I'm always skeptical when I hear people boast about knowing seven or eight different languages, because my idea of "knowing" a language means that you can not only speak but listen and comprehend the majority of what you hear, not just the basics. Being "fluent" in a language takes a lot of work, and it certainly does not happen overnight. When you consider that the average child does not become fluent for about 14 years, that tends to make a strong case against people who claim to know multiple languages. Anyone can spout out a few words in another language, but can they survive on their knowledge of the language in another country without the help of English speakers?
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I am fluent in English (American version), Typo, and Sarcasm. Other languages in which I am knowledgeable include Spanish, Norwegian, German, and Hawaiian - but certainly not fluent, and I am slow. I am NOT a polyglot by any stretch of the imagination (and I have quite the imagination), but I have a base knowledge. Me, my brain, and a good dictionary of whichever language would enable me to interact with someone speaking those languages, so long as they aren't laughing too hard at my pronunciation or grammar.
I think ANYONE who tries to interact with another person in a language other than their native tongue is worthy of admiration. At least some people are not arrogant with their own language, and will at least TRY speak to someone in their language!
Rustee
Level 7
Feb 6, 2019
0
Under that definition, I'm fluent in five languages; my native English, then also Spanish, Creole, French, and Thai, and can also read and write those languages somewhat.
My American parents went to Haiti to build a radio station in 1952, two months before I was born. The Haitians all speak Creole and the more upper class also speak French, and since people speak Spanish in the Dominican Republic, across the border, I also was exposed to Spanish.
I taught in Mexico for a semester in 2001 and had to speak almost exclusively in Spanish, since few people knew English.
I taught in Thailand from Oct. 2010 to a few months ago, and few people there can speak English at all. I am fluent in Thai, but compared to a Thai, I hardly know anything at all, since it's a tonal language.
birdingnut
Level 8
Feb 5, 2019
2
People who brag about that many languages are pretentious if they can do it and, well, as you said, if they can't. People who I have read about and have achieved some fame don't brag and often down play their abilities in some of the languages.
Beowulfsfriend
Level 9
Feb 5, 2019
1
You’re thinking too American. It’s common for most countries to be fluent in 2 languages. I’ve met only a small handful of people that were fluent in many languages. Most of these were from other places like Europe where there are many languages in close proxemity. I have met a few Americans but that was their job. Why be skeptical?
darthfaja
Level 7
Feb 5, 2019
1
THHA:
Do the math. It takes the average person close to 20 years to gain an advanced understanding and complete fluency in a language, some people far more. 20 * 7 = 140 years. Statistics are definitely against it, give the exception of the occasional genius with a very good memory. Usually it is hot air.
THHA:
Have you learned multiple languages? I consider that to be a complete myth, unless of course you are studying languages that are very closely related. Studying Russian does not help your acquisition of French, studying French does not help you acquisition of Arabic, and studying Arabic does not help your acquisition of Ancient Greek, studying Ancient Greek does not help to any significant degree, your study of Latin.
THHA:
From your own link. "Alexander Arguelles, 20 languages or so. Arguelles declines to say the exact number. "If someone tells you how many languages they speak, then you shouldn't trust them," he says. He has studied more than 60 languages and devotes 9 hours of study every day to them. Twenty is the number of them in which he has reading competence."
THHA:
If you are interested in a good program for learning languages, I have created one on my GitHub site, it was originally created for John Williams White's First Greek Book, but is crafted with the study of languages in mind. I have yet to create a tutorial for it, but there are screenshots on the site that exemplify its use. Most of the buttons have tooltips on them, you just hold your mouse over them and the tooltip tells you what the button does. Windows-based. The EXE file is in the Study Maestro.zip file. [github.com]
The button with the check mark is where the quiz creator is located, it is great for creating quizzes and learning grammar.
THHA:
"It takes the average person close to 20 years to gain an advanced understanding and complete fluency in a language, some people far more."
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