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Claims of 50+ languages | ||
Tags: Hyperglot | Number of Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5177 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes  Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 17 of 57 30 May 2011 at 6:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
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If you find that you have a strong passion for languages, and you feel that you are particularly gifted, I don’t see why it should be perceived negatively that you would endeavour to push your limits by trying to use that gift to learn as many languages as you can. At the same time, if you have achieved that, do you not have a right to feel proud?
Different people have different motivations, but it’s perfectly justified to be proud of an exceptional achievement. 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5807 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 18 of 57 31 May 2011 at 11:12am | IP Logged | |||||
Some argue that it's harder to achieve accuracy in several related languages than unrelated ones, as they are more prone to interfere with each other. 1 person has 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 19 of 57 31 May 2011 at 11:27am | IP Logged | |||||
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The risk of interference is just the price you pay for getting busloads of words and constructions more or less for free.
8 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| futurianus Senior Member Korea, South starlightonclou Joined 4805 days ago 125 posts - 234 votes Speaks: Korean* | Message 20 of 57 05 June 2011 at 1:15am | IP Logged | |||||
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I would think that the desire to claim ability to speak as many languages as possible comes from an innate nature which is commom to us all, something in all of us which wants recognition and respect from others.
When one is seriously interested in polyglotism and is actively pursuing to be a polyglot, there would be times when one would think about showing off one's polyglot ability and receive awe and respect from others. I myself sometimes do so. If one has never thought thus, I would think that one will do so sooner or later, at least once, if not more, in one's lifetime. Being a polyglot indeed is a quite an accomplishment which requires much effort and overcoming of many hurdles for most people, giving all the more reason for desiring to be recognized and respected for their long and hard work and unique abilities. We might have much stronger desire for recognition and respect than those mentioned by Torbyrne. We could be more careful in inflating the number of languages we speak, in a situation where we could be effectively scrunitized(i.e., this forum). We could, however, be easily tempted to inflate those numbers in a situation where we feel we could do so and get away with it(i.e., among non-poliglot friends and acquaintances). Edit: changed some thoughts expressed. Edited by futurianus on 05 June 2011 at 9:36pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| futurianus Senior Member Korea, South starlightonclou Joined 4805 days ago 125 posts - 234 votes Speaks: Korean* | Message 21 of 57 05 June 2011 at 1:34am | IP Logged | |||||
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Comparison with music and sports:
I would think that people in general do somehow instinctively feel that learning several languages is far more difficult, complex and time consuming than mastering several musical instruments or being talented in several fields of sports such as running, jumping, swimming, etc, and unconsciously do attach greater awe and admiration to those who mastered many languages. If one is a gifted musician and is professionally trained in music theory and in at least one musical instrument, it might neither be as difficult nor take as much time to learn other musical instruments, even as the basic theories and principles of music are already thoroughly grounded, one's ears finely trained, one's musical sensibilities greatly sensitized, one's fingers much nimbled, and one's general capacity for music extremely expanded. When it comes to athletism which depends much on one's basic physical strength, agility, speed, instinct and endurance irregardless of field, it might not be as a great task to transfer those basic physical qualities to other fields of sports and excel in them. If one obtains gold medal in swimming, weight lifting, running and archery, of course, it would be an extraordinary achievement and one will become an instant sensation all around the world. If one is just good at them and cannot produce any medals in significantly recognized competitions, one would not likely go about boasting it, as it would not be recognized as something extremely unique and special, even as most people also could do many of them to a certain degree, though not as good. We all can run, jump and lift weights, and can easily learn playing a soccer, basketball, baseball and tennis ball. However, if one has a 5th degree black belt in Taewondo, 3rd degree in judo, 4th degree in aikido, and 3rd degree in kendo, publicly well recognized certifications in systems of sports and martial arts, which give evidence of many years of hard practice and mastery of the arts, one would be more inclined to boast about it and people would likely give one much respect and awe. In music and sports, one gains recognition through doing one thing exceptionally well, allowing only a very talented few among countless practicioners to gain recognition and be boastful about it. In languages, on the other hand, all those who can speak foreign languages to a certain level are often given unquestioned recognition and respect by laity--people do not even require them to submit any special medal or certifications to prove their fluency. This would make it easier for them to boast about it. These could be some of the reasons for there being more boasters in learning multiple languages than in music and sports. Edited by futurianus on 05 June 2011 at 9:42pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| portunhol Triglot Senior Member United States thelinguistblogger.w Joined 6048 days ago 198 posts - 299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (classical) | Message 22 of 57 16 June 2011 at 9:43am | IP Logged | |||||
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I would like to think that there is no mental limit for how many languages a human being can learn. I have been accused of optimism more than once here in the forums. I think our limits have more to do with time and lifestyle. There are only so many hours in a day and how many days a week are you going to need to use 20 languages in a dynamic way? As I've written elsewhere, I think maintaining two languages can be difficult if one has a monolingual lifestyle.
