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Language Savants | ||
Tags: Savant | Foreign Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5668 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes  Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 1 of 33 03 November 2011 at 4:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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We all know there are people, on this forum and elsewhere, who speaks large numbers of languages well. None of these people seem to be what most would describe as "savants". Rather, they have (as far as I can tell) worked very hard over many years to reach
admirable levels. Which brings me back to the issues of language savants. If they do exist, then where are they? The one example I often hear of it Daniel Tammet. However, there are some doubts about his story in the memory community (of which he was once a member). So, are there are other examples of language savants? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5380 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 2 of 33 03 November 2011 at 4:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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Daniel Tammet did a really good job of learning Icelandic is a very short time. I'd be really curious to see how the members of this forum would perform if they had access to a full-time teacher for an entire week the way he did, but he certainly didn't fail to meet the challenge.
This is provided he had absolutely no prior knowledge or preparation in the language, which is not obvious or unquestionable from the video I watched. It's also quite obvious that some of the answers were rehearsed. Edited by Arekkusu on 03 November 2011 at 4:29pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5668 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 3 of 33 03 November 2011 at 4:35pm | IP Logged | ||
It was certainly great to see him having a basic conversation after a week, and maybe it was indeed down to some savant super-powers. I do note, however, that before his savant-based fame, his own mini-autobiography claimed he learned his first languages (French and German) using standard memory tricks. This is why I am interested in hearing of other language savants, who have not used any standard memorization techniques and have achieved results which are outside the reach of such techniques. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5380 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 4 of 33 03 November 2011 at 4:50pm | IP Logged | ||
"Results outside of the reach of such techniques" would imply better results than Tammet, in a shorter time. How much more would you expect a savant to learn in less than 7 days? Personally, I would love to see a savant who can actually learn near-native pronunciation in a short period of time. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5846 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 33 03 November 2011 at 6:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have a documentary on savants in German on DVD, where among other savants one male savant is presented who reads the newpapers in about 20 languages and has a large range of vocabulary, but cannot speak those languages and shows no interest in using his languages for communication. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of this language savant.
GEO kompakt DVD: "Die Superbegabten" - Was wir von Rechengenies, Sprachkünstlern und Klaviervirtuosen lernen können. The magazine which includes this DVD is called "Geo kompakt Nr. 28": "Intelligenz, Begabung, Kreativität" is still on sale here in Germany. For more info on the savants have a look on Geo's website (in German): Geo kompakt DVD: Die Superbegabten Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 03 November 2011 at 6:14pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6702 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 6 of 33 03 November 2011 at 6:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have watched the same series about 'superbrains' both on TV and on Youtube, and Tammet was in my mind the most impressive. There was another savant (the one mentioned by Fasulye) who could read a number of languages both upwards and downwards, but there was no evidence that he also could speak those languages. And then I have read about a few other savants on the internet.. but all in all it amounts to the same 4 or 5 persons who are mentioned every time.
Maybe savants are more likely to develop calendrical and artistic skills than linguistic skills? Edited by Iversen on 15 November 2011 at 2:18pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6010 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 7 of 33 03 November 2011 at 7:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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The term "savant" is usually used to refer to someone with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). One of the symptoms of ASDs is difficulty in communication and social interaction.
The idea of a linguistic savant seems kind of unlikely. Which always made me wonder about Tammet. I was willing to let the stuff from the memory community pass as sour grapes, but one thing got me thinking... One poster on obsoletenetwork pointed out that Tammet told Richard and Judy that he can't understand metaphors... but when he learnt Icelandic, he created metaphors of his own. Which doesn't really compute. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5846 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 33 03 November 2011 at 7:56pm | IP Logged | ||
In the DVD - documentary about savants I quoted in my post above it is said that so far there are about 100 known savants worldwide and that about 50 % of them are autists. There are many more male savants than female savants. Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 03 November 2011 at 7:58pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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