I can confidently say that I speak Portuguese, Spanish, and English to varying degrees. However, at a beginner level, I know Norwegian, Italian, and Polish. I also am probably at a very beginner level in Russian and French, both of which I’m learning and getting better at. I’m conversing with French people.

My fiancé says I’m a polyglot, but I don’t know if I’m just trilingual or not.

    • vfreire85@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      16 days ago

      op would be conversational with a significant part of the world, and they’re not to blame for colonialism. just by learning spanish, english and portuguese they would be able to talk to anyone south of rio grande in the u.s., and talk to some former british colonies in africa and asia. put some russian and french and you would be left with just perhaps middle east, east and southeast asia.

      knowing that and learning some arabic and chinese (throw in some language of some east or southeast asian country if they want) and there’s not much left, but to discuss how colonialism brought the world to this situation.

      • geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        16 days ago

        Most countries speak English so no need for all the fluff in that case. Spanish and French are the next most relevant. The rest is very much euro-centric.

        My biggest gripe is that all Euro languages have a shared Latin and Greek origin so OP’s not really branching out to entirely different language systems.

        • Bronzie@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          16 days ago

          What do you mean by all Euro languges having a shared Latin and Greek origin?

          I’m no expert/linguist, but I thought Germanic, Slavic, Romance (Latin) and Uralic were completely separate branches of the Indo-European language tree, having very little to do with eachother.

          Cheers

          • geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            16 days ago

            I was moreso referring to their alphabet and pronounciations but a lot of them such as German have a hefty amount of Latin terms which got incorporated. I doubt many Germans these days would understand original Germanic.

            They do have their own roots but you get a head start in Europe by pronouncing Latin words in whatever regional accent is availble. Polish and Norwegian likely less but OP is still at a beginner level for those.

            But for example adding Japanese, Chinese or Arabic adds a whole new alphabet and experience where there is virtually no Latin base to start from

        • vfreire85@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          15 days ago

          i understand your side, but that’s up to op. personally for me i was thinking about learning a native local language, perhaps tupi or nheengatu, and one from the african diaspora such as yoruba, kimbundu or kikongo. but that’s on me, and that’s on op too, regardless of what we think. it’s not a particularly picky topic in my opinion.

  • Pudutr0ñ@feddit.cl
    cake
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    18 days ago

    Only people who speak more languages or that feel like their intellect is somehow under threat by you claiming the title will try to gatekeep you from using it, so don’t worry.

    Edit: Also, you’re not a polyglot because that would make me look bad. Have a nice day.

  • FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website
    cake
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    18 days ago

    Just by origin of the word polyglot means you have many tongues. Tongues is of course well established as a stand-in for languages. If you can speak more than one, you fall under the definition.

    I think people have attached more to the term than just that though. I’m thinking of well traveled and culturally sensitive as well. Somebody who would be alright no matter where you dropped them.

    How many languages can your better half say good morning in? She might just be trying to pay you a compliment and you with your humilis gloriatio are not having it. In any case, I wouldn’t recommend going back to her with arguments obtained from a random group of internet users to settle your interpersonal disagreement.

  • 小莱卡@lemmygrad.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    16 days ago

    Honestly, if you can have a conversation with other language you’re already a polyglot. Going from 1 to 2 is harder than 2 to >3

  • Jeena@piefed.jeena.net
    link
    fedilink
    Deutsch
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    18 days ago

    I think the title of polyglot is just silly. I speak 4 languages fluently but I would never introduce myself as a polyglot.

    • Dsklnsadog@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      18 days ago

      Honestly, I only speak two languages, and to me, someone like you is definitely a polyglot. I get that you don’t wanna sound full of yourself or anything, but calling it what it is isn’t arrogant—it’s just being accurate. You speak four languages! That’s amazing, and you should own it. I’m bilingual, and sure, my native language is stronger, but that doesn’t mean I downplay the other one. Give yourself some credit, seriously.

  • TurtleCalledCalmie@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    17 days ago

    Jak będziesz umiał przeczytać to zdanie, zrozumieć i odpowiedzieć bez problemu, to myślę, że spokojnie możesz nazywać się poliglotą. Język polski jest trudny, nawet dla rodzimych Polakow.

    • mindlesscrollyparrot@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      17 days ago

      Since they speak multiple languages, they probably spend quite a lot of time thinking about the subtle differences in meaning between words, so the precise meaning of the word “polyglot” no doubt matters quite a lot to them.