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Polygot under 18

 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots Post Reply
113 messages over 15 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 11 ... 14 15 Next >>
ilylavi
Diglot
Newbie
France
stitch-loves-tekila.
Joined 5878 days ago

10 posts - 10 votes
Speaks: French*, English
Studies: German, Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 81 of 113
21 October 2008 at 7:19am | IP Logged 
I'm French, and my friends who can speak several languages are come from abroad. One of them can speak 4 languages, and she is only 17. She's Romanian, she had learn English and Spanish in her country, and she speaks French since she lives there. I've also English or Turkish friends who lives in France (they're diglot).

I think that be a teenager isn't an handicap to learn languages, but it's more difficult 'cause you can't travel where you want when you want.
1 person has voted this message useful



bela_lugosi
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Finland
Joined 6453 days ago

272 posts - 376 votes 
Speaks: English, Finnish*, Italian, Spanish, German, Swedish
Studies: Russian, Estonian, Sámi, Latin

 
 Message 82 of 113
24 October 2008 at 6:20pm | IP Logged 
^Good point. Most teenagers can't go abroad to practise.

By the time I turned 18 I was perfectly bilingual in Finnish and English, and I spoke fairly good German and Swedish, too. The year before I had started to study Italian (mostly by myself) which was to become my third best language and in which I'm very fluent. Later on I learnt Spanish as well.
1 person has voted this message useful



Cisa
Super Polyglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 6418 days ago

312 posts - 309 votes 
2 sounds
Speaks: Hungarian*, Slovak, FrenchC1, EnglishC2, Mandarin, SpanishB2, RussianB2, GermanB2, Korean, Czech, Latin
Studies: Italian, Cantonese, Japanese, Portuguese, Polish, Hindi, Mongolian, Tibetan, Kazakh, Vietnamese, Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 83 of 113
30 October 2008 at 12:38pm | IP Logged 
I totally agree!

Not taking the financial side of it, although I´m already 19, my parents still don´t let me go abroad alone. Maybe this summer to China, which will be a huge step for both us from this point-of-view. I´ve also been this year there, but not alone, they were still dead worried about me!

Edited by Cisa on 30 October 2008 at 12:39pm

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Olympia
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5980 days ago

195 posts - 244 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Old English, French

 
 Message 84 of 113
26 December 2008 at 12:37pm | IP Logged 
Well, I'm not sure if this has been posted here before, but the website/blog
Multitongue Kids documents the life of a mother raising
her two children with several languages. She is Italian and speaks only Italian with her children; her husband is
Belgian and speaks only Dutch with the children. They live in France and their children attend French school and
have a French-speaking nanny. They are also exposed to English because the parents speak English with each
other because that was their only common language at the time they met. Their two young sons speak French,
Italian, and Dutch fluently, and have limited knowledge of English. It's really quite interesting.
1 person has voted this message useful



Frost
Newbie
United States
Joined 5802 days ago

27 posts - 26 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Norwegian, Faroese, Greek

 
 Message 85 of 113
03 March 2009 at 5:51am | IP Logged 
Baaaaaaaah, reading through this thread makes me feel like an idiot. Though my family came from Italy, Italian was never spoken around me (despite how proud my family is of their Italian background). English was the only language I was ever around. Additionally, I am an unfortunate victim of the United States educational system where a foreign language I had no interest in (Spanish) was thrust upon me! And I don't even live anywhere near the Mexican border!

Thankfully, I recently was exposed to the joys of language-learning as I dabbled in some Norwegian and Greek and worked on some Faroese with a friend I made who comes from Tórshavn. But still, the urge of becoming fluent in another language is very pressing and I'm still waiting to make the plunge into either Russian or Arabic.

Edited by Frost on 03 March 2009 at 5:52am

1 person has voted this message useful



RedRabbit
Newbie
United States
Joined 5834 days ago

17 posts - 17 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 86 of 113
04 March 2009 at 6:05am | IP Logged 
Frost wrote:
Baaaaaaaah, reading through this thread makes me feel like an idiot. Though my family came from Italy, Italian was never spoken around me (despite how proud my family is of their Italian background). English was the only language I was ever around. Additionally, I am an unfortunate victim of the United States educational system where a foreign language I had no interest in (Spanish) was thrust upon me! And I don't even live anywhere near the Mexican border!

Thankfully, I recently was exposed to the joys of language-learning as I dabbled in some Norwegian and Greek and worked on some Faroese with a friend I made who comes from Tórshavn. But still, the urge of becoming fluent in another language is very pressing and I'm still waiting to make the plunge into either Russian or Arabic.

My grandmother is German, yet I only know two German words, and she doesn't know how to speak it anymore. I know people who were born in other countries but moved to the US as children and just forgot their native tongue because everyone else is monolingual in English. It seems like the US has a peculiar ability for stifling multilinguality. There were quite a bit of people who were bilingual between Spanish and English where I used to live, but most of them all lived in the same neighborhood, and at school the native Spanish-speakers kept to themselves, so as a white person I unfortunately never got many opportunities to speak Spanish to anyone.
1 person has voted this message useful



japangirlcmw
Tetraglot
Newbie
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5774 days ago

4 posts - 4 votes
Speaks: German, Norwegian, English*, Japanese

 
 Message 87 of 113
13 March 2009 at 4:47am | IP Logged 
I'm 18, and I speak English, German, Japanese, and marginal Norwegian (you don't use it, you lose it). It's really a motivation thing, if you didn't grow up in a bilingual household. I didn't, I just learn languages--It's my passion.
1 person has voted this message useful



apatch3
Diglot
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 6184 days ago

80 posts - 99 votes 
Speaks: Pashto, English*
Studies: Japanese, FrenchA2

 
 Message 88 of 113
13 March 2009 at 11:17am | IP Logged 
yep ... i don't know how i would have begun learning japanese if i hadn't grown up in a bilingual household, its really easy if you're bilingual because the wiring is already there you just have to add a few more doohickeys here and there XD.


1 person has voted this message useful



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