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How to become a polygot? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery |  | |
| shreypete Pentaglot Groupie Czech RepublicRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5948 days ago 90 posts - 93 votes  Speaks: English*, Hindi, Telugu, CzechB1, SpanishB2 Studies: GermanB2, FrenchA2, Dutch, Swedish | Message 1 of 8 25 January 2008 at 5:31pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Hey there. I want to know how do Polygots actually become what they are. How do they go about learning languages? Do they look for some criteria when choosing a language? Do they learn more than one language at a time?
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| PolyglotNZ Pentaglot Groupie New ZealandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6004 days ago 71 posts - 91 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, German, Mandarin, Japanese Studies: Polish, Swedish, Hungarian, Russian | Message 2 of 8 25 January 2008 at 10:25pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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I guess it all depends on the polyglot.
Here are my answers to your questions: How do they go about learning languages? Well, every learner is different. This means that we all use different methods for learning languages, some methods work for some people, whilst they won't work for others. As a language learner, it is very important to find your own style of learning. Once you know what works for you, you'll have a better chance to progress and succeed in your target language. Do they look for some criteria when choosing a language? Some people learn languages because they need them, others because they have to. In my case, I do it because I want to. Learning languages is a very fulfilling and rewarding activity. I don't have a set criteria, but I am sure some learners do. I learned Japanese because I watched a lot of Japanese shows when I was a kid and I wanted to know what the "squiggles" meant. I learned Mandarin because I had the opportunity to study it in Taiwan for a few years. In high school I had classmates from Switzerland and that was my first exposure to German. Up to this day, I still believe German sounds beautiful. Similar stories go with the rest of the languages I learn. Do they learn more than one language at a time? Yes, many polyglots do, but this depends on your time and organisational skills. If you find it hard to deal with one language and your current daily timetable, then it is better to stick to just one language. PS. Maybe I have some criteria, e.g. the language must sound nice (at least to me), I have to be interested in visiting the country (countries) where the language is spoken as well as its culture. Otherwise, there is no point in learning it. Exception to this is Latin, but that's a different story. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| shreypete Pentaglot Groupie Czech RepublicRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5948 days ago 90 posts - 93 votes Speaks: English*, Hindi, Telugu, CzechB1, SpanishB2 Studies: GermanB2, FrenchA2, Dutch, Swedish | Message 3 of 8 26 January 2008 at 4:37am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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So if you don't mind me asking, are you conversationally fluent in German, mandarin and japanese? Don't you sometimes feel that you're forgetting the languages you've learned and when you mix it up with a language that you're currently learning? I'm cuurently learning czech but I want to retain my Spanish and German (aber ich habe keine zeit). And furthermore, I was looking at the languages you're learning and want to know if you're learning those languages all at the same time. Because Hungarian and Polish sound horribly tough.
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| Budz Octoglot Senior Member Australia languagepump.com Joined 6173 days ago 118 posts - 171 votes Speaks: German*, English, Russian, Esperanto, Ukrainian, Mandarin, Cantonese, French Studies: Italian, Spanish, Korean, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Persian, Hungarian, Kazakh, Swahili, Vietnamese, Polish | Message 4 of 8 26 January 2008 at 5:43am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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I don't think generally that mixing the languages up is a problem. And certainly not with languages as different as Polish and Hungarian...
Retention? I suspect that the better you know a language, the less you have to worry about forgetting it. It's the ones that you've spent some time on and can just get by in, that can almost disappear if you're not careful. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6116 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 5 of 8 26 January 2008 at 6:16am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Shreypete,
I would suggest you look through the following threads that the Professor possted in some time ago. It should answer your questions. Learning families of languages Learning many languages Long-term learning plans Tackling the Germanic family Going after the Romance family Taking on the Slavic family Even just doing a forum search will yield a large number of threads dealing those particular questions. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| shreypete Pentaglot Groupie Czech RepublicRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5948 days ago 90 posts - 93 votes Speaks: English*, Hindi, Telugu, CzechB1, SpanishB2 Studies: GermanB2, FrenchA2, Dutch, Swedish | Message 6 of 8 26 January 2008 at 6:31am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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wow thanks for the links Fraenzi. I'm going to check it out right away...
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| PolyglotNZ Pentaglot Groupie New ZealandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6004 days ago 71 posts - 91 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, German, Mandarin, Japanese Studies: Polish, Swedish, Hungarian, Russian | Message 7 of 8 27 January 2008 at 12:04am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Yup, I would pack my bags and move to Germany, China or Japan tomorrow. I guess Japanese will be the only one that concerns me a little bit, not the language itself, but the use of Keigo 敬語 or polite language. If I were to use it, I'll make lots of mistakes. However, even some of my Japanese friends have problems with it.
I only feel I am forgetting languages I never learned beyond A1 or A2 level, i.e. I started learning the language to find out how its grammar works, but I never went beyond 700 words (or maybe more), I was just curious about how that language worked. If I achieved a conversational level in the language, then I think it is easier to maintain it because I can use it on a regular basis, e.g. talking to friends or to myself (no, I am not crazy!), movies, online radio and lots of reading. Mixing languages? Well, it hasn't happened to me (knock on wood!). The languages I've learned are so different from each other that I can't imagine mixing them. I do compare them though.
Du hast keine Zeit!!! I don't believe that. Do you play video games? Do you take public transport? Do you ever have to wait for people? If you play video games, reduce the time you spend playing and learn more languages. If you use public transport, take a book or flash cards with you and read them while on the bus or train or ... If you have to wait for people or public transport, read your book or flash cards. There are lots of moments during the day that you can use to practice your target language a little bit. It doesn't matter where I go, I always take language stuff with me. I have language files on my iPod and music in the target language(s), I always have two or three books with me (in my backpack of course) which I can always leave behind in my car. I know it sounds "geeky" but it's really good to have some of your language stuff when you want to practice. You must always remember that progress depends completely on you, if you don't make an effort to find the time to improve your languages, you will never learn them, unless someone develops an osmotic language course which will make everything easier for all of us.
Yes, I am learning them at the same time. You think that they are horribly tough, I think that they are just different and fascinating. Polish is my favourite Slavic language and I've been learning it for a while. I am currently reviewing the basics to continue with an intermediate textbook. I can read and understand much more than what I can produce, but I'll try to fix that since I am planning on going back to Poland on holidays. Hungarian has been on my must-learn list since 2000. However, I didn't get good textbooks to learn Hungarian until recently (i.e. last year) which is a big plus. I am just a beginner, but I am making good progress. I guess that's enough gobbledygook from me. If you have more questions feel free to ask. Cheers! Edited by PolyglotNZ on 27 January 2008 at 12:29am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Palmettofighter Newbie United States Joined 5932 days ago 29 posts - 29 votes Speaks: English* | Message 8 of 8 04 March 2008 at 5:01pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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I am no polyglot. I speak English and German, but I am learning multiple languages at the same time. The main ones I am focused on are Spanish and Dutch. For me, where I live there is a strong German community because of the huge BMW plant in town. So finding people to speak German too, or hearing people speaking German somewhere in a store or what not is not exactly an every day occurance, but its far from rare.
If your still picking a language, I think it is most useful to pick a language you can practice often and isn't exactly a Category 5 difficulty language. Immerse yourself as much as you can as well. Watch movies, listen to radios, subscribe to magazines etc. in that language. If I could go back before I started learning all these languages (but after I learned German ;)) I would pick Korean because I have opportunities to speak Korean just about everyday because I go to a Korean Tae Kwon Do academy. I messed up with Dutch in that no one here speaks it. My advice is don't make the same mistake. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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