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Are we being too hard on the polyglots? | ||
Tags: Polyglot bashing | Polyglot | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
 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 17 of 72 08 December 2010 at 8:11pm | IP Logged | |||||
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First, I did write that I appreciate the time people spend on commenting and correcting, and I do mean that!
I'm not terrified of getting criticism and I honestly do try to learn from the advice I get. What I tried to express, but maybe unsuccesfully, is that getting corrections isn't my motivation for making videos, it is just something that may or may not happen. I make those videos primarily for my own sake, but once they are in the box I don't see any reason for keeping them secret. If people then find them rotten and substandard and thoroughly bad then they are of course welcome to say so. They are also welcome not to watch them. Let me add that I had the same attitude to my musical compositions and paintings when I indulged in those activities, and right now it is also how I treat my travelogues - some are on the net (in Danish), but most are not. There is a difference between making and publishing something in order to get reactions and putting it somewhere where others can find it and maybe comment on it. Referring to the thread about introversion vs. extraversion, I tend to see myself as rather selfdriven in my activities. Edited by Iversen on 16 December 2010 at 10:45am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6715 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes Speaks: English* | Message 18 of 72 08 December 2010 at 8:41pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Despite their protests, some video polyglots are looking for controversy/negative attention/fame (or whatever you want to call it). Otherwise, they would not continue to post videos stating "Well, this morning I learned Albanian, Knaanic and Kashubian in less than an hour and here I am speaking them fluently".
It is like saying "I learned to play piano in an hour because I am a genius". Here is a video of me playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Please shower me with compliments about what a wonderful piano player I am. Now that I am done with the piano, I am going to learn to play the flute and the harp tomorrow. If anyone does not believe I am a piano expert, they are haters.
Edited by translator2 on 08 December 2010 at 8:43pm 14 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Polyglot_gr Super Polyglot Newbie Greece Joined 4891 days ago 29 posts - 64 votes Speaks: Greek*, FrenchC2, EnglishC2, GermanC2, Italian, SpanishC2, DutchC1, Swedish, PortugueseC1, Romanian, Polish, Catalan, Russian, Hungarian | Message 19 of 72 13 December 2010 at 9:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
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What everybody has to understand is that everyone of us has ONLY ONE native language and it is absurd to demand native-like fluency from non-native speakers. Even those who claim to be totally bilingual feel more familiar with one of the two languages.
A simple test to find out your native language is to imagine that something unexpected happens to you, e.g. you step on a piece of shit. In which language do you shout “Damn it”? Well, that’s your native language. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5465 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 20 of 72 13 December 2010 at 9:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
That can't be right. My native language is English, but I haven't spoken any English for a week (although I have typed some). The result, though, is that English is never on the tip-of-my-tongue, so when I swear, or shout out in panic, it is in Czech. This is due, of course, to my head being used to Czech as my daily language. It certainly doesn't make it my native language though. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Torbyrne Super Polyglot Senior Member Macedonia SpeakingFluently.com Joined 5891 days ago 126 posts - 721 votes Speaks: French, English*, German, Spanish, Dutch, Macedonian, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Czech, Catalan, Welsh, Serbo-Croatian Studies: Sign Language, Toki Pona, Albanian, Polish, Bulgarian, TurkishA1, Esperanto, Romanian, Danish, Mandarin, Icelandic, Modern Hebrew, Greek, Latvian, Estonian | Message 21 of 72 13 December 2010 at 10:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
This is a bit off-topic, but I like where it is going...so I am going to contribute... I have to agree with you, Anthony. Though there is something I can see in this native language thing. I would like to put forward the idea of the language one uses in shock or when seriously hurt. That is usually the core language of the person. An interesting fact for you on this point... When the Tsunami hit Thailand, there was a desperate need for Scandinavian interpreters as many people lost the ability to communicate in English at that time. I have also seen this happen to people firsthand in other life threatening situations and I had to translate for individuals who usually speak fluent English. It's quite a humbling experience. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6715 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes Speaks: English* | Message 22 of 72 13 December 2010 at 10:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
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When I drop something or bump into something accidentally, I always yell out "Scheisse" in German! It has become such a habit that I do not even know I am doing it.
Seriously though, learn at least one foreign language (meaning not one you grew up with as a native or semi-native) to an intermediate degree and then you will at least have some degree of perspective when you are talking about learning others. For example, there are two great polyglots who clearly speak advanced Chinese and are making an effort to learn several other languages. They know what it means to "learn a language" because they have done it. Compare them to another polyglot who studies a language for one day, considers himself fluent and quickly moves to the next one. He has never studied a language in depth and has no frame of reference for calling himself fluent or "able to speak the language". Yet, we are forbidden from calling this latter type of person delusional because we always have to be nice. I am sure that 80% of the people on this board could spend the day learning stock phrases/basic grammar in a new language and then post a video of ourselves on-line reciting these phrases. Big deal. But do we have the right to claim things like "I learned German in twenty minutes, next language please..." and expect to be taken seriously and receive no negative comments? As a community, we need to encourage one another in our studies, but to allow outrageous claims to go unchecked is to open the door to more craziness and we risk creating another legend a la Ziad Fazah. Here is a video of me speaking 52 languages... Well, here is MY video speaking 76 languages... 76, that's all... Here is my video speaking 120 languages and 78 dialects... and I did it all in two months. What is next: "Aliens landed in my yard last night and taught me the Jupterian language. Check out my video. They promised to return tomorrow and teach me Martian. Positive, supporting, nurturing and ego-boosting comments only please.". Sometimes negative comments can be used to encourage you. For example, when told I was learning Japanese, one person told me, oh you can't do that because you are over 40. It's too late now. That just made me want to try harder... Edited by translator2 on 13 December 2010 at 11:26pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5130 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 23 of 72 13 December 2010 at 11:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
I am sorry to disagree with you, but I have had so much experience to the contrary. Whenever I am in another country where I speak the language, and where I have a total immersion situation it will take 1-2 days before I start to dream, think and swear in the language. I have even hosted international meetings in Oslo, where the common language has been English, and had the same effect. If there is something that really makes you feel like a clown, it is when you bump into someone on the street in your own country, and your automatic reaction is to say "I'm sorry" in English. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6664 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 24 of 72 13 December 2010 at 11:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Very interesting turn. I almost never dream in any foreign language, at least that I can recall. The times I do dream in another language, it's usually me hearing natives speaking perfect Spanish or whatever, and I'm still speaking my adapted-learned version.
I also often swear in L2, especially German. Such a nice language for swearing. <3 1 person has voted this message useful |
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