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Re:The Mystery of People Who Speak Dozens of Languages by kazinator on Thursday August 30, 2018 @01:00PM (#17878337)
Speak and understand dozens of languages at what level?

Could they understand a complex news story about economics and finance in all those languages? Read a novel? Write an essay on a complex topic?

I'm skeptical.

You could be mistaken as a native in six languages if you just make small talk with a perfect accent and intonation.

Someone who really knows a language has a (passive) vocabulary of some 25,000 words. A proper hyperpolyglot should have 11X then, once per each language. Yeah, sure!

Re:The Mystery of People Who Speak Dozens of Languages by mgkimsal on Thursday August 30, 2018 @01:28PM (#17878698)
I may have a bit of a gift of mimicry for languages - I can usually pull off a passable accent in multiple languages pretty quickly. I've had natives comment that my accent was good. The first few times I considered it politeness, and that probably is a factor, but I've heard it enough over 20+ years that there's probably a kernel of truth in it.

I've done travelled in various areas of Spain, China and Russia (and had studied Japanese years back), and have been able to do rough communication with all of them to some level, but ... when you are doing it, you realize how much you don't know. No, I can't just read any level of book I want, can't understand all the news programs (or the local ramifications), couldn't go see a theatrical play, couldn't conduct business, etc. BUT... the few phrases and words I know, apparently I sound good enough that people have mistaken me (for perhaps 30 seconds, until I keep going) for a native speaker. (well, not in china!)

I remember feeling quite humbled that the 4 year old at a mcdonalds in China was still more 'fluent' than I was as an adult. That gave me a lasting impression, and deep respect for people who move to other countries, develop new lives, and learn a foreign language and culture. I'm not saying I could never do it, but... it's immensely difficult.

Re:The Mystery of People Who Speak Dozens of Languages by bunderbunder on Thursday August 30, 2018 @01:29PM (#17878704)
> Could they understand a complex news story about economics and finance in all those languages? Read a novel? Write an essay on a complex topic?

Those skills can't even be assumed in native speakers.

For example: https://nces.ed.gov/naal/

Re:The Mystery of People Who Speak Dozens of Languages by kazinator on Thursday August 30, 2018 @02:00PM (#17879037)
They can be assumed in high IQ native speakers, though.

These hyperpolyglots are supposed to be high IQ.

If you have a high IQ, but look like a low IQ illiterate in a dozen additional languages, then I'm afraid you're a phonyglot. This is because there are ideas that you can think but cannot say in those non-native languages; and if someone else were to say those things for you, you wouldn't understand what they are saying.

Re:The Mystery of People Who Speak Dozens of Languages by yjftsjthsd-h on Thursday August 30, 2018 @01:13PM (#17878531)
You can cheat by deduplicating, since languages evolve in families.
Re:The Mystery of People Who Speak Dozens of Languages by kazinator on Thursday August 30, 2018 @02:01PM (#17879050)
I would only count the families. A hyperpolyglot in twelve languages that are from three families only knows three languages with minor variations; it's not the same as a hyperpolyglot who knows twelve deeply unrelated languages.