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Second thoughts about "polyglottery" | ||
Tags: Polyglottery | Motivation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery |  | |
| Jar-ptitsa Triglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5700 days ago 980 posts - 1006 votes  Speaks: French*, Dutch, German | Message 9 of 26 11 December 2008 at 5:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Or "International Philology"?
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 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6505 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 10 of 26 11 December 2008 at 6:00pm | IP Logged | |||||
Valid point, but personally I prefer to be seen as a polyglot with an interest in cultural phenomena in general, not only literature. In spite of having studied philology at an institute with that word in its name I feel more comfortable with the word polyglottery. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| peppelanguage Triglot Groupie ItalyRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5666 days ago 90 posts - 94 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, English Studies: French, Swedish | Message 11 of 26 11 December 2008 at 7:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
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mmm I thought a bit about it (REALLY REALLY a bit...) and I found "Policulture", "Policulturate" and "Policulturacy" to be fine...don't you think??I think they convey the sense of CULTURE more than language, that's true, but I think most of the polyglots know that to know WELL a Culture you need to know its language too...Even if I still like "polyglot" and "polyglottery" more than them...hope to be helpful...
best regards, Giuseppe 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jar-ptitsa Triglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5700 days ago 980 posts - 1006 votes Speaks: French*, Dutch, German | Message 12 of 26 12 December 2008 at 8:29am | IP Logged | |||||
They criticised your word, but which suggestion had they for this, which they have found better? Sometimes people are nasty and criticise but they haven't a better idea, especially if it's a new thing or different that what they think. They want always absolute conformity and they don't like other things, but if you like the word "polyglot" then those people must accept it I think. It's a clear word, the significance is internationally evident, which is good and therefore better that those other ones you wrote. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ProfArguelles Moderator United States foreignlanguageexper Joined 7058 days ago 609 posts - 2102 votes | Message 13 of 26 12 December 2008 at 4:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
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600 views and 12 responses within a 24 hour period - I never imagined that this topic would arouse so much interest!
Well, thank you all very, very much indeed for all the suggestions and the ideas. I am particularly enamored of some of the things Marc Frisch contributed, namely the whole idea of “polyliteracy,” the qualification of polyglottery with a preface of “cultural” or “literary,” and the substitution of SS for TT to obtain polyglossery. The last notion, in particular, is indeed a much prettier-sounding word that conveys the idea of studiousness even more than the original, suggesting building of multiples glossaries rather than merely multiple tongues. It also sounds similar enough without conveying the negative associations I was warned of… As for the Arabic/Sanskrit/Chinese derivatives, while I clearly like the idea, I also quite obviously recognize that they are unfortunately all too alien to find acceptance… The problem with philology is, as some have noted, that while the original comparative philology as practiced in the 19th century has disappeared, in certain countries there still exist “philological faculties,” and so it would require much padding, neo-comparative philology or something like that, to make it clear. At any rate, I seem to sense a consensus that it might be best to stick with polyglottery. I do feel that, if there are those out there who make automatic negative associations because of prejudgments about the very notion of polyglots, then it would certainly be nice to reform the word, as it were, by establishing that it is possible to learn multiple languages well through serious applied study. Well, I will continue to cogitate the matter, and hope that a few more suggestions and opinions come forward as well. Many thanks to all! Alexander Arguelles 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| didaskolos Newbie United States Joined 6644 days ago 10 posts - 46 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Ancient Greek, Modern Hebrew, Sign Language, Mandarin | Message 14 of 26 12 December 2008 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
Unfortunately, academia is frequently characterized by inertia of thought as well as homogeneity of career development. There is often little tolerance for those who would dare transgress the traditions of their elders. Unfortunately, most academics will assess a "new" field on the basis of how it fits in with the existing framework of knowledge. Most "new" fields are named by adding adjectives in front of the general field (e.g. "Solid-State Physics" or "High-Energy Physics"). Using an existing academic term will create an immediate link with the existing knowledge framework of academics. Using a new term will probably create an immediate impression that something does not fit in. Adding a descriptive adjective or two in front of the accepted name for a discipline is probably the least disruptive course of action. Another possibility is using the adjectival form of an accepted term. While not very elegant, terms such as "systematic multilingual philology", "comprehensive multilingual philology", or "systematic philological studies" would probably be more acceptable to academics. My gut feeling is that some term like "systematic" should be included to reflect the depth and breadth of the studies involved. The most descriptive terms I can think of for 1. and 2. in the original post are: 1. Systematic Diachronic Comparative Philology (SDCP), and 2. Systematic Diachronic Comparative Philological Studies in the Humanities. I know. "Unwieldy" and "ugly" may be compliments for these suggestions. However, put them in this context. "I am a researcher in systematic diachronic comparative philology. SDCP researchers spend years developing a basis of multilingual fluency in multiple language families in order to carry out comparative and diachronic studies of the world's languages and literature." For comparison, here's what I do. 1. "I design magnets for use in sensors." versus 2. "I create algorithms for finding optimized and constrained solutions of permanent magnet designs using nonlinear local optimizations of closed formed solutions of Maxwell's equations and empirical data." Much of the time, I use number one. When I'm talking to technical people, it's number two. I think that having two sets of terms and descriptions, academic and colloquial, is perhaps the best way to go. Among friends, it's "polyglottery"; among the erudite, it's "SDCP". Steve 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jmlgws Senior Member Canada Joined 6904 days ago 102 posts - 104 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Spanish, Mandarin | Message 15 of 26 14 December 2008 at 8:44am | IP Logged | |||||
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Professor Arguelles,
In "The Story of French" (Nadeau/Barlow), the authors describe the concept of "plurilingualism", i.e. the active promotion of using multiple languages (in this context, for international affairs, but presumably this could be applied elsewhere). This is distinct from multilingualism as an institution can use many official languages while each individual may not. Perhaps what you are teaching/studying is "plurilinguality", and are training "plurilinguists"? I am not sure whether this is any more clear/less objectionable than "polyglottery/polyglots", but it might spur further thoughts from you or others here. Best regards, Lleweilun Smith 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| TheElvenLord Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5882 days ago 915 posts - 927 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Cornish, English* Studies: Spanish, French, German Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 16 of 26 14 December 2008 at 12:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
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My suggestion would be Multi-lingual or Pluri-lingual
TEL 1 person has voted this message useful |
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