Explaining polyglots: What we mean when we say we speak X languages

[@smittoria]

Confuzed speakers of both greek and latin trying to understand why "polyglot" and "multilingual" are different things

[@watchyourlanguage3870]

Wait ur onto something

[@nicholaslemosdecarvalho5328]

My first thoughts exactly

[@georgios_5342]

As a Greek person, I call everyone who speaks more than one language a polyglot, which is technically true by definition 😂

[@echinas0908]

As someone who speaks none but has a fair understanding of scientific terms like it, I understand.

[@mucpou4099]

i go 6, en, my, nl, jp, cn, and WILDCARD so just whatever i can speak on demand, and wildcard because people will inherently ask what i mean by that at which point i can give the long answer.

[@raymondwalters2723]

I grew up speaking Afrikaans and English. I still remember where it all began for me. I was in the bath going about life when I noticed a bottle of Sunlight on the counter. (Its a popular dish washing liquid). Then I started to think, "sun-light..." "son-lig..." "hmmmmm". That threw me down the rabbit hole of historical linguistics as well, where I discovered that the 2 languages are actually related. I took great interest in the history of the Indo-European languages, especially Germanic. Fast forward a few years, I decided to take learning Dutch seriously. I got to the point where I could understand 90%+ of conversational Dutch even at full speed, but still struggle to speak without sounding stupid as cognate words often aren't used in the same way I'm used to. After getting bored on the dreaded plateau, I decided to torture myself with German. I was surprised to see how many words are recognisable if you undo the HGCS. I pretty quickly got to the point where I can understand like 60% of conversational speech, but my ability to produce it is only like A2 at this point lmao. What I enjoy about German though is that I can guess a word I havent learned yet with about 50% accuracy. The other 50% of the time it is either completely wrong or humorously unfitting to the context. Once I plateau on German, I plan to study Norwegian next and I'm definitely looking forward to that! Enjoyed the video as always, looking forward to the next one!

[@lukaszdaciuk9285]

My adventure with languages started many many years ago when, as a child, I found out that there were words in various languages on products like soap, shampoo and chocolate. So I was reading soap, Seife, jabón, zeep, mydło, savon... I was fascinated.

[@austinsontv]

I say "Bits and pieces of around 25" and people don't dig.

[@lukaszdaciuk9285]

Wow! That's exactly the problem I have. I hate being asked how many languages I speak because I don't know the asnwer.I speak two languages fluently, I understand and speak in a very limited way another 6 languages, and I understand but don't speak another 5. I had studied probably around 50 languages in my life. I always protest when someone calls me a polyglot and I call myself linguaphile instead. Fantastic video. Thank you!

[@K0M3.0K3]

wow thats more than me I mostly learnt 4 at school and 8 through family; on top of that some game coding and some from cartoon's, movies & music which comes to about 22 or more.

[@david_oliveira71]

50 languages? that's very broad. I assume you have heard of LaoShu505000?

[@lukaszdaciuk9285]

@@david_oliveira71 I counted all languages I tried. I studied some of them (like Haida, Cree, Igbo, Upper Sorbian, Inuktitut and a few others) just for a couple of weeks. To get a general gist, to find out how they work, to say hello, thank you, etc. Some of them I needed to have simple chats with friends online. Just a dozen languages or so I studied for longer periods.

[@belstar1128]

Yea same here

[@Ptaku93]

"linguaphile" sounds so much more pretentious than "polyglot" lol

[@climatechangeisrealyoubast3231]

it gets even more confusing when you know the majority language of your country as well as a quite distinct local dialect which cannot be classified as its own language so a straight answer to the question would end with .5

[@kamelboufenchouche8289]

Brother COULD YOU PLEASE SPEAK NORMAL YOU SPEAK FASTER I CANT FOLLOW .YOU ARE ONE OF THE RARE CHANNELS TO TALK ABOUT THESE TOPICS.

[@PolyglotGathering]

Nice, we hope to meet you again in 2024!

[@Writer_Productions_Map]

4 likes and no comments? Ain't fixing that!

[@hugosetiawan8928]

This is actually a good explanation!

[@jinengi]

If many poliglots weren't saying they speak 34 languages when they can just say "hello" and "where is the library" in 32, people would understand better. Just saying "fluently x but I can speak a bit of y and z" would do

[@mezameku]

1:12 i love your last reason! Definitely waiting for you to do slavic and romance language sound and grammar shifts just like you did with germanic languages. It was one of the best linguistics and eye-opening videos I've watched in my entire life :D

[@djb903]

Are there are any free and reliable ways to test what level you are (a, b, c)?

[@TheDrumstickEmpire]

I only speak English fluently (I know a bit of German and French but not nearly enough to hold a conversation). I’ve always had an interest in Languages, and for a while I made conlangs (I’ve made 202 of which only 23 are anywhere near complete and only 4 can actually have anything resembling a conversation). The issue is, I have the motivation and the drive to learn them, but I have so many other interests that I just forget words constantly (hell I even do it in english lmao). The crux of it is: I can’t do it 😂 but all the power to those that can!

