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Your personal polyglot ideal

 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots Post Reply
125 messages over 16 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 14 ... 15 16 Next >>
clumsy
Octoglot
Senior Member
Poland
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Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin, Italian, Vietnamese
Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swedish
Studies: Danish, Dari, Kirundi

 
 Message 105 of 125
06 April 2011 at 12:37pm | IP Logged 
For me a real "man" must know at least 50 languages - with full vocabulary found in dictionaries.

Just kidding.
I don't know why people have so high expectations?

There are some foreigners in Poland.
They learn Polish really hard, and live in Poland for several years.
They speak it very well, but they don't sound like natives (unless maybe they are from another Slavic country).

For me polyglot is a person who can speak at least tree languages plus native one on at least A1 level.

In written and spoken form. (even if it's Chinese or Japanese).
I have very low expectations.

3 languages, since knowing 2 is quite common in Poland.

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hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
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 Message 106 of 125
06 April 2011 at 5:47pm | IP Logged 
clumsy wrote:

For me polyglot is a person who can speak at least tree languages plus native one on at least A1 level.

I don't know that you could make it through the day with an A1 level. In fact, I don't know that you could make it with just shopping and going to a restaurant at A1 level.

You just don't have that much of a vocabulary at that level, not to mention a good grasp on the grammar.

R.
==
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Ari
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Norway
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 Message 107 of 125
06 April 2011 at 8:50pm | IP Logged 
clumsy wrote:
I don't know why people have so high expectations?

[…]

For me polyglot is a person who can speak at least tree languages plus native one on at least A1 level.


I think you forgot about the "ideal" part of the topic.
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clumsy
Octoglot
Senior Member
Poland
lang-8.com/6715Registered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5178 days ago

1116 posts - 1367 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin, Italian, Vietnamese
Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swedish
Studies: Danish, Dari, Kirundi

 
 Message 108 of 125
07 April 2011 at 12:39pm | IP Logged 
Ari wrote:
clumsy wrote:
I don't know why people have so high expectations?

[…]

For me polyglot is a person who can speak at least tree languages plus native one on at least A1 level.


I think you forgot about the "ideal" part of the topic.


Sorry, I actually didn't.


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Ari
Heptaglot
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Norway
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 Message 109 of 125
07 April 2011 at 2:12pm | IP Logged 
clumsy wrote:
Sorry, I actually didn't.

Sorry, I may be thick, but I don't get it. Your polyglot ideal is someone who's worse at languages than you are?
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clumsy
Octoglot
Senior Member
Poland
lang-8.com/6715Registered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5178 days ago

1116 posts - 1367 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin, Italian, Vietnamese
Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swedish
Studies: Danish, Dari, Kirundi

 
 Message 110 of 125
10 April 2011 at 5:13pm | IP Logged 
Ari wrote:
clumsy wrote:
Sorry, I actually didn't.

Sorry, I may be thick, but I don't get it. Your polyglot ideal is someone who's worse at languages than you are?


Well, OK.
It was only the minimum to be a polyglot.
The person I want to be would be:

He has varying knowledge in many languages, some of them are at a low level, not like few words, but level, like "can go to shop and buy butter" and talk some simple stuff.
Some of his languages are on the other hand very advanced, not like native, you can hear he is a foreigner (unless it's a language similar to his), but he can read scientific literature etc. Watching movies.
The range of spoken languages should be also vast, languages from different languages families.
He should be knowledgeable about the cultures as well.
Having some friends among natives, and conversing in the target language.

1 person has voted this message useful



druckfehler
Triglot
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Germany
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Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean
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 Message 111 of 125
21 February 2012 at 7:23am | IP Logged 
Ari wrote:
This thread seems to have been raised from the dead several times, so I have no qualms about doing it again.


Neither do I :)

I don't have a polyglot ideal based on number of languages, the polyglots I admire share other qualities. No matter the current level of proficiency, I have greater respect for people with good (though not necessarily perfect) pronunciation and near-perfect grammar. Whenever someone butchers the grammar of a foreign language they study it makes me a bit nervous on their account, because getting stuck with horrid fossilized grammar seems to be fairly common (not in the polyglot community, but in general). An interesting selection of less commonly studied languages and a playful approach to studying that really works also impress me.

My personal ideal polyglot goal is to learn languages from as many different language families as possible. That's because I study languages so I can see the world through the lenses of several distinct thinking systems. I don't think I'd count languages I haven't reached basic fluency in and ideally I'd be able to appreciate and reproduce (one can dream, right?) the finer nuances of them.

Edited by druckfehler on 21 February 2012 at 7:25am

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