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Help! Who can become a polyglot? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5336 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 9 of 28 03 February 2011 at 4:28am | IP Logged | ||
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Dear Kate,
Since I assume that at the age of 14, your research does not have to be at a university level, I will answer your questions, and hope there are more who will join in. 1. How many languages do you know? I can speak 6, read 2 more and am learning the 9th. 2. Where (what country) did you study? Norway, France, Spain 3. How much time is spent studying each language? Norwegian: 47 1/2 years (mother tongue) English: 8 years at school, 3.5 years at the University Spanish: 3 years of full immersion in Spain, 4.5 at the university French: I year full immersion in France, 1 year at the university Italian: A couple of months of self study, 5 weeks in Italy German: Two years at school, 3 weeks in Germany Swedish: Language really close to Norwegian, and I have read a lot of books, sang a lot of Swedish songs, listened to many hours of TV - difficult to say exactly how much time spent. Can speak it but sound funny and with a lot of Norwegian words mixed in. Danish: Language really close to Norwegian, read quite a lot of litereature in it, difficult to say how much time is spent. More than 95% understanding, but cannot speak it. Russian: 10 months of self study, 2 weeks in the Ukraine. 4. At what level do you know foreign language? (starter, elementary, intermediate, pre-intermediate ect.) Norwegian: Native, English and Spanish: Very advanced, French: Advanced, German Intermediate, Italian, Intermediate, Danish and Swedish: Very advanced passive skills, starter/elementary active skills, Russian: Elementary 5. What methods did you use to learn languages? Shool, university studies, immersion, self study 6. How old are you? 48 7. Where are you using your languages? (work, books, internet, communication ect.) I use English at work every day and on this forum every evening, the others more on and off for reading, watching films, communicating. Good luck with your research!! 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6870 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 10 of 28 03 February 2011 at 9:19am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree it's not very scientific, but it sounds like an interesting assignment.
1. How many languages do you know? I think this is a tricky question because "knowing" can mean be fluent in, or have a good grasp of the structure but not actively fluent, or just reading knowledge of, or just speaking knowledge but no grasp of the writing system, etc. But to keep it simple I'll assume you mean "fluent" (another dangerous term): 3 - English, Spanish, German. 2. Where (what country) did you study? America, Germany, Mexico. Also spent time in Peru but already knew Spanish there. 3. How much time is spent studying each language? English is my native language. German I studied on my own for a few hours for a year, and then a couple of hours a week for two years in college, and finally I spent about 9 months in Germany studying. I learned Spanish in a year while living in Mexico. I had a year of high school Spanish but learned just very basic stuff. In Mexico I taught myself grammar but most of what I learned I just picked up by listening to my friends and host families talk. I also have some basic knowledge of French, Esperanto, and Norwegian, but I've studied all of them on and off for years, with no set schedule over the years. For all of them I probably started off doing at least an hour a day for a few months to get a foundation in. 4. At what level do you know foreign language? (starter, elementary, intermediate, pre-intermediate ect.) English (Native) German (mid-advanced fluency) Spanish (advanced fluency) French (basic-intermediate knowledge) Esperanto (intermediate knowledge) Norwegian (basic knowledge) 5. What methods did you use to learn languages? For German and Spanish: in-country immersion For German: college courses For Spanish and French: high school courses For ALL of the languages: grammar books, self-study books, reading, movies, radio, internet chatting and finding other speakers. 6. How old are you? 25 7. Where are you using your languages? (work, books, internet, communication ect.) I use all of them for reading for fun. Spanish I've used in work. The rest I just use (so far) for occasionally speaking with people I meet. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6705 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 12 of 28 03 February 2011 at 10:21am | IP Logged | ||
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1. How many languages do you know?
