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Gay and a polygot? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6461 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 34 of 79 16 May 2008 at 1:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Let me just toss this idea out: for the most part, gay people have often felt like outsiders, and have had to adapt to a world that can seem pretty foreign. In many cases, gay people have felt the need at least some of the time to conceal this difference, and would probably tend to develop the skills necessary to go along with the larger population. These skills might overlap with the skills that help language learning.
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| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6241 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 35 of 79 16 May 2008 at 1:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
I'd say that being gay might help with cultural integration, in that one may already be used to having to do a certain amount of acting, think a bit more, actively work on blending in or explaining, and deal with cultural norms that can feel foreign. This could all be useful in an immersion environment. I'd also say it could be a disadvantage; I'd say this really depends on the person, attitude, personality, culture of origin, target culture, etc. On the other hand, for the purely linguistic aspects of language study, I fail to see any reasons why gays would have an advantage. That a percentage of gays may be biologically advantaged in language is a different issue - the handedness links I pointed to earlier suggests that this might be the case, as being left-handed is positively correlated both with physical differences in brain structure relevant to language, and with homosexuality. (I'm right-handed - drats! I doubt it's that important though.) Edited by Volte on 16 May 2008 at 1:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Alvinho Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 6036 days ago 828 posts - 832 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish | Message 36 of 79 22 May 2008 at 10:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
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well, there's woman inside of me and she's a lesbian....
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| Maximus Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6551 days ago 417 posts - 427 votes Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Thai | Message 37 of 79 23 May 2008 at 1:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
Ha, ha, ha, well said my friend! I suppose that if I too were not a lesbian trapped in a man's body, I wouldn't be able to master Japanese! By the way, I wonder if there is a relationship between podophilia (love of footsies, not kids) and success in languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Garaidh Decaglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5865 days ago 43 posts - 57 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Croatian, Serbian, French Studies: Scottish Gaelic Studies: Faroese | Message 38 of 79 23 May 2008 at 1:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
Given that you have been advised by other forum members that calling homosexuality 'sexual deviancy' is offensive, I would not have thought you would have continued by joking that there is a link between 'podophilia' and linguistic ability. For someone who purports to being a keen linguist, I would have thought you would have appreciated the power and impact of words. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Maximus Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6551 days ago 417 posts - 427 votes Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Thai | Message 39 of 79 23 May 2008 at 4:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
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"Given that you have been advised by other forum members that calling homosexuality 'sexual deviancy' is offensive"
I have? Now who has complained about the use of "sexual deviance"? And I don't see why it is so offensive anyway. Say that one deviates from normal sexual behaviour is no not sufficiently PC for this forum? Dude, if that offends you I suppose that words like blackboard, the baa baa black sheep song and the clothing store Topman offend you, is it so? This PC nonsense has just gotten out of hand in recent years. I used the term sexual deviance because it saves me from using immature and childish words like "gay" for example. For me, when someone uses the word gay, it sounds like they are 10 years old and as though they were using it to attack a fellow schoolchild with their primary school level name calling. For that I avoid using such words when possible, prefering to use more adult words like sexual deviance and homosexual. I have not used this threat to offend people, I have not attacked the homosexual community, I have just stated that I think that it is silly that the "sympathizers" try to attribute everything to one's sexual differences. When living in Spain, I just happened to livy with some crazy woman who happened to be a "sympathizer", and even went as far a saying that homosexuals are a superior lifeform and tbat all the greats of time have been homosexuals. I don't know exact why she expresses the bold and unfounded statements. Just this thread reminded me of "sympathizers" like her. "I would not have thought you would have continued by joking that there is a link between 'podophilia' and linguistic ability." Oh, and you think that a proposed link between podophilia and linguistic ability is any more nonsensical than the idea that one's sexual preferences can determine linguistic ability? I like the podal beauty of cute asian footsies, but I don't go about making claims that this makes me better at languages than, for example, the guy who likes belly buttons or the guy who likes big butts and I cannot lie, all you other brothers can't deny! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 5836 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 40 of 79 24 May 2008 at 1:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Maximus, actually the key thing is left handedness. If it correlates both with language ability and homosexuality, then it is reasonable to expect a higher percentage of homosexual people with strong language skills. The two things are not directly connected, they just happen to share the same origin (eg. something uncommon in the brain.) Basically this means that if all of a sudden you start practicing sex with your own gender that won't really improve your language skills but you can give it a try because it is fun anyway :)
However, associating left-handedness with language skills seems to me a bit strange. It is usually artistic talent and/or mathematical ability. There are quite a few historical examples (the most notorious being the not-so-straight Leonardo da Vinci). But, who knows :p Edited by Sennin on 24 May 2008 at 2:30pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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