| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] > | Off topic: who is the most multilingual? Thread poster: Will Matter
|
|---|
| what about proz? | Sep 4, 2003 |
By the way, who's the best polyglot in proz? Please be honest and don't just show off!
| | | | | Claude Hegège | Sep 4, 2003 |
Have you ever heard of him? Just make a research on him by typing his name and try to collect how many languages he speaks. Among those languages are: Arabic, Hebrew, French, English, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Hungarian, Turkish, Romanian, and so on, and so on, the guy is considered simply as a genius.
[Edited at 2003-09-04 12:11]
| | | | Will Matter 
United States
Local time: 15:35
English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | most multilingual ProZ member? | Sep 4, 2003 |
I WAS going to ask this question yesterday also but was a little afraid of 'opening a can of worms'/starting something that might not end, buuuut, since someone else brought it up...:) I wonder if there IS any way to accurately determine this given that we are a highly diverse community of 51K people (more or less) who are, by definition, multilingual. Maybe a moderator or Henry can tell us, maybe not. By the way, i have received *numerous* responses to this question, including lots of email and... See more I WAS going to ask this question yesterday also but was a little afraid of 'opening a can of worms'/starting something that might not end, buuuut, since someone else brought it up...:) I wonder if there IS any way to accurately determine this given that we are a highly diverse community of 51K people (more or less) who are, by definition, multilingual. Maybe a moderator or Henry can tell us, maybe not. By the way, i have received *numerous* responses to this question, including lots of email and may publish a brief synopsis of the results once everyone has had a chance to respond. At this point the bench mark for members is 6 languages or above, so if you speak this many or more and care to respond with details or comments, please feel free. Lorenzo Lilli wrote: By the way, who's the best polyglot in proz? Please be honest and don't just show off! ▲ Collapse
| | | | lien
Netherlands
Local time: 00:35
English to French
+ ...
| Claude Hagège | Sep 4, 2003 |
Il est Professeur au Collège de France:
| | |
|
|
|
My grandmother spoke 5. She was Latvian living on the border to Estonia and lived under German and Russian rule, then moved to the US, so Latvian, Russian, German, Estonian, and English.
I once heard a talk by Harry Obst, who I believe was the head of interpreting services at the State Dept. at the time. He mentioned a man there who learned languages as a hobby and could speak dozens apparently (don't know how fluently). He even surprised everyone by doing some translations out of F... See more My grandmother spoke 5. She was Latvian living on the border to Estonia and lived under German and Russian rule, then moved to the US, so Latvian, Russian, German, Estonian, and English.
I once heard a talk by Harry Obst, who I believe was the head of interpreting services at the State Dept. at the time. He mentioned a man there who learned languages as a hobby and could speak dozens apparently (don't know how fluently). He even surprised everyone by doing some translations out of Faroese once. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Superpolyglot contest! | Sep 4, 2003 |
willmatter wrote:
I WAS going to ask this question yesterday also but was a little afraid of 'opening a can of worms'/starting something that might not end, buuuut, since someone else brought it up...:) I wonder if there IS any way to accurately determine this given that we are a highly diverse community of 51K people (more or less) who are, by definition, multilingual.
I must be Mr Someone Else mentioned by Will. By now there are more than 58000 members in the community, if I'm not wrong, so how can we know who really is the king or queen of polyglots? I think the best thing is saying how many languages you actually translate from (not just potentially). So, ladies and gentlemen, I'm all ears!
| | | | | Translating languages | Sep 4, 2003 |
I translate from:
-English
-French
-Bosnian
-Serbian
-Croatian
-Russian
into:
-French
-Bosnian
-Serbian
Said a.k.a. SARAJ
Lorenzo Lilli wrote: willmatter wrote:
I WAS going to ask this question yesterday also but was a little afraid of 'opening a can of worms'/starting something that might not end, buuuut, since someone else brought it up...:) I wonder if there IS any way to accurately determine this given that we are a highly diverse community of 51K people (more or less) who are, by definition, multilingual.
I must be Mr Someone Else mentioned by Will. By now there are more than 58000 members in the community, if I'm not wrong, so how can we know who really is the king or queen of polyglots? I think the best thing is saying how many languages you actually translate from (not just potentially). So, ladies and gentlemen, I'm all ears!
| | | | Will Matter
United States
Local time: 15:35
English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Let's see what happens..... | Sep 4, 2003 |
Molto bene. LL stepped up and asked the next logical question, i too, am all ears and waiting to see what happens. Everyone here is at LEAST bilingual, this is not a competition, merely an inquiry and a matter of curiousity, i'm betting someone speaks 8 or more with a fair degree of fluency. Lorenzo Lilli wrote: willmatter wrote:
I WAS going to ask this question yesterday also but was a little afraid of 'opening a can of worms'/starting something that might not end, buuuut, since someone else brought it up...:) I wonder if there IS any way to accurately determine this given that we are a highly diverse community of 51K people (more or less) who are, by definition, multilingual.
