alfajuj Diglot Senior Member Taiwan Joined 6211 days ago 121 posts - 126 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: Taiwanese, French
| Message 57 of 125 17 January 2008 at 3:41am | IP Logged |
My personal goal is to speak 6 languages in addition to my native English; 3 asian and 3 european. I would say that a polyglot is someone who has learned at least 4 languages to advanced fluency, with at least one of these to native equivalent fluency and functionality. I don't think it's required to have a native accent. (although I am proud of my near-native accent in Mandarin) It suffices to speak correctly. I don't mind talking to people in English who have a strong accent, as long as it's comprehensible. I actually think many accents are very charming.I think that fluency is more important than accent.
Edited by alfajuj on 17 January 2008 at 3:46am
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portunhol Triglot Senior Member United States thelinguistblogger.w Joined 6252 days ago 198 posts - 299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (classical)
| Message 58 of 125 17 January 2008 at 1:03pm | IP Logged |
Who is the ideal polyglot? There are two factors for me: quantity and quality. If you have a noticeable accent and a somewhat limited vocabulary (1,000-2,000 words) but are very functional in 15 languages, other than your native tongue, then my hat’s off to you. On the other hand, if you can speak three or four languages with virtually no accent, then I’m also very impressed.
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Tashiko Diglot Newbie Russian Federation Joined 6131 days ago 8 posts - 7 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishB2 Studies: Italian, Spanish, Norwegian
| Message 59 of 125 18 April 2008 at 6:12am | IP Logged |
As for me I don't think that accent is something very requireable for being polyglot. When I speak English most of my opponents count me as American. Even most of Americans =0) But when I start to write.... I hardly can pretend even to be a someone with intermediate English... The only reason is my selfstudy method =0)I was so into "good american pronunciation" (to be honest I'm so irritated with proper british English =0P) and absolutely forgot about spelling =0) Though grammar wasn't my first priority as well =0) (but it's the same story with grammar in my native language as well, though I speak correct) Therefore I think true polyglot should speak, read and write more or less correct and knowledge should be more or less equal. That's why I think I'll never be an ideal polyglot myself... I always pay way more attention to an oral language than to written one. =0P
Edited by Tashiko on 18 April 2008 at 6:14am
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Bojan Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Germany Joined 6224 days ago 35 posts - 35 votes Speaks: Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian*, German*, English
| Message 60 of 125 18 April 2008 at 7:46am | IP Logged |
My expression is, that a polyglot is an human who speak, understand and is able to think in more then 5 languages. But to be honest, this person should not get arrogant.
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showtime17 Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Slovakia gainweightjournal.co Joined 6084 days ago 154 posts - 210 votes Speaks: Russian, English*, Czech*, Slovak*, French, Spanish Studies: Ukrainian, Polish, Dutch
| Message 61 of 125 07 May 2008 at 4:02pm | IP Logged |
Well I want to be able to be fluent in the languages I have currently listed as "learning" and start Arabic and get as far as possible with it. Then of course I would like to get at least conversational in the languages I have on my "hit list".
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showtime17 Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Slovakia gainweightjournal.co Joined 6084 days ago 154 posts - 210 votes Speaks: Russian, English*, Czech*, Slovak*, French, Spanish Studies: Ukrainian, Polish, Dutch
| Message 62 of 125 08 May 2008 at 8:51am | IP Logged |
Oh yeah I forgot to add, improve my Russian reading and writing skills, because my spoken Russian is fluent, however my reading and writing skills are horrible. Also I have to work a bit harder on memorizing the French conditional and subjunctive verb conjugations.
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brozman Bilingual Tetraglot Groupie Spain Joined 6056 days ago 87 posts - 106 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan*, English, Japanese Studies: Russian, Indonesian
| Message 63 of 125 11 May 2008 at 8:10am | IP Logged |
I believe that what really is important to be a real polyglot is just the fact that you must be fluent in 4 or more foreign languages. Having a native accent is not so relevant. Why? Well, I speak Spanish with a Catalan accent, and Catalan with a Spanish accent, and both are my mother tongues... I can't definetely expect myself to speak English like a British or an American.
Edited by brozman on 11 May 2008 at 9:51am
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showtime17 Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Slovakia gainweightjournal.co Joined 6084 days ago 154 posts - 210 votes Speaks: Russian, English*, Czech*, Slovak*, French, Spanish Studies: Ukrainian, Polish, Dutch
| Message 64 of 125 11 May 2008 at 1:54pm | IP Logged |
I don't know, but for me having a native like accent in the languages I speak is one of the goals. I really have to work hard to improve my French accent.
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