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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes  4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 9 of 14 28 April 2013 at 4:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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same here:) i see no reason to focus on the speaking before i can understand properly (unless I visit the country of that language).
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| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4829 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 10 of 14 29 April 2013 at 2:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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Back to explorers: one of note might be Captain James Cook. I don't know to what extent
he was a linguist, but he seems to have studied the people in whose lands he explored, so I'm sure it would have come in somewhere. Not an explorer per se, but the writer Robert Louis Setvenson was a great traveller, and his Wikipedia entry notes the degree to which he interacted with the natives of Samoa, for example. As a writer, he would presumably have had a natural love of language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5561 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 11 of 14 29 April 2013 at 2:18pm | IP Logged | ||
I think I might add, that not only do they have no choice, but that they really, really desperately want to communicate [edit] to an extent that is probably hard for an adult to emulate, outside of intimate relationships etc. [and also] (Pre.teen) Kids are also (almost) entirely lacking in self consciousness. . Edited by schoenewaelder on 29 April 2013 at 3:08pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4445 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 12 of 14 02 May 2013 at 8:21am | IP Logged | ||
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Some people are particularly keen on learning languages because they found benefits being multilingual. Came
across a documentary from PBS in America of an African prince from Fouta Djallon in modern-day Guinea in W. Africa who was traded away in battle as a slave. Being educated in several languages including Arabic & Portuguese he gained some respect from his slave owners in America. African slaves often picked up languages of their European captors. In the Chinese community people often stereotype Europeans (White people) who speak their language well as being missionaries (people affiliated with a Christian group). In the old days the Chinese often see Europeans as people who felt superior to other races that the only ones willing to learn their language were missionaries. The only way to bring the concept of Jesus and 1 God to the locals was by translating the Bible into Chinese. In moden times people learn languages for other reasons. There are more resources available if you put in the time & effort. The ex-Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd was 1 of the few who can give a speech in China without a translator. 1 traveller from Europe to China was Marco Polo. I'm not sure which language he learned to speak. Supposedly he learned some variation of Turkish passing through Turkey. Being in the Chinese court with the Mongols in charge he would have to learn Mongolian. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6704 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 13 of 14 02 May 2013 at 9:32am | IP Logged | ||
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If he was there, that is ... this has been questioned.
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| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5131 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 14 of 14 02 May 2013 at 10:36am | IP Logged | ||
I don't know about the superiority bit, but a lot of missionaries that were sent off to far away lands were oftentimes already multilingual to a degree. Many already had experience translating scriptures to other languages. They already had the benefit of knowing how to succeed (and fail, I suppose) at learning languages. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful |
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