|
 |
Number of languages | ||
Tags: Number of Languages | Polyglot | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| AlexL Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7087 days ago 197 posts - 277 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 17 of 21 06 July 2005 at 10:03pm | IP Logged |
|
When I am asked how many languages I know, I respond with that of course, I speak English fluently, then with that I am learning Spanish, Mandarin, and Esperanto. I am constantly learning these languages, though some I study more rigorously than others. There is always more to learn, so using the word "learning" is a good cop-out of having to answer definitively.
Alex Edited by AlexL on 09 April 2007 at 7:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| vilas Pentaglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6963 days ago 531 posts - 722 votes Speaks: Spanish, Italian*, English, French, Portuguese | Message 18 of 21 03 December 2005 at 5:49am | IP Logged |
|
Swiss governmental recognition as a fourth national language for the past 60 years, is merely a dialect of Italian. [/QUOTE]
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| vilas Pentaglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6963 days ago 531 posts - 722 votes Speaks: Spanish, Italian*, English, French, Portuguese | Message 19 of 21 03 December 2005 at 5:54am | IP Logged |
|
recognition as a fourth national language for the past 60 years, is merely a dialect of Italian. Dear Ardaschir , Romanche it is NOT an italian dialect, is a version of Ladin , language spoken in Friuli(North- east Italy) maybe you mean Ticinese that it is spoken in Ticino ( southern Switzerland) and part of Grigioni-Graubunden Eastern Switzerland. In Ticino everybody speaks dialect, even in public offices and banks , unless you ask them to speak Plain Italian . Ciao 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Linas Octoglot Senior Member Lithuania Joined 6915 days ago 253 posts - 279 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Lithuanian*, Russian, Latvian, French, English, German, Spanish, Polish Studies: Slovenian, Greek, Hungarian, Arabic (Written), Portuguese | Message 20 of 21 22 December 2005 at 5:50am | IP Logged |
|
In my opinion, whether something can count as a language or merely as a "dialect" often depends on which skill do you consider. For example, if you know merely to read three Scandinavian languages, you cannot count them as three distinct languages, since the reading proficiency in one of them almost automatically yields the reading knowledge in another. It is more complicated with listening, since someone who knows Stockholm Swedish, could be unable to understand Copenhagen Danish, however after being exposed to Danish for a considerably short period(maybe a week or two) he would be able to understand maybe 90% of what he hears.
However, if somebody learns to speak all three Scandinavian languages idiomatically, with all ins and outs, the he can say quite legitimally that he has learned 3 languages. More or less the same applies for Czechoslovak(Czech and Slovak) and Bulgaromacedonian(Bulgarian and Macedonian), only that there are far less obstacles for listening. However Serbo-Croatian cannot be considered different languages under no respect, the Abstand(difference) between these two forms of speech is too slight. Slovenian, however, is considerably distinct from Serbo-Croatian in all respects and surely can be counted as a separate language for all 4 skills. And certainly, if somebody who knows Standard Italian, learns Piemonteis, Friulan, Sard, Sicilianu, Napoletan or even Lombard(Milanese/Ticinese) or Venetan, he surely and without hesitation can claim to have aquired new languages, since the distance between Standard Italian and those "dialects" is indeed vast, certainly not less than between Spanish and Portuguese/Brasilian, and in some cases, even more than between Spanish and Italian. The same applies to French and Occitan or Gascon. Edited by Linas on 22 December 2005 at 5:54am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Skandinav Hexaglot Senior Member Denmark Joined 6890 days ago 139 posts - 145 votes Speaks: Danish*, English, German, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian | Message 21 of 21 23 January 2006 at 1:48pm | IP Logged |
|
I'd agree that the Scandinavian languages are pretty similar, but I still think that they by any measures have the exact characteristics to be constituted as separate languages. Written Danish/Swedish/Norwegian is similar (Nynorsk is different), but the pronounciation is very different. I believe that the reason why we understand each other so well is due to social interaction, and the reason why foreigners might think that the languages are so similar has to do with our common historical heritage, our similarity in terms of society (e.g. welfare systems), high level of economic, cultural, social and political development, similar appearance (tall, fair).
1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
