Posted on 05/31/2015 8:01:33 PM PDT by Cronos
Out on a sunny Berlin balcony, Tim Keeley and Daniel Krasa are firing words like bullets at each other. First German, then Hindi, Nepali, Polish, Croatian, Mandarin and Thai – they’ve barely spoken one language before the conversation seamlessly melds into another. Together, they pass through about 20 different languages or so in total.
It can be difficult enough to learn one foreign tongue. Yet I’m here in Berlin for the Polyglot Gathering, a meeting of 350 or so people who speak multiple languages – some as diverse as Manx, Klingon and Saami, the language of reindeer herders in Scandinavia. Indeed, a surprising proportion of them are “hyperglots”, like Keeley and Krasa, who can speak at least 10 languages. One of the most proficient linguists I meet here, Richard Simcott, leads a team of polyglots at a company called eModeration – and he uses about 30 languages himself.
..Numerous studies have shown that being multilingual can improve attention and memory, and that this can provide a “cognitive reserve” that delays the onset of dementia. Looking at the experiences of immigrants, Ellen Bialystok at York University in Canada has found that speaking two languages delayed dementia diagnosis by five years. Those who knew three languages, however, were diagnosed 6.4 years later than monolinguals, while for those fluent in four or more languages, enjoyed an extra nine years of healthy cognition...
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Thanks — I did not know of this site
But I salute anyone who knows a non-Indo-European language in conjunction with an Indo-European language
So if someone knows Tamil + Hindi + English + Marathi --> that's impressive. Ditto for those who know an Indo-european language along with a Dravidian or other language
Although I speak 3 languages, Mandarin Chinese has had me stumped for years. Tried Pimsleur, Michel Thomas Method, FSI, college courses, etc.
For me, the solution was Felix Lättman’s courses on Udemy.com. He’s got a free 2-hour course and two additional 10-hour paid courses.
If you take the paid ones, don’t pay full price. Udemy is always running specials that heavily discount their courses (typically only 10 to 20 bucks for course). You can find the promo codes for that by using Google/Bing. And often can find them at Retailmenot.com too.
After taking those courses, Pimsleur, Michel Thomas Method, and FSI are good choices because there’s a foundation in place for learning the language.
bookmarked.
Maybe they got it from early plantation owners.
That's really hard to do without immersion in a place where it is spoken and no one speaks English. Then you have to learn it the same way a child does — you use your limited vocabulary to work around concepts and then listen to what gets said back to you.
One time I was in Italy with my 5-year-old, staying in a village with a friend from school. Virtually no one spoke English. We were out sightseeing and my kid was getting a red rash under his arm from sweating. I stopped a lady in the street to ask where I could buy some talcum powder, but I didn't know the words. Finally I showed her his arm. "O!" she said. "Polvere!"—which I understood from the English cognate "pulverize." So I nodded and smiled, and she directed me to "la farmacia."
That's interesting to hear. It aligns with my experience of teaching language to my cats and dogs. I do not expect them to speak, and I'm not just talking about commands, but rather for them to be able to understand and respond to my simple communications with them, and so that they can indicate their wants a little more clearly as well. I've had amazing results. My point being, they need about 65 to 100 words or word combinations to master their repertoire of typical experiences.
LOL!
english is comparatively simple compared to most languages except for
For anybody out there taking the time to learn Klingon, except maybe those who are under the age of 12, it’s time to go outside and get some fresh air.
It's very helpful if you want to get any work done on your lawn and garden. I'm not kidding. Good workers, but they go so fast— watch out for those leaf blowers. They blew my lavender plants right out of the ground.
Correction: it's impossible to learn another language!
Like one of the people mentioned in the article, I have a lifetime love of languages. I used to listen to short wave broadcasts back in the 70s and 80s and enjoyed just hearing exotic languages. One of my favorite things on the Internet is getting to listen to languages that my grandparents lived and died without hearing a single word of. And not this mainstream stuff . . . I mean really exotic stuff like Maltese, Breton, Basque, Greenlandic, Georgian, Albanian, Mongolian. Stuff like that. I can't and never will understand a word, but I just love listening (or reading) and knowing what they sound (or look) like.
I've tried to learn languages all my life and have been successful only with one: Biblical Hebrew, a textual language which is acquired and learned visually. I've tried to learn Israeli Hebrew for decades and simply can't do it. As the article says, I can't instantaneously translate in my mind and send it to my tongue at one and the same time.
Well . . . now I know why. I'm the farthest thing from a "chameleon" one can possibly be. I am but a simple redneck and unable to put on any other skin.
It's nice to finally know what my handicap has been.
This is an absolutely mesmerizing thread. We need more like it!
I heard a fellow from India on a Canadian call-in show (radio) years ago mention the greatest benefit the British gave India was a common language.
That’s interesting!
There are many dialects in China, but the characters are the same for all.
Aeons ago, a sect over the mountain would speak in a completely different sounding dialect from the dialect on this side of the mountain, but they understood each other by the printed character.
Cantonese and Mandarin are different, but the characters for each are the same.
Somewhere I read that it was this unity of the Chinese character and the Confucius principle that has kept China unified over the years.
That's right ... and that's a poor way to learn a language.
I knew I was getting somewhere in high school when I realize I was thinking in French ... no translation involved. Humor is a great way to get there. Jokes don't translate very well.
My husband got a job in a French speaking country. He bought Rosetta Stone. I had a lot of French in high school and college- about 6 year’s worth but that was over 35 years ago.
I hated Rosetta Stone. My daughter likes Duolingo, but I found I liked Frenchpod the best, and it’s free, too. There are quite a few languages available-
I can read French real good now, but understanding spoken French is the problem, I can’t tell where one word ends and the other begins, other languages aren’t nearly as difficult as French in that area. The French don’t exactly annunciate their words.
Same with me. I figure it’s the wine- they slur their words ;)
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