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Motivations for becoming a polyglot | ||
Tags: Polyglot | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4249 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes  Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 1 of 60 02 October 2013 at 7:16am | IP Logged | ||
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A newspaper article about a young man who was brought up in a bilingual family who speaks English & French at
a young age. In high school he was tackling Spanish and eventually spending time in China to learn Mandarin. The title: "Toronto student crowned Champion of Americas ... in Mandarin" and the link: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/10/01/toronto_student_ crowned_champion_of_americas_in_mandarin.html (Note: the link is too long to fit into 1 line so have to split into 2. Combine the 2 with no space in between to open the link.) A while ago saw a program on the TLC network called: "English Teachers". Many of them came from N. America (US & Canada) to teach overseas. Some only picked up a few phrases to get around while others became totally fluent in the native language. A year ago came across an English teacher who is teaching in Taiwan. He posted online videos and referred to himself as: "Mike Laoshi" or "Mike the Teacher" who is fluent in both English & Mandarin. What motivates you to learn and eventually become fluent in 1 or more non-native language(s)? Edited by shk00design on 02 October 2013 at 7:56am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4163 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 2 of 60 02 October 2013 at 8:10am | IP Logged | ||
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Fluent in 1 or more non-native language(s) and being a polyglot are different things I believe.
I love learning languages, but I never wanted to become a polyglot in the sense of learning too many of them. Motivation: proximity to my own country and plain old falling in love with a language/cuture. Not much to explain there. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| eyðimörk Triglot Senior Member France goo.gl/aT4FY7 Joined 3904 days ago 490 posts - 1158 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French Studies: Breton, Italian | Message 3 of 60 02 October 2013 at 8:36am | IP Logged | ||
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Necessity, mostly.
I did not make a conscious decision to learn English, but looking back I realise that I learned English because it was all around me and I needed to understand it in order to interact with the world and pursue my interests. With French, it's much the same thing, only I am not quite as motivated (I'm changing that) since I speak Swedish at home, and English for work, which leaves French kind of a "shopping and handyman" language until I make native friends here. My reasons for learning Breton are also similar, although I could get by without it (that's technically true of French too, though, as evidenced by my 100% anglophone neighbour and the 100% anglophone lady we bought our house from, who'd lived here for 20 years without being conversational in the language). It's the same reason I improved my native language reading speed as a young child, really. All of the cool TV shows my much older brothers watched were in English, which I did not yet comprehend to the point where I could follow along, and I could not read the subtitles. I didn't know anyone my age who read at all, but I was motivated enough to stare at hour after hour of subtitles until I could read nearly as quickly as people speak. I don't really consider myself a polyglot, though. I'm just someone who picks up useful skills in general to make life a lot easier. A few of those happen to be language related. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Lorren Senior Member United States brookelorren.com/blo Joined 4056 days ago 286 posts - 324 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Danish, Irish Studies: Russian | Message 4 of 60 02 October 2013 at 10:01am | IP Logged | ||
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Probably being able to understand a wider group of people.
I would say that I'm probably a scholar at heart. I'm always learning new things. As a blogger, I then share some of the things that I learn with other people, especially if I can make it relevant to what's going on in the world today... which so much does, because history repeats itself and human nature never changes. Being able to understand more than one language appeals to the scholar part of me, which likes to learn, but it also has the appeal in that knowing more than one language means that I can get more viewpoints on a subject. In politics, a lot of the time, someone will say something to the Americans in English, and then turn around to their home country, speaking a different language, and say something completely different. The other advantage is that if you can speak multiple languages, you're more portable. We live in a very unstable world, and I don't know if my family will be able to stay in the US forever. If we need to move in order to remain free, then we might do that. Knowing multiple languages opens up the places where we can go. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5337 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 60 02 October 2013 at 3:08pm | IP Logged | ||
Well, I only have one non-native language, and I'm only "socially" fluent. (Professionally, I can communicate, but "fluent" would be a bit too generous.) That said: - I learned because my wife asked me to, and because she speaks French with our kids. - My in-laws are great, and it's polite to use their language. - It's not actually that hard to communicate in a second language, once you know the tricks, so why not? - I take great joy in doing things that are supposedly impossible for adults. - French media is fun. - I enjoy seeing a whole new world open up before me. New people! New books! New history! New wordplay! And an entire province just a few hours north of me. Seriously, it's been a ton of fun. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5571 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 6 of 60 02 October 2013 at 3:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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None :D
If it should ever happen it won't be my fault. I mean 'being a polyglot' or 'speaking more than X languages' sounds cool, but in the same detached way that 'sailing around the globe' sounds to me; it's kind of cool when people do that but it's not my goal to be one of them. Of course, I have a lot of motivation to learn to understand people, to communicate with them, to exchange ideas, talk about customs, and marvel together about this thing called human culture. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| akkadboy Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5213 days ago 264 posts - 497 votes Speaks: French*, English, Yiddish Studies: Latin, Ancient Egyptian, Welsh | Message 7 of 60 02 October 2013 at 3:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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#rambling mode on#
"Learning x languages" is in no way a goal I have so I don't know if I can answer the question. Each language is a key to a new culture and new people so in my view the total number is pretty much irrelevant. I am far more interested in people who have learnt one language, spend a huge amount of time in the country(ies) where it is spoken, know about and enjoy the culture of these countries than I am impressed by people who know 10/20 languages, neither of which has any deep impact on their life and way of thinking/seeing the world. (And yes, I'm aware it doesn't have to be either or). So I'd say this is mostly what interests/motivates me :
#rambling mode off# Edited by akkadboy on 02 October 2013 at 4:00pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4470 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 8 of 60 02 October 2013 at 3:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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People always ask me why I started learning French, and I don't really have a response
other than that I liked French movies and that got me interested in the language. But after less than a year of study, learning and using French became not just a minor venture, something to try out and see what happens, but a real passion, and something I could never see myself giving up. My new "venture" is Spanish, and I can only hope that it ends up seducing me just as French did, and that I experience the same thing with other languages in the future, too. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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