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"My son knows 15 languages & he’s 20" | ||
Tags: Number of Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4759 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes  Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 9 of 47 31 July 2013 at 8:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
No disrespect, but I think you and six other people missed the main point :) And no, I am no "bent out of shape" about it. I listed a range of possibilities of how I would have reacted, and it seems many of you just assume I would have reacted irascibly But admittedly, I'm not (thankfully) a parent, but I would never say something like that without being prepared to back it up, child or no child. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4940 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 10 of 47 31 July 2013 at 8:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
I quoted what I understood to be your main point. That is, how would I have reacted. I gave my reply. Was that not your main point? R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3954 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 11 of 47 31 July 2013 at 9:20pm | IP Logged | |||||
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How would I have reacted? I would have smiled and said "that's really interesting!". It
wouldn't have bothered, offended or otherwise affected me. Parents are proud of their kids' accomplishments - real and imagined. I remember after going to Brazil for a month, my dad announced to everyone that I spoke Portuguese. I didn't. I really didn't. But I knew a few words, and he was proud of me because I'm his kid, so in his head I "spoke Portuguese". Would I really have believed that the young man spoke 15 languages? Nope. But then I'm highly suspicious of lots of claims - including many of the people online who claim to be polyglots and speak a dozen plus languages. As an aside, I used to have a job helping people write resumes. You'd be shocked at how often a person who knows a few words wants to put "speaks x-language" on their resume. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5366 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 12 of 47 31 July 2013 at 9:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
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An old woman randomly came up to me in the supermarket the other day and told me she was a pop photographer back in the 60s and 70s and Eric Clapton's ex-lover. I didn't know how to react then either...I mean, she could well have been after all. So I just gave her the benefit of the doubt, and chatted in a friendly manner whilst waiting in line at the cheese counter. This seemed to cheer her up immensely, as I suspect the main thing was that she was lonely and just wanted to talk to someone who wouldn't discredit her outright. I even learnt a little more about the cover art on Clapton's early LPs after leaving John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, which was interesting.
In the OP's case, this woman's son may well know 15 languages to a greater or lesser degree (it's certainly possible), or it could simply be a proud parent's Chardonnay-fueled exaggeration, which wouldn't be the first at a soirée. Either way, the key question is determining her social motive. What is she trying to achieve by declaring this openly to the group? And how would others' reactions impact on the general cohesion of the group, as well as the woman's underlying feelings or possible insecurities, especially after she's left the party at the end of the night and starts down that long corridor of self-reflection? Sometimes, in this sense, determining the truth of social statements can take a back seat to understanding what's truly behind their public declarations. Sometimes it's just a simple wild boast at a soirée, but there are other times when it may be a subtle cry for help or attention instead, a precursor to some other story. This is why I always try, although I fear I don't always succeed in every case, to keep my mind open and my words friendly when I hear these types of statements. Edited by Teango on 31 July 2013 at 9:38pm 7 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4525 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 13 of 47 31 July 2013 at 10:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Or that could be Tim Doner's mother...=P
6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| daegga Tetraglot Senior Member Austria lang-8.com/553301 Joined 4331 days ago 1076 posts - 1792 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, Norwegian Studies: Danish, French, Finnish, Icelandic | Message 14 of 47 31 July 2013 at 10:41pm | IP Logged | |||||
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son says: "I downloaded a pack of Rosetta Stone with 15 languages, and I've tried out all of them."
parent hears: "I know 15 languages." case solved I've told my mother multiple times that I don't speak Swedish, but somehow she still thinks I do. After all, I talked to all those Swedes in Stockholm. Parents ... Edited by daegga on 31 July 2013 at 10:45pm 9 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| wv girl Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5049 days ago 174 posts - 330 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish | Message 15 of 47 31 July 2013 at 10:46pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I think I would have overcome my shyness & asked this parent, not in a confrontational manner, what languages his
son spoke & how he learned them. I would highly doubt that this claim would be true, but what if he spoke 5-7 languages? That's still impressive! How'd he do that? Like you, I know how long & hard I've had to work to get 2 related languages to acceptable levels. If someone else has a method, I'd be curious to know how he did it. I'd keep my suspicions hidden, though. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4819 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 16 of 47 01 August 2013 at 12:22am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think it is possible, even though improbable. Had I not been lazy, I could have learnt 5-8 by the time I was 20 so I have no trouble believing this to be possible, especially if most of the languages would be related.
My first and irrational emotion would be jealousy. Yes, I have some issues in that area :-) My reaction would be "Which ones?" as I would be curious. The answer would tell a lot more both about probability of the claim to be true and about the claim/achievement itself. I don't think the parent knows how the kid achieved such a remarkable thing anyways as he/she wouldn't need to be included much most times. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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