To answer the question: I do think that many people who claim high numbers are motivated to get attention but I think it's just a little more innocent than that for most of them. They really do believe they've accomplished something grand. They are simply less demanding than I am and many of you are when regarding a language learned. There is just a lack of consensus regarding what it means to speak a language. I've said it many times: we must always qualify! Saying we speak a high number of languages always invites people to test us; can we blame them? By saying that I am fluent in three, conversational in three others and have only a grasp of three others is probably more accurate than just saying I speak nine at a near native level. 1 person has 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 23 of 57 16 June 2011 at 1:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Language learning has been compared to learning to play musical instruments and to doing sports. Both comparisons are relevant when you consider the time and effort it takes to learn those things well, but the circumstances under which these activites are performed are quite different.
Some musicians perform on a main instrument and another which is closely related (for instance violin and viola, or obo and cor anglais), they may also conduct and sompose music, and they often have several instruments which they can play, though not in public. So there is definitely something similar to the polyglot community, but you will rarely hear people boasting that they can play fifty instruments in addition to composing, conducting and singing. If you hear that a musican performs on the violin, but also play the viola, cello, piano and trumpet in private then you may agree that this is a versatile fellah, but you would not be terribly surprised. I think this is similar to the situation in multilingual societies, where you find it positive but not surprising that somebody speaks four or five languages. It is the same situation in sports: top performers are known for one sport (or maybe even one discipline within that sport), but you are not terribly surprised to hear that a soccer player also plays golf. The big difference between sports, language learning and music is that the competitive element has penetrated even into recreational sports, and that the goals have been defined in clearly quantitative and/or binary terms which national or international organizations have defined. Ie. you can measure how fast somebody runs, and then people get obsessed with this number, or you make tournaments where the success criterion is that you win games, never mind how. In my opinion it is positive that this quantitative madness hasn't totally been pervasive in language learning. Of course you could compare the chase after academic titles and certifications as some kind of sport, but apart from national spelling competitions most competitive activity is tied to career opportunities or to activities in your native language (such as author competitions). The kind of language study which some of us do for fun is best compared to playing several instruments back home in your attic or to swimming and taking a walk during your holiday whithout caring about speed or style. And it slightly worries me that those of us who play around with several languages might be pushed towards the unhealthy state in sports, where even small children are evaluated and forced to compete until they run screaming away. Or even worse: to be pushed to keep your activities secret unless some organization already has judged them. Some people are content with their native languages, others with learning two or three secondary languages, and for still others (like me) language learning has become something like an obsession - but it is still a hobby, and I don't want it to become a game where somebody else lays down the rules. Edited by Iversen on 16 June 2011 at 1:37pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| portunhol Triglot Senior Member United States thelinguistblogger.w Joined 6048 days ago 198 posts - 299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (classical) | Message 24 of 57 16 June 2011 at 5:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I know that this thread isn't to talk about Muhamed Mesic but since he was mentioned I think it's fair to bring him up. .He qualifies the number of languages that he speaks on his website Maybe he said that already in the video that was posted but I don't understand Bosnian.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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