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How rare are polyglots | ||
Tags: Number of Languages | Polyglot | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Andy_Liu Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong leibby.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6588 days ago 255 posts - 257 votes  Speaks: Mandarin, Cantonese*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 17 of 28 30 November 2007 at 2:04am | IP Logged | |||||
I don't know, but I'm quite sure that being a polyglot is exceptional in Hong Kong. Many university students can't even speak Mandarin decently, so we are just as multilingual as many peoples are. Actually, I've been told that learning popular languages is a norm in Beijing, where you can find the most language learning centres and language universities among all Chinese cities. It's, after all, the very capital of China where diplomacy is important. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Raincrowlee Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 6504 days ago 621 posts - 808 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Indonesian, Japanese | Message 18 of 28 30 November 2007 at 10:06am | IP Logged | |||||
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But then again, learning a language is quite different from being able to use it. I've met a number of people (myself included) who have studied other languages that are quite unable to use them.
As far as China goes, there is probably a large number of people around the periphery, especially the south and west that speak at least two languages -- a certain level of state decreed Mandarin and their own local language. The same situation exists in Indonesia, many African nations and all the former Soviet states. I knew a guy from Central Asia who spoke Russian, English and two Turkish dialect, Chinese (we had met in Chinese class), and I'd assume Thai since he lived there for several years before coming to Taiwan. A guy from Senegal in one of my classes mentioned speaking French, English and a tribal language, and he was studying Chinese. Heck, most people here in Taiwan also speak at least two languages. Mandarin is taught in schools, but there's Taiwanese, Hakka and the various tribal languages around. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7023 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 19 of 28 30 November 2007 at 2:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
This reminds me of my English prof. and he is also a Linguist. He brought up examples on analyzing multiple languages for class, then I asked "How many languages do you speak?" His response was "I studied many languages." I interpreted it, as only English. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Aritaurus Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6376 days ago 197 posts - 204 votes Speaks: Cantonese, English*, Japanese, Mandarin Studies: Spanish | Message 20 of 28 04 December 2007 at 12:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
I would say there's a fine line between learning a language and studying a language. You can say that I'm learning Mandarin and Japanese but I've only " studied " French. I'd say what makes learning different is the application and the non-academic effort you put towards the language which enables to to speak it. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| unmaad Tetraglot Newbie India Joined 5978 days ago 38 posts - 52 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, GermanC2, Hindi Studies: Japanese | Message 21 of 28 29 December 2007 at 4:12am | IP Logged | |||||
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In India triglots are quite common. I have friends who are pentaglots. Majority of the urban population is fluent in at least three languages and most of them can understand a few more.
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| magic9man2 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6431 days ago 149 posts - 153 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Arabic (Written), Mandarin, French, Cantonese, Russian, Korean, Taiwanese, Arabic (Levantine) | Message 22 of 28 29 December 2007 at 4:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm from USA in NY state and I dont know any polyglots. I know a few people who speak Spanish in addition to English and a few people who speak German, but no people who know several languages.
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| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6670 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 23 of 28 30 December 2007 at 1:05pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Where I'm from in the USA (Nebraska) knowing other languages beyond rudimentary knowledge (usually Spanish, German, or French, probably in that order) is quite rare. Since I began learning languages I have gotten to know people who take language studies seriously enough to actually be able to speak them to a good degree of fluency, but in general, this is an exception to the rule.
I also agree that there is a difference between studying a language and learning a language (to use it practically), but I use these terms interchangeably. I have tried to learn lots of languages, but for various reasons, time and resources for example, I haven't yet been able to learn them in depth, thus I can say I've studied around ten languages, but have only learned three. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Alvinho Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 6036 days ago 828 posts - 832 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish | Message 24 of 28 13 January 2008 at 1:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
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here in Brazil is quite hard to find polyglots....even in tourist cities is still a tough task....it's common to hear complaints from tourists who travel across this country although many people attend classes at language schools within it...
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