Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

The cult of the hyperpolyglot

 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots Post Reply
9 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
JimC
Senior Member
United Kingdom
tinyurl.com/aberdeen
Joined 5307 days ago

199 posts - 317 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 1 of 9
21 February 2012 at 3:59pm | IP Logged 
BBC Article
Cult of the hyperpolyglot
7 persons have voted this message useful



kanewai
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/kanewai
Joined 4649 days ago

1386 posts - 3054 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese
Studies: Italian, Spanish

 
 Message 2 of 9
21 February 2012 at 11:37pm | IP Logged 
It's a nice article, but the title confuses me. In the US "cult" has mostly derogatory connotations. Is it different in the UK, or is this just an editor trying to make the story sexier than it really is?
2 persons have voted this message useful



jazzboy.bebop
Senior Member
Norway
norwegianthroughnove
Joined 5178 days ago

439 posts - 800 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Norwegian

 
 Message 3 of 9
22 February 2012 at 2:20am | IP Logged 
kanewai wrote:
It's a nice article, but the title confuses me. In the US "cult" has mostly derogatory connotations. Is it different in the UK, or is this just an editor trying to make the story sexier than it really is?


I think we tend to hear "cult" used more over here in relation to say a film having a "cult following"; somewhat underground but the fans it does have are very enthusiastic about it. Do you use the phrase " a cult following" very much in the US? Perhaps the UK has a more relaxed relationship with the term as cults are not talked about much in the media here and we have less cults out there, especially ones who do some horrific things. We will say it in a derogatory way but we often use it in a light-hearted way.
1 person has voted this message useful



kanewai
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/kanewai
Joined 4649 days ago

1386 posts - 3054 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese
Studies: Italian, Spanish

 
 Message 4 of 9
22 February 2012 at 7:27am | IP Logged 
ah yeah, we have that - cult movies, cult bands, etc. I think the new context threw me.
1 person has voted this message useful





Iversen
Super Polyglot
Moderator
Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6463 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 5 of 9
22 February 2012 at 2:20pm | IP Logged 
If cult means that there is a great interest in language learning in the population at large then I can't see it - not even in my own country, where it is common to know at least two languages and often three or four. Let's face it, polyglotism is never going to become a big sport or musical fad which will earn the top players lots of money.
1 person has voted this message useful





Fasulye
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2012
Moderator
Germany
fasulyespolyglotblog
Joined 5607 days ago

5460 posts - 6006 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto
Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 6 of 9
22 February 2012 at 2:45pm | IP Logged 
Iversen wrote:
Let's face it, polyglotism is never going to become a big sport or musical fad which will earn the top players lots of money.


I agree with this statement and my own life experience fits in well.

Fasulye
1 person has voted this message useful



vonPeterhof
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4532 days ago

715 posts - 1527 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German
Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish

 
 Message 7 of 9
22 February 2012 at 3:12pm | IP Logged 
Iversen wrote:
If cult means that there is a great interest in language learning in the population at large then I can't see it - not even in my own country, where it is common to know at least two languages and often three or four. Let's face it, polyglotism is never going to become a big sport or musical fad which will earn the top players lots of money.
I'm pretty sure that something having a cult following means precisely that there isn't a great interest in it among the population at large - it's something that's ignored, despised or not considered a big deal by the mainstream but beloved and ardently followed by a relatively small fandom.
10 persons have voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 4769 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 8 of 9
24 February 2012 at 7:47am | IP Logged 
I was slightly dissappointed by the article because, as Kanewai said, the headline is
just trying to make it sexier than it is. Yes, those people mentioned are great, I don't
want to underestimate their achievements, but I expected something more general added to
it. Not news about mass interest in learning languages but news about "the cult". Such as
interesting rise in sells of courses for self-teaching learners, a language con being
held somewhere, publication of a new guide for learning several languages etc.


2 persons have voted this message useful



This discussion contains 9 messages over 2 pages: 2  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 7.5313 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.