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Polyglots who aren’t good at languages | ||
Tags: Polyglot | Difficulty | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| JacobTM Groupie United States Joined 5600 days ago 56 posts - 67 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 6 14 November 2010 at 6:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm currently living in Bogotá, Colombia, in an appartment with 3 other people. 2 of
these people are Colombians, and both have very good English. One is dating a Lithuanian girl. This girl speaks Lithuanian, Russian, English, and is learning Spanish. Her Russian is better than her English, and her English, while not perfect, is definitely fluent. She studied for 2 years in a university in the UK, so that should give you some idea of her level. But her Spanish is pretty awful. She has been dating a Colombian guy for a while, and has been living in Colombia for a few months, but really she isn't taking Spanish seriously at all, and always talks to everyone in the house in English. In fact, I probably make her speak more Spanish than the Colombians do, because to them it's a great opportunity to practice their English. I was always under the impression that as one learned more languages, the whole process of learning became easier. I wonder how many languages one could learn without really ever getting "good" at learning languages... Edited by JacobTM on 14 November 2010 at 6:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Liface Triglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Lif Joined 5860 days ago 150 posts - 237 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Dutch, French | Message 2 of 6 14 November 2010 at 7:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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If someone does not speak languages well, they are not a polyglot.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Tropi Diglot Groupie Austria Joined 5433 days ago 67 posts - 87 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Mandarin | Message 3 of 6 14 November 2010 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well she was probably raised bilingual so Lithunian and Russian are her first languages. So she will be totally fluent in these but will be unaware of the grammar unless she studied it. Like kids: They speak a language perfectly well but they won't be able to explain why something is wrong or right.
So English is her first foreign language, which is rather easy to learn. There are tons of material and you are confronted with English in your daily life. The grammar is easy, you can practice nearly with everyone, you learn it at school. You don't have to be a language expert to pick up at least a basic level of English. And for the Spanish thing: Since she is fluent in 3 languages she might not feel comfortable in speaking a language in which she knows just a few words. Of course it's contra productive but I think we all have missed a chance to talk to a native speaker of our target language because we where too shy and didn't want to embarrass ourselves. 1 person has 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 4 of 6 15 November 2010 at 12:55am | IP Logged | ||
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I would find it idiotic to live so close to people who speak another language without trying to learn it properly, - especially if you already have taken the initial steps.
But I don't find it strange that you might want to learn some languages well while neglecting others. For instance I can read both Ancient French and Ancient Occitan, but I have concluded that that I don't have the proper resources to 'activate' those languages. If I had those resources I would definitely want to lift them to at least basic fluency. I have also some basic knowledge about several Slavic languages, but right now I don't have time to study them properly. But if I had native speakers around me I would definitely use the opportunity. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5671 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 5 of 6 15 November 2010 at 7:31am | IP Logged | ||
Easier, yes, but still a lot of work.Assuming that polyglots have it easy, or are "gifted", underplays the tremendous hard work they continue to put in to their languages. Look at Luca, for example, who speaks a wide range of languages to a very high level. He has stated it takes him about two years of hard work to reach high levels in a new language. Plus, if she isn't interested in Spanish, I don't see a problem. To me, it is a bit like saying "this guy is great at playing the guitar, but sucks at playing the piano". Maybe she just isn't interested in undertaking the long journey and immense effort that learning Spanish would require. 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| litovec Tetraglot Groupie Switzerland lingvometer.com Joined 5133 days ago 42 posts - 60 votes Speaks: German, Russian, French, English | Message 6 of 6 15 November 2010 at 11:43am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with Tropi, she must have acquired Lithuanian and Russian in a billingual environment and was drilled in English during the whole schooltime and later on at the university. Thus, it might have taken 10+ years for her to achieve the fluency in English.
So, she needs her time to learn Spanish properly given the lack of motivation and probably some psychological barriers. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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