I must be Mr Someone Else mentioned by Will. By now there are more than 58000 members in the community, if I'm not wrong, so how can we know who really is the king or queen of polyglots? I think the best thing is saying how many languages you actually translate from (not just potentially). So, ladies and gentlemen, I'm all ears!
| | |
|
|
|
Transflux (X)
Local time: 00:35
French to English
+ ...
It's not about quantity but quality. Even to master one language could take more than a lifetime. Every now and again these silly questions pop up. Yes there are "polyglots" who claim to speak hundreds of languages. Shakespeare spoke one. Need I say more.
| | | | Ben Jones
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:35
Japanese to English
+ ...
| Quantity does not deny quality | Sep 5, 2003 |
Hamnet wrote:
It's not about quantity but quality.
Is it not also important what these polyglots -- or not -- did with their languages? Shakespeare did great things with his 1, but Ziad Fazah also seems to have done some good with his 56+, while Harold Williams most certainly achieved many great things with his 58+.
| | | | | not a silly question | Sep 5, 2003 |
Hamnet wrote:
Every now and again these silly questions pop up. Yes there are "polyglots" who claim to speak hundreds of languages.
It wasn't meant as a silly question, as far as I am concerned. That's why I asked other members not to show off, reporting only the languages they translate from. I know there are "polyglots" who claim to speak hundreds of languages, and I'm sceptical about them too. But quality is not necessarily opposed to quantity.
| | | | Will Matter
United States
Local time: 15:35
English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | not a silly question at all, merely an inquiry | Sep 6, 2003 |
Hamnet wrote:
It's not about quantity but quality. Even to master one language could take more than a lifetime. Every now and again these silly questions pop up. Yes there are "polyglots" who claim to speak hundreds of languages. Shakespeare spoke one. Need I say more.
| | |
|
|
|
Will Matter
United States
Local time: 15:35
English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | fail to see the relevance of the fact that Shakespeare spoke only one | Sep 6, 2003 |
Yes, he did speak only one, but what does that have to do with the topic? Besides, some people speak several languages well and i was asking about that, trying to find additional sources and information. Merci.Hamnet wrote:
It's not about quantity but quality. Even to master one language could take more than a lifetime. Every now and again these silly questions pop up. Yes there are "polyglots" who claim to speak hundreds of languages. Shakespeare spoke one. Need I say more.
| | | | Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:35
Russian to English
+ ...
In memoriam | Did Shakespeare only know one language? | Sep 6, 2003 |
If so, how did he write Act III, Scene III of Henry V?
Scene III - Rouen. A room in the Palace.
Enter Katherine and Alice.
Kath: Alice, tu as été en Angleterre, et tu parles bien le langage.
Alice. Un peu, madame.
Kath. Je te prie, m'enseignez; il faut que j'apprenne à parler. Comment appellez-vous la main en anglais?
Alice. La main? elle est appelée de hand.
Kath. De hand. Et les doigts?
Alice. Les doigts? Ma foi... See more If so, how did he write Act III, Scene III of Henry V?
Scene III - Rouen. A room in the Palace.
Enter Katherine and Alice.
Kath: Alice, tu as été en Angleterre, et tu parles bien le langage.
Alice. Un peu, madame.
Kath. Je te prie, m'enseignez; il faut que j'apprenne à parler. Comment appellez-vous la main en anglais?
Alice. La main? elle est appelée de hand.
Kath. De hand. Et les doigts?
Alice. Les doigts? Ma foi, j'oublie les doigts; mais je me souviendrai. Les doigts? Je pense qu'ils sont appelées de fingres; oui, de fingres...
(and so on to the end of the scene, at which point Katherine says)
O Seigneur Dieu! Ce sont mots de son mauvais, corruptible, gros, et impudique, et non pour les dames d'honneur d'user. Je ne voudrais prononcer ces mots devant les seigneurs de France pour tout le monde!
(The play then continues in English)
[Edited at 2003-09-06 14:02]
[Edited at 2003-09-06 14:03]
[Edited at 2003-09-06 14:04] ▲ Collapse
| | | |
Don't you see that it's a machine translation?
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » who is the most multilingual? | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
| | Wordfast Pro | Translation Memory Software for Any Platform
Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users!
Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value
Buy now! » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
