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Definition of Polyglot | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5381 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 1 of 29 14 October 2010 at 7:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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Alright guys, I know it's been awhile and I haven't been as active as I once was, but college is taking it's toll on me and I have to abandon some hobbies for the moment just to stay afloat.
In the meantime, I have to write an essay on "Defining a term that the public may use incorrectly or not even know of." I chose polyglot. This is going to probably be a long thread, and all opinions are welcome. (Seeing as I need them in order to write a working rough draft of this paper by next Thursday.) In your eyes, and for the general language learning community, "What is a polyglot?" and how is it defined (I know you hate this question, but this is the basis of my paper) Where did it come from and when did the term "polyglot" start being used? Is polyglot an ugly name? Is it associated with being nerdy/weird/etc? Whats the difference between being a polyglot and being multilingual? What is a general misconception about the term? ANY other opinions or questions about the term that you have are welcome. I really need anything and everything for this paper. I figured while I was "away" from studying like I used to, why not write a paper about something I love. PS. Please do not let this thread get out of hand. Arguing/fighting etc. I need this all for research, and the more opinions and answers, the better. :) thanks Thank you so much, and I miss HTLAL :( Jordan Edited by datsunking1 on 14 October 2010 at 7:45pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BiaHuda Triglot Groupie Vietnam Joined 5159 days ago 97 posts - 127 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Vietnamese Studies: Cantonese | Message 2 of 29 14 October 2010 at 8:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am editing this since I searched around the forum to see what was listed here.
You've got your Monoglots, Diglots and Triglots. Moving on you have Tetraglots for four languages, Pentaglots for five. When you start getting into the heavy hitters Fasulye is a Heptaglot with nine and Iverson is a Super Polyglot with 11 languages listed. I would think that the definition here is 10 languages. I could never figure out the whole Hyperglot, Super Polyglot definition though, I guess that Iverson having more than ten is a Super. It's interesting that people who list seperate native languages have their title accompanied by the prefix Bilingual, i.e. Bilingual Tetraglot. It would be interesting to start a thread to determine whether one could become bilingual without being a native speaker of both languages? It could be as contentious as the fluency thing? Edited by Fasulye on 15 October 2010 at 7:19am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6499 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 3 of 29 14 October 2010 at 10:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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We have had some heated discussions about how many languages you need to speak to be a polyglot and how well you need to speak them, but I'm not sure that the meaning as such is obscure - 'poly' means 'many' in Greek, and as far as I know the word is consistently used about people who know 'many' languages.
In contrast the word "linguist" is sometimes used as a synonym for 'polyglot', but its rightful meaning is "someone who studies language(s) from a scientific perspective". More threads about the definition of "polyglots" (and multilinguists): http://how-to-learn-any-language.com /forum /forum_posts.asp?T ID=841 http://how-to-learn-any-language.com /forum /forum_posts.asp?T ID=12737 http://how-to-learn-any-language.com /forum /forum_posts.asp?T ID=17440 http://how-to-learn-any-language.com /forum /forum_posts.asp?T ID=282 .. (vintage!) Degree of fluency needed: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=1974 and one about the notion of 'hyperpolyglots': http://how-to-learn-any-langua ge.com /forum /forum_posts.asp?T ID=89 Threads about the 'rule of seven', i.e. the claim that you cannet be really good at more than seven languages: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=7230 http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=5478 http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=4978 and one about the presumed number of 'unknown' polyglots: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=21852 Edited by Iversen on 14 October 2010 at 10:47pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5381 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 4 of 29 15 October 2010 at 12:06am | IP Logged | ||
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The people at HTLAL never let me down. Thanks so much!!
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6378 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 5 of 29 15 October 2010 at 3:43am | IP Logged | ||
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How about writing your essay on how there isn't such a thing as a term that the public uses incorrectly? A word means what people mean when they say it.
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| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6499 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 6 of 29 15 October 2010 at 1:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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Are you referring to my use of the word "rightful" in my previous post?
In that case I'll say that a significant minority of native speakers can start using a word in a different way, and then it becomes correct usage, no matter how idiotic the new usage is. In this case "linguist" will intrude on the area reserved for "polyglot", and this can only create confusion. But it may still be correct usage, if a lot of people insist on using the word about polyglots. But I will personally continue to reserve "linguist" for a researcher, not a speaker of languages, until the idiotic usage has become the only common one. Edited by Iversen on 16 October 2010 at 7:39pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6378 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 7 of 29 15 October 2010 at 2:07pm | IP Logged | ||
I wasn't referring to you; sorry if I wasn't clear. I was referring to the original assignment given to Datsunking. I agree with you on the polyglot/linguist distinction, made stronger by the fact that there is an actual science called linguistics. Of course, as you say, if the error becomes widespread enough it is no longer an error, no matter how me might disapprove of it. But I don't think the polyglot/linguist error is widespread enough at the moment. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6739 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 8 of 29 16 October 2010 at 4:09am | IP Logged | ||
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"The name of people who can speak many languages is 'polyglots'. I know personally four of the greatest ... Each of them can read, and translate from, at least 50 languages and can speak about 25 languages at varying levels from fluent to 'survival' standard.
... It is now considered that a person ought to know at least 10 languages to be called a 'polyglot'. By 'know' I mean here either read or speak or read + speak. To be able to say that one has 'mastered' a language one ought to be able to write it ..." From Armorey Gethin and Erik V. Gunnemark, "The art and science of learning languages" Edited by frenkeld on 16 October 2010 at 4:10am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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