Why can some people speak more languages than others?
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| | Pierre Souris 
France
Local time: 11:10
Yunani menyang Prancis
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| Is it a matter of brain structure? | Feb 25, 2013 |
Dobro jutro Lea,
As far as I am concerned I can speak fluently 4 languages and can read fluently in 9 more languages, mainly from those spoken in Central and Eastern Europe. I am French and French people in their majority are deemed not to be much found of foreign languages. The youngster generation though is much more aware of the necessity to speak at least one more language fluently. So my question is, Lea, is this "quality" a matter of brain structure?
Hvala lepo za obavestenje Lea... See more Dobro jutro Lea,
As far as I am concerned I can speak fluently 4 languages and can read fluently in 9 more languages, mainly from those spoken in Central and Eastern Europe. I am French and French people in their majority are deemed not to be much found of foreign languages. The youngster generation though is much more aware of the necessity to speak at least one more language fluently. So my question is, Lea, is this "quality" a matter of brain structure?
Hvala lepo za obavestenje Lea
Pierre Souris ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 11:10
Member (2009)
Inggris menyang Kroasia
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| Another polyglot article | Feb 25, 2013 |
No, I have never met anyone who can speak many languages at a satisfactory level. I may have met people who can read many languages (with IPA guidance), but not really speak, speaking is something else.
It'd be like asking whether I have ever met a musician who can play 10 instruments at top level.
The article names very few factors that are in the game and can thus be misleading.
[Edited at 2013-02-25 06:45 GMT]
| | | | | I know one person who speaks 6 languages fluently | Feb 25, 2013 |
He learned them at school and when planning a holiday to the relevant country: 6 months before, he would read the relevant dictionary and a grammar book. He has a photographic memory and also a PhD in astrophysiscs. It comes in handy when correcting translation work.
| | | | Neirda
China
Local time: 17:10
Tionghoa menyang Prancis
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| Define "speak a language" | Feb 25, 2013 |
And then we'll talk.
To my own standards, it means being able to engage in a five to ten minutes conversation on a random topic without betraying not being a native speaker at any time.
And I have yet to see this happening for more than 2 foreign languages (and even this does'nt happen a lot).
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 11:10
Member (2009)
Inggris menyang Kroasia
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| Checking fluency | Feb 25, 2013 |
How did you manage to check that person's fluency in 6 languages? It takes a lot to check fluency. But again that's different from proficiency.
No, speaking on holiday for tourist purposes is not fluency.
| | | | Phil Hand
China
Local time: 17:10
Tionghoa menyang Inggris
| Unhelpful myths | Feb 25, 2013 |
Marijke Singer wrote:
He learned them at school and when planning a holiday to the relevant country: 6 months before, he would read the relevant dictionary and a grammar book. He has a photographic memory and also a PhD in astrophysiscs. It comes in handy when correcting translation work.
You may know someone who speaks six languages fluently, but he certainly did not learn them by reading a dictionary and a grammar book. Two minutes' thought would tell you that that's pretty absurd. Honestly, if language professionals can't keep our talk of language learning vaguely grounded in reality, what hope for the rest of the world?
| | | | Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:10
Ibrani menyang Inggris
| Urban Legend | Feb 25, 2013 |
Phil Hand wrote:
Marijke Singer wrote:
He learned them at school and when planning a holiday to the relevant country: 6 months before, he would read the relevant dictionary and a grammar book. He has a photographic memory and also a PhD in astrophysiscs. It comes in handy when correcting translation work.
You may know someone who speaks six languages fluently, but he certainly did not learn them by reading a dictionary and a grammar book. Two minutes' thought would tell you that that's pretty absurd. Honestly, if language professionals can't keep our talk of language learning vaguely grounded in reality, what hope for the rest of the world?
I agree with you Phil. "The unbelievable Polyglot" (or worse, the new-fangled, ill-coined "Hyperpolyglot") tends to be the thing of urban legend.
In some ways they are like the Yeti/Sasquatch/Bigfoot. Many people claim to have seen one, but when pushed they simply can't come up with the goods.
In addition, the existence of eidetic memory is also open to debate.
| | | | Jennifer Forbes
Local time: 10:10
Prancis menyang Inggris
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Ing pamenget | Non-linguists | Feb 25, 2013 |
Occasionally, non-linguists will say something like "Last week I met a man who speaks 19 languges". My response is "Really?" but my thought is "How do you know? You only speak one". I know someone at our Polyglots club here who says he speaks fluent Cornish (a dead language, studied by those interested in it, but no longer spoken as a mother tongue), but as no-one else in the group can speak it, no-one knows for sure.
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Diana Coada (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:10
Portugis menyang Inggris
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Pierret Adrien wrote:
And then we'll talk.
To my own standards, it means being able to engage in a five to ten minutes conversation on a random topic without betraying not being a native speaker at any time.
You don't have to be a native in order to be fluent.
| | | | | It depends what you mean by a satisfactory level... | Feb 25, 2013 |
If you don't insist on professional perfection or 100% correctness, there are undeniably people who can get by very well in large numbers of languages. After all, in most languages even native speakers, other than professional linguists, rarely speak entirely correctly all the time (even if they can agree on what is correct or incorrect...)!
There are several multilinguals in the English and Swedish branches of my family, and some who definitely find languages easier than others in th... See more If you don't insist on professional perfection or 100% correctness, there are undeniably people who can get by very well in large numbers of languages. After all, in most languages even native speakers, other than professional linguists, rarely speak entirely correctly all the time (even if they can agree on what is correct or incorrect...)!
There are several multilinguals in the English and Swedish branches of my family, and some who definitely find languages easier than others in the Danish clan. While others really struggle... I am quite sure it is partly innate ability as well as training and opportunity.
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My father could read six or seven languages with various degrees of comfort, and speak a couple fluently. Apart from his native English it was Marathi for many years, but earlier he had been good at French.
He could take a church service and greet the congregation afterwards in several more Indian languages, but everyone knew he was not fluent: that was a matter of knowing the service and learning the most current phrases for polite conversation. He did find that fairly easy, but heard the languages around him in his daily life.
He taught Greek and coached his children in Latin.
My Danish husband studies Spanish on and off, and never goes on holiday anywhere without learning at least a few phrases of the language.
He can follow a French film with French subtitles, but prefers German - then he doesn't need the subtitles. He speaks quite a lot of German.
He speaks English (of course) very fluently with a slight accent.
What they have in common is that they do not always expect to achieve perfection. They jump in and do their best, listen, study when they have time, and improve - and have an ability to remember a lot of the improvements later on.
If you are asking for an ability to read a newspaper, listen to a radio programme and have a conversation about a wide range of topics in several languages, then a lot of people can, but many find it much more difficult.
I have a far more all-or-nothing approach - I have lost the childlike ability that I once had, to accept anything less than perfect just for starters. It keeps me on my toes professionally, but it means I am tongue-tied in Spain and Poland, even Sweden, while my husband can chat away. Some people find my native English daunting, so they will not risk making mistakes while I am listening. If I can persuade myself to say a few words in their language, we can make progress!
But I am the one who goes round reading the posters at the museums when the rest of the family has seen the exhibition and gone in search of ice cream or coffee!
There is definitely a difference in attitude, and it would not surprise me at all if it proved to be hot-wired from an early age.
Just like mathematical and musical ability and so many other cognitive activities. ▲ Collapse
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