|
 |
Locations fostering "native polyglots" | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7178 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes  12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 46 27 March 2005 at 2:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
I wonder whether there are other instances of such 'natural polyglots'. In Switzerland it is not so common for people to be fluent in more than their native language (French, Swiss-German or Italian) and English. I have always been impressed by the Dutch sense for languages, they seem to speak Dutch, English and often either German or French. These are not actual 'polyglots' but it seems to me that certain locations foster polyglottery. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Eric Senior Member Australia Joined 7030 days ago 102 posts - 105 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 2 of 46 27 March 2005 at 8:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
What's Belgium like as a fostering ground Francois?
I assume that Belgians speak two languages fluently (be it French + English or German + English), yet I'd like to think there are many Beligians who know all 3 rather well, and perhaps some Dutch too? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Malcolm Triglot Retired Moderator Senior Member Korea, South Joined 7117 days ago 500 posts - 515 votes 5 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Korean Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Latin | Message 3 of 46 27 March 2005 at 11:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Jean-Claude Van Damme, a Belgian, speaks English, French, Italian, and Flemmish.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| manna Groupie Kyrgyzstan Joined 7060 days ago 94 posts - 112 votes | Message 4 of 46 30 March 2005 at 4:46am | IP Logged | |||||
|
To my limited knowledge, there are not many places in Europe where there is natural bilingualism or even multilingualism. As François (do you really spell your name with c rather than ç?) mentioned, in Switzerland, despite all the talk of having multiple languages, people usually speak their own language, plus learn one at school (often not to great depths).
As for the Dutch, both English and German are very closely related languages, so the effort is not as large as elsewhere. In many places in Africa and South Asia, as far as I know, multilingualism is normal, yet it's in Eruope/the States that speaking (merely) three languages fluently is enough to impress many people. Edited by manna on 30 March 2005 at 4:47am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| victor Tetraglot Moderator United States Joined 7120 days ago 1098 posts - 1056 votes 6 sounds Speaks: Cantonese*, English, FrenchC1, Mandarin Studies: Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 46 30 March 2005 at 3:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Francois is spelled with ç (cédille) - as is the name written on the bottom of this page. It's just not as convenient to type c cedille all the time - and the accents.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| palito Diglot Newbie United States Joined 7009 days ago 18 posts - 18 votes Speaks: French, English | Message 6 of 46 02 April 2005 at 3:14am | IP Logged | |||||
|
I have noticed that all my kazakh friends speak fluently russian, kazakh and turkish. I think it's a very common thing in that country to have at least two languages plus russian. Edited by palito on 02 April 2005 at 3:15am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Giordano Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6976 days ago 213 posts - 218 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Cantonese, Greek | Message 7 of 46 05 April 2005 at 7:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
I find it interesting that in English schools in Montreal, children generally have "french immersion" (half of their day/courses in french) from kindergarten through high school, and sometimes into college, plus most english schools also teach a third language, usually that of the minority group the school serves (italian, greek, and portuguese are most common), while in French schools, the French language laws prohibit the teaching of any secondary language untill grade three, and there is no such thing as "English immersion".
Recently a francophone family (along with others- it's complicated) took up Bill 101 (the french language law) in court. The issue went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled that since Bill 101 was "protecting" the language of the majority, they could not send their children to "minority" schools. It seems that, when forced to adapt, we do. Whether you need French to buy milk or to conduct business, you'll learn it if you have to. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| thinkbluecollar Newbie Joined 7000 days ago 13 posts - 11 votes Speaks: English* | Message 8 of 46 01 May 2005 at 12:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
If I remember correctly, pollyglottery was (is?) common in Slavic nations, as most tend to speak at least a language aside from their native tongue. For example, my French teacher speaks three "nativley"- Ukranian, Russian, and Polish, and apparently also spoke Belorusian as a girl, but has forgotten all of it.
I don't know if she's really the example or the exception, but, for the most part, but either way, a lot of Slavs have at least a passive understanding of other Slavic languages, as a lot are similar to others. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