[@NoverMaC]

I went from wanting to make conlangs for my fantasy novel to learn more about linguistics therefore tries to learn a lot of languages lol

[@AntoniusVladislavius]

Follow-up problem: Do I brag about speaking 3 Scandinavian languages when they are really more of a dialect continuum? Btw: The quality of your content improves so much when you take your time to enunciate, like you did here ;)

[@horseenthusiast1250]

I hesitate to call myself a polyglot (since I'm at best biliterate in any of my secondary languages, and would struggle at the moment to hold a conversation in any of them; I love studying them but I'm so bad at remembering them), but I did actually get into linguistics through conlanging! I read and watched Lord Of The Rings at a very early age, and the Rohirric and Sindarin languages absolutely captivated me. My household didn't have much linguistic diversity (we didn't speak anything but English at home, but did listen to a lot of music in a lot of other languages), so Lord Of The Rings was one of the first times I remember hearing extended conversations in another language. That made me fascinated with languages, which my parents noticed. As a very little kid I was homeschooled, so my parents sometimes threw in fun extra assignments for me to do. They noticed how interested I was in the languages of Lord Of The Rings, and after I could read a short chapter book and write a paragraph in English, they started printing out alphabet pages of Sindarin and letting me trace the letters (they also did that with Greek, since I liked Greek mythology a lot and it was a built-in history lesson of the alphabet). I never ended up grasping the grammar, but it led me to think about conlangs and linguistics overall as I grew up and started crafting fiction of my own. My lifelong interest in history also led me to linguistics, since I like seeing the history of linguistic families. So, now I'm always trying to learn more about linguistic evolution and history, as well as general linguistic structure. I'm hoping to make a conlang loosely based on PIE for some stories I'm writing, and along with bits of natural languages, I really enjoy learning conlangs. As a big ol' fantasy and sci-fi nerd, learning a conlang connected to a piece of art I like is fun both because it can reveal some subtleties about how characters may think of their world, and because it allows me to participate long-term in a fan community. At the moment, in terms of natural languages I speak English natively, I'm biliterate in Yurok (couldn't confidently hold a conversation right now but I could slowly read a text), and I know a few sentences, phrases, and some basic grammar of Irish Gaelic, Yiddish, Japanese, Russian, and German (I hope to learn much more, especially from languages outside of Europe. I can't read a text or hold a conversation in any of these, but I know enough to say "Excuse me" and stuff in the grocery store, or enough to sing a song). As for conlangs, I am almost conversationally fluent but not literate in Golic Vulcan. I know a few sentences, phrases, and some basic grammar of Sindarin and Klingon (that one is HARD, seriously Klingon is the most difficult language I've ever tried learning). And I'm currently learning Mando'a! That one's exciting because my linguistic studies are generally a lonesome affair, but my partner is learning Mando'a with me, so I have someone to practice snd speak with! Ni ori'briikase par baj'hibir ti ner cyar'ika. And I'm also working on my own conlang, as well as trying to figure one out for Weequay folks in Star Wars (they use very localised olfactory languages as well as verbal ones, and I can't find any information on how those work, which means it's free real estate for me to make up something fun. Trying to figure out grammar made with pheremonal phonemes...olfemes, I guess...is very tricky but really fun, especially since if they can speak both in an olfactory and a verbal language at the same time, you can get a lot of subtlety in communication). It's my goal to get much more fluent in some languages (right now I'm mostly focusing on Mando'a, because it's really fun to be able to speak to my partner in it and I'd like to learn to read and write in it too), and to start learning a few more (I'd LOVE to speak Mongolian, Sanskrit, and ancient Greek). Long story short, yeah conlangs absolutely get nerds into linguistics lol

[@juanpablo-rdm]

My badge 2024 N 🇦🇷 es C B 🇬🇧 en A 🇮🇹 it 🇧🇷 pt 🇩🇪 de 🇫🇷 fr Eλληνικό αλφάβητο 🇬🇷 el Русская азбука 🇷🇺 ru

[@Writer_Productions_Map]

My badge if I had one: N - pt (Portuguese/Português) C - en (English/English) B - A - fr (French/Français) Plan to learn - es (Spanish/Español)

[@Julia-ql9ix]

I tried over and over again to learn spanish as a kid, and was never able to, until I finally found a way to get it to stick in my head, and then I was like: "I want to learn as many languages as possible"

[@joevonwolfenstein21]

You're a polymath when your interests diverge into two or more subjects above and beyond what your major and minor were in collage; if you only majored without a minor, then it would be three or more subjects above your college major.

[@Somebodyherefornow]

linguistics or conlamg: what about both heh, that will be me one day!!! the red arrows you show going both ways!!!

