented people who think everything we do should have something to do with moneymaking.
When confronted by their questions, I usually answer that it’s actually lucrative to become an interpreter of some languages like Japanese, and I love the cultures associated with the languages. From my point of view, language acquisition is more “practical” and easily sustainable than other hobbies given you like the cultures of your target languages. Being a teacher or an interpreter of our target languages can bring us handsome returns. And I can practise any languages I like by listening to foreign songs when I am doing other things. I don’t think I will have enough time to keep on going with football or basketball once I get into the job market. They are just too time-consuming in the sense that you cannot do other things when you are playing football or basketball. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| apparition Octoglot Senior Member United States Joined 6653 days ago 600 posts - 667 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), French, Arabic (Iraqi), Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Pashto | Message 14 of 36 12 September 2006 at 7:57am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Sometimes I have to remind myself of the the Dr. Seuss quote (I'm paraphrasing): "Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6662 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 15 of 36 12 September 2006 at 8:13am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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English is my native language. I grew up with it, and I graduated from college speaking this language. Just the same, I still encounter unfamiliar words in my reading. I wouldn't say that I speak English perfectly but I get by.
Sometimes people ask me why I have studied so many different languages. I tell them that I learned how to learn languages, but I never learned how to stop. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| lengua Senior Member United States polyglottery.wordpre Joined 6687 days ago 549 posts - 595 votes Studies: French, Italian, Spanish, German | Message 16 of 36 13 September 2006 at 4:45pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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The funnest parts are when you're in class and the teacher asks for the meaning of a word in a foreign language - and no one says anything. Then she asks if anyone in the class knows the language - and no one raises a hand. And this is a language you've studied, but one where you don't know the definition of the word in question.
This happened to me today. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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