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Your personal polyglot ideal | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| sirgregory Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6551 days ago 35 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 33 of 125 13 June 2006 at 12:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Some on this thread have raised the complex issue of achieving native fluency vs. just very good, second-language fluency.
I personally don't think it's possible to have true native fluency in more than 2, perhaps 3, languages. I grew up speaking English, and that will always be my language. I am, in a way, a co-owner of the language. Because it is mine, I have the right to alter it, adapt it, coin new words/phrases/expressions, and even make mistakes. It's the way I talk. Any other languages I learn are, in my opinion, lent to me by the natural speakers of that language. Through much study and diligence, many students of a language surpass native speakers in some areas. For instance, it is not very hard to learn to read Spanish better than many natives because many are, unfortunately, illiterate or semi-literate. Likewise, language learners study so much grammar that they can avoid many common errors (if they can be called such) made by natives. Nontheless, the native, no matter how uneducated, is the true speaker, and the learner is just borrowing it. Language is inseparable from culture; therefore, becoming a native speaker of Italian requires becoming an Italian. So, from my perspective, it doesn't make a huge difference if you have a non-native accent on your 5th language since it's impossible to have that many native languages anyway. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ishikawa Minoru Diglot Newbie Portugal Joined 6571 days ago 31 posts - 33 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishC2 Studies: Japanese | Message 34 of 125 05 July 2006 at 5:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
Indeed.This is one of the most frustrating aspects of language learning and cultural assimilation in general. I have been learning Japanese for almost a year now and have made some progress,namely in the field of Kanji learning.After a couple dozen hours of diligent study(which,I admit,could and should be more frequent) I have come to master,to some extent,some 2000 symbols,general referred to as the "Kanji in general use". Surprisingly enough I have found myself being able to read,write and remember characters native Japanese speakers(both in real life and from what I saw on talk shows)have simply forgotten. However,I am painfuly aware I will never be able to surpass them in other fields because I wasn't raised Japanese. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 6825 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes  Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 35 of 125 05 July 2006 at 6:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
I agree. This gives rise to the scenario which occurs when mistakes are made. When a native makes a mistake in the language it is just shrugged off as a momentary lapse, but if a learner makes the same mistake then it is instantly spotted as being completely wrong (at least, that's the impression I get!).
I agree entirely. For example, those who are struggling to learn just 500 Chinese characters should take heart in the fact that there are millions (billions?) of people who probably cannot even understand one character let alone 500. I think that the only way to acheive native fluency in any language would be to be totally surrounded in that language from birth, but in how many languages can this be achieved in? Two, three, four? 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| patlajan Triglot Groupie United States Joined 6959 days ago 59 posts - 65 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Turkish Studies: German, Mandarin, French | Message 36 of 125 14 July 2006 at 1:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
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My ideal would be to speak clearly and sound educated, i.e. correct grammar and substantial vocabulary in five major languages, at least two being asian. I have always been very impressed with those who could switch effortlessly between three or more very different languages.
As an american accents don't concern me an much as they do some of my European friends. The version of English spoken in parts of the rural south is far more difficult to understand than a thick Italian or Slavic accent. I remember Barry Farber said in his book: that if he had a conversation with someone the night before and woke up the next morning and could not remember the language they had spoken, than he had achived his goal. I feel this is a pretty good measure 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7015 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 37 of 125 14 July 2006 at 3:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
I always read that as he drank until he blacked out. Edited by luke on 14 July 2006 at 3:07pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| sirgregory Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6551 days ago 35 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 38 of 125 14 July 2006 at 6:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
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This thread has got me wondering about what circumstances would be most conducive to becoming a polyglot. I was thinking that if you had, say, three disimilar native languages that you could later on acquire the other languages you wish to learn much more easily. For example, suppose a future polyglot is born to a Chinese mother, a Russian father, and is raised in Spain. Here, the future polyglot would have a command of cases(Russian), subjunctive(Spanish), tones(Chinese), and who knows what else. Later on, let's suppose he/she marries an American spouse and becomes a professor of languages and can devote all his/her time to languages. I should think under the circumstances it would be possible to learn many, many languages.
I just threw out the Chinese/Russian/Spanish as an example. What do you think would be the ideal combination to facilitate future language learning. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Tjerk Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Belgium Joined 6567 days ago 54 posts - 59 votes Speaks: Dutch*, Flemish*, English, Spanish, French Studies: Swedish | Message 39 of 125 16 July 2006 at 4:28am | IP Logged | |||||
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I would say (supposing that the parents are smart enough to make sure their kid gets fast English Second language) any three out of
A far east language/A slavic languags/an indian language/an arabic language/an african language fi Swahili, Hindi, Korean or Russian, Japanese, Arab 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6578 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 40 of 125 16 July 2006 at 11:18am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think that the only way to acheive native fluency in any language
would be to be totally surrounded in that language from birth. They are rare, but I've met people who spoke second and third languages, acquired in adulthood, better than native speakers. It takes work and a commitment to perfection, among other things. but in how many languages can this be achieved in? Two, three, four? If you're talking about children, it depends a lot on the child. Some children take easily to being raised in several linguistic environments; some refuse to speak anything other than one language. The worst is immigrant parents who try not to speak their own language at home, and the children end up with no native language at all (just a pidgin). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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