[@belstar1128]

i can only speak a few languages but i can understand a lot. i can also cheat by only learning west European languages and counting stuff German and swiss German as separate .because i really noticed that despite me having a lot more interest in Asia compared to small European countries like Luxembourg .it doesn't change the fact that i can understand Luxembourgish after just a few days of study. while i have been try to get into korean for 6 years and i am making no progress despite me wanting to actually use the language unlike Luxembourgish that i just learned because i live close to it. and i also was bragging to a Swahili speaking woman that i have been learning many languages and she said what about Swahili .and then i was really struggling hard to think of something to say in Swahili but i couldn't remember anything i just wanted to speak Spanish instead .i couldn't just say no i don't know any Swahili but i don't know enough to say anything coherent .i had a similar situation with Khmer. in many languages i can understand people but can't talk back without sounding like a cave man like in Hungarian for example the grammar is too hard

[@gustavoalejandromorletavil426]

I wanted to learn French because I liked someone form school (They went to Québec to study abroad). I found Duo (circa 2014), when I could learn many languages. Then I found Dutch. Then I realized that French and other romance languages (I'm native in Spanish, know some Portuguese and Italian) and that English, Dutch and German are quite similar, investigated a little bit about their evolution in Wikipedia, found PIE and hyperfixated on historical lingüistics ever since. The fun part is, I preferred to research more about languages, and I forgot about my crush (we became friends for a while).

[@part9952]

I‘m surprised how accurate this video actually is considering how much „fake info“ concerning polyglotism goes around. My big „3“ are german, my native lang, english, learned at school since I was 10 and the language I am surrounded by through tv, the internet and netflix and finally Russian which I have been teaching myself for 6 years now. Those are the ones I am really fluent in. Other than that I learn Croatian, Greek and just started with spanish cause I am just so in love with them. I also wanna get them up to fluency, most importantly croatian though. And I went into conlanging actually haha. I was so amazed when you told us about these paths that language learners go. For 10 years now I have been building conworlds and was heavily invested in worldbuilding with the biggest and currently ongoing project of a fictional contemporary mediterreanean balkan country with 3 slavic conlangs. The most thoroughly developed conlangs that I have ever made. I‘m so proud of myself here. Also conlanging taught me soooo much more about linguistics and my target languages in the process. Amazing stuff really :)

[@watchyourlanguage3870]

@@part9952 I share your hatred of fake info about polyglots

[@realmless4193]

As an aspiring conlanger I wanna be a polyglot.

[@orthohawk1026]

I always say I speak pi languages 😀

[@Deibi078]

I hate linguistics and conlanging lol

[@federicobais1607]

Do ancient or dead languages count twice? Clearly not asking cause I'm learing attic greek lolol

[@watchyourlanguage3870]

Given that I've learned Yiddish and will soon learn German, which are super closely related and used to be considered the same language until not too long ago, I'd say you learning both Attic Greek and (Modern Greek?) would definitely count as two

[@_julery1141]

lets go im first on a wyl vid

[@linaelhabashy4608]

Sameee lol

[@joevonwolfenstein21]

Philologist .

[@luminos9447]

hej video sam da ucis da pricas srpski lol.

[@Deibi078]

I speak English and Spanish fluently, Im learning Japanese by watching anime and reading manga as much as I can but I dont wanna be the creepy guy who speaks japanese so French is also my another aim to talk to people and make them think I'm distinguished, thou I dont care about the label of polyglot, I dont give a f, just wanna flirt in french lol, another thing I hate is the English language because since i was very little i was forced to learn it and not very good at it so I'll keep improving my french until it gets better than my english 😂

[@sallylauper8222]

I just say "EIGHT!" If they're interested they'll make further inquiries.

[@nicholaslemosdecarvalho5328]

I just assume that people want to know how many languages I can hold a conversation at a high level. For me it is Portuguese (N), English (C), and French (C), however the two latter I still need to practice from time to time, otherwise I start making silly mistakes, or forgetting specific vocab I'm around A2 in German, but I would say that I speak it. I can understand bits and pieces and hold basic conversations. However, I think it would be disingenuous of me to say that I speak it. I have some good notions of the inner workings of it, but I still mess up some basic things, like gender and prepositions. I wouldn't be able to read a book, watch a movie without subtitles, or hold up a debate. I'm working towards that goal, and I know that, the more I progress, the more I dilute my attention towards the first ones.

[@Writer_Productions_Map]

Mano falo Português, Inglês e estou a estudar Francês. Mano, estamos a estudar as mesmas línguas!

[@georgios_5342]

Really nice video! Thanks! 😊

[@K0M3.0K3]

yh when you tell them the language count they usually ask about your learning experience; I haven't got the time to explain why I know 22 languages as 17 are real the rest are from games, your right though, if you have a multi cultural like an african dad and an irish mum, then on top of that you learn another language through games and media; you might aswell learn the aliens languages too.

[@Deibi078]

the big three 😂

[@Rationalific]

"A" is not "Please be patient". "A" is "I don't know the language". Anyone at an A-level (lowest on the CEFR) is not telling the truth if they say they can speak that language. At most, they can say that they are studying that language.