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Your personal polyglot ideal | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6719 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 9 of 125 15 February 2006 at 4:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
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So far a lot of replies with definitions of what a polyglot "is".
Is it also you personal goal to achieve this native-like fluency? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 6825 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 10 of 125 15 February 2006 at 5:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
Just answering my interpretation of the question posed :)
I'd be content with just reading and understanding fluently in quite a few languages, since I'm actually not that bothered about speaking or writing, but I realise that this will obviously vary depending on the individual. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| M-Squared Senior Member United States Joined 6949 days ago 117 posts - 118 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 11 of 125 15 February 2006 at 8:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
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While I'm impressed by somebody who speaks a foreign language without
an accent, it isn't part of my idea of a polyglot. I agree with Frankeld, if the accent is clear and understandable I think that is fine. I'd rather hear a gentle foreign accent with clear diction and good word choice than a native accent with sloppy speaking habits. My image of the ideal polyglot is one who knows very well a number of dissimiliar languages. Covering two East Asian languages, something from the Middle East, something African, and a few others is much more my ideal than knowing a slew of European languages. Another part of my ideal would be knowledge of one really obscure language, something where the learning materials are really poor and opportunities to learn are really tough. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6700 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 12 of 125 15 February 2006 at 8:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
While I agree with that, and wish I had the time and resources to attain a similar goal, I don't think polyglots who have focussed solely on European languages should be dismissed entirely. After all, Europe does have a rather wide range of languages on offer. Basque, Hungarian and Finnish, to name a few, are all unique and challenging in their own ways. If you include the Caucasus region as being part of Europe, you also have Georgian, Armenian and Turkish to consider. I would still be awe to anyone who studied these, regardless of whether they were 'European' languages. However, I would not be quite as impressed if that person focussed solely on, say, Romance languages or Germanic languages, though I probably would still be envious of their abilities! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7186 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 13 of 125 16 February 2006 at 12:00am | IP Logged | |||||
Well yes, I try to speak perfectly and without accent, but I realize that I probably won't be able to achieve that goal ever, apart perhaps in Italian.I speak English pretty well but you can tell me as a foreigner after two phrases I guess. The nice thing is that I don't learn languages for what other people think about me. I think it's important to understand one's ideals even though one can use them only as directions rather than destinations of a journey. The better I speak each language, the more pleased I'll be. If I ever succeed in speaking accentlessly more than a few languages, I'll try to learn a couple new ones. This being said I fully respect people who have different polyglot ideals such as being able to read from as many different languages as possible, or learning the basics of highly difficult and original languages, etc... At the end of the day we live only once and we deserve to live according to what we think is important. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| maxb Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6993 days ago 536 posts - 589 votes 7 sounds Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Mandarin | Message 14 of 125 16 February 2006 at 3:37am | IP Logged | |||||
Well if your pronounciation is correct how could you still have an accent? Or do you mean to say that as long as the sounds of the language are correct we shouldn't bother with intonation? If that is what you are saying I must disagree. Intonation is more important than the sounds of the language. I have read that the more native like your intonation is the easier it is for native speakers to communicate with you, because if your intonation is correct they can just relax and the language slips in easily. If your intonation is very strange and dissimilar to a native speaker everyone would have to make an effort to speak with you and are more likely to switch to english. It is much better to have correct intonation and mispronounce some sounds slightly than the other way around. This is of course especially true in tonal languages where intonation bears meaning. Some people say that you shouldn't bother with tones in Chinese because people understand you anyway. Sure they might, but they probably will not find talking to you a very enjoyable experience. Edited by maxb on 16 February 2006 at 4:12am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Raistlin Majere Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Spain uciprotour-cycling.c Joined 6962 days ago 455 posts - 424 votes 7 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish*, Catalan*, FrenchA1, Italian, German Studies: Swedish | Message 15 of 125 16 February 2006 at 4:40am | IP Logged | |||||
Yes, that is what I mean to say. Different natives from different regions have different accents, yet none is not correct.
I've never found anybody who's been accused of having a bad intonation, but many people who are accused of not pronouncing well a sound. It is true that in tonal languages, intonation is very important, but I don't agree it is for other languages. Would you accuse an Argentinian of speaking bad Spanish because they've got a different intonation? No. Would he speak a bad Spanish if he pronounced "d" like "x"? Yes. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7186 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 16 of 125 16 February 2006 at 5:48am | IP Logged | |||||
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Gentlemen, nobody is 'accusing' anybody of having 'a bad accent'. If my ideal is to speak accentlessly I did not mean to insult anybody's honor if they feel they have a foreign accent in the languages they speak.
By 'accent' I mean non-native accent. Every native speaker has at least two accents : social and regional, and that is not the issue. Raistlin please tell us your own personal ideal of polyglottery, you do not need to share other people's personal ideals. There is no such thing as a 'correct personal ideal of polyglottery'. I did not mean to tell you what your ideal should be! Thank you Edited by administrator on 16 February 2006 at 5:49am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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