(actively:) a) native language: Danish b) so advanced that I sometimes forget which language I'm thinking in: English c) just below that: German, French d) sufficiently fluent to be used exclusively during travels: Portuguese, Castilian (Spanish), Catalan, Italian + (less readily) Romanian, Dutch. Swedish and (to some exent) Norwegian also belong here, but with the difference that I can understand them at a much more advanced level e) just well enough to do simple conversations during travels (whether or not this has actually happened), but I understand them reasonably well and can write in them with the help of a dictionary: Latin, Modern Greek,Russian, Afrikaans, Esperanto, Bahasa Indonesian (mixed with Bahasa Malaysian), Scots, Low German, Icelandic Besides I can to some extent read and sometimes understand a number of languages that are close to those already mentioned - including old forms like Old Norse, Old French and Old Occitan. Unusable theoretical knowledge about Irish (Gaelic) and Tagalog 2. Where (what country) did you study? Mostly at home, but also during travels. No stays for study purposes abroad. 3. How much time is spent studying each language? Arrgh - I have no idea. Sometimes I watch TV in one language and make wordlists in another. How do you count hours in such a case? 4. At what level do you know foreign language? (starter, elementary, intermediate, pre-intermediate ect.) see question 1 5. What methods did you use to learn languages? I had Danish, English, German and Latin in school, I studied French at the university and followed also regular courses there in Italian, Romanian, Catalan and Icelandic plus courses that involved some Spanish and other languages. The rest is self study - actually everything after 1982 is purely selfstudy, including reviving those languages I just mentioned I have described my methods in detail in a five-part guide on this forum and in a number of videos on Youtube (as "NJLIversen"). But I would single out wordlists, the use of bilingual texts and thinking/writing in 'my' languages as the most important elements -at least until I can read and listen extensively and for fun. 6. How old are you? 57 7. Where are you using your languages? (work, books, internet, communication ect.) Speaking: Danish: daily, English: often, even at home. The rest: almot never at home, but sometimes during travel Writing, thinking: regularly - and this includes writing stuff (or making videos) on this forum Reading, watching TV (incl. internet TV): regularly, in the case of English probably more than even Danish Edited by Iversen on 03 February 2011 at 10:28am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5849 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 13 of 28 03 February 2011 at 2:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's interesting to read the answers people are giving to your questions, Kate. This motivates me to participate as well.
1. How many languages do you know? 7 languages which I can speak and write plus 3 languages on a beginner and lower intermediate level. 2. Where (what country) did you study? All in my native country Germany except two school years in the USA (1969 - 1971) 3. How much time is spent studying each language? It takes me years to learn a language but I don't study so many hours a week. If you want to have a more precise impression, have a look at my TAC log. 4. At what level do you know foreign language? (starter, elementary, intermediate, pre-intermediate ect.) - German, native language - Dutch, native level of a foreign language - English, advanced level - French, B2 - level - Italian, B2 - level - Esperanto, B2 - level - Spanish, B1 - level - Latin, only passive knowledge, has become a bit rusty - Danish, beginner level - Turkish, beginner level 5. What methods did you use to learn languages? Classes at University and the adult education center, private study goups, 2 years of experience with self-study 6. How old are you? - 49 years 7. Where are you using your languages? (work, books, internet, communication ect.) My whole life is involved with languages, I call this my polyglot lifestyle - letter ans e-mail correspondence - polyglot skyping - forum activies - cooking with foreign language recipes - meeting German friends to speak foreign languages with - thinking in foreign languages throughout the day - reading magazines of popular science in foreign languages - singing in foreing languages (English, Dutch, Esperanto) * Because of poverty I generally cannot travel exept to the Netherlands Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 03 February 2011 at 6:18pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| KTU Newbie Russian Federation Joined 5049 days ago 11 posts - 9 votes Speaks: Russian* Studies: English, German, Latin | Message 14 of 28 03 February 2011 at 5:07pm | IP Logged | ||
sorry:)
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| KTU Newbie Russian Federation Joined 5049 days ago 11 posts - 9 votes Speaks: Russian* Studies: English, German, Latin | Message 15 of 28 03 February 2011 at 5:15pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes, thank you, I read this book, it's helpful for me. But also I want to communicate with real polyglots, so I asked you about it.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| KTU Newbie Russian Federation Joined 5049 days ago 11 posts - 9 votes Speaks: Russian* Studies: English, German, Latin | Message 16 of 28 03 February 2011 at 5:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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Fasulye,Iversen,Kuikentje,Journeyer,Solfrid Cristin, Thank you very much for your help! Thank you for responding! I'm glad that I learned, about your languages! Perhaps, in the future I'll join to polyglots!:)
Edited by KTU on 03 February 2011 at 5:44pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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