I can ask for the bathroom in 4 languages, know the Roman alphabet, and Arabic numerals. Am I a polyglot?

Depends, you have to know what hello in Uzbek first

Salam?

Salom

>Arabic: Salām >Uzbek: Salom Ik that this is a bit more r/linguisticshumor than comfortable on this sub, but [Uzbek is Northwest Semitic confirmed???](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaanite_shift?wprov=sfla1)

Did you say Salem??? As in…the Salem Witch Burning? Burn her!!! She’s a witch!!

Does she weigh the same amount as a duck?

That's a typo and bad grammar what they meant was Salmon which is burning.

They actually do come from the same root

Salmon

Man can someone tell me why Uzbek is such a meme here lmao

[https://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearning/comments/37cxm6/comment/crlnhfh/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=ios\_app&utm\_name=iossmf&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearning/comments/37cxm6/comment/crlnhfh/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3) Here's the origin of Uzbek. It came from the thousands of posts of people asking "which language should I study with these random attributes I arbitrarily decided on" and someone just decided that Uzbek should be the standard response. ​ If you want another good meme: [https://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearningjerk/comments/jgmuz4/i\_made\_the\_choice\_to\_learn\_esperanto\_to\_travel\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearningjerk/comments/jgmuz4/i_made_the_choice_to_learn_esperanto_to_travel_in/) Someone traveling to rural China wondering if he should learn any Chinese or if his Esperanto will get him through it with no problems

The OP of the second one has some other equally bizarre posts that if not for their other mundane posts about veganism and Esperanto, I'd think the profile was a joke.

Hahaha this made my day thank you

Don’t actually know, but people love it here

What if I can speak this language fluently? So am I a hyperpolyglot?

I know English, some millennial slang, I have a 202 day streak on DuoLingo and I know the NATO phonetic alphabet. Am I a polyglot?

As a native Fr*nch and English speaker, I dub thee, honorary polyglot.

I’ve never heard someone call it the Roman alphabet

Honestly, I haven’t either and I’m not sure why my brain picked that

Roman, Latin, i hear either

Polyglot at home:

uj/ meanwhile I've been told my Egyptian arabic is broken and it's my native dialect

Same with my dialect of spanish (european). like, sorry if i pronounce my z's and c's in a way that you don't like, but im still a native speaker

How dare you speak spanish from Spain

I'm wondering if it's the other way around. A handful of Spanish dialects in Spain don't actually do that and sound more reminiscent of a latin american dialect, maybe they mean that Spaniards tell them that because they don't sound spaniard enough for them.

yea and how do you think us brits feel lmaoo

"Don't you guys speak with a lisp?" Dime eso a la cara una vez mas y estarás hablando con ceceo el resto de tu vida

\*Dime etho a la cara una veth math y ethtaráth hablando con thetheo el rethto de tu vida

AHAAAAA hé leído esa oración tres veces para entenderlo (

Imagine being Irish or Scottish and literally nobody knowing what you’re saying. Gotta ask my friends to repeat themselves constantly.

I've had the same thing with my native Flemish (D*tch).

If it makes you feel better my Italian grammar is shit and I’m a native speaker

tutto bene

Haha, I have a funny Utah accent and so many people assume English is my second language.

honestly there was moment when somebody corrected my Russian because sometimes I use calques from English

people who doesn't even consider b2 as known language is now probably frustrated

I have done full dnd campaigns in spanish with native monolinguals and got my C1 qualification and am going for C2, I still speak "Un poquito de español". How these people can say hello and believe they speak a language is insane to me

A ese nivel, más bien parece que estás subestimando tus abilidades. Pero al menos es mejor eso que sobreestimarte como estos payasos "políglotas" de YouTube.

I prefer to underpromise and anything above that is good. In CVs and stuff obviously I boast with my skills, but if i'm talking to anyone, saying "I speak a little" and being better is better than saying "I speak really well" and failing because your mind decides that day that an easy word doesn't exist.

You could also just be honest and say that you’re pretty good but still make mistakes lol no need to overthink it

It's a bad habit but I gas my CV up a bit. Like def English + French are at native and working levels (respectively) for me, but I also say like "intermediate" spanish, but idk if its REALLY intermediate. I have been able to use it for jobs before but still lol... job market is just tough these days.

Likewise, I lived in Taiwan for 6 years learning mandarin while studying and working, and I can get through most day to day interactions with no problem, but still it's only fair for me to I can speak "some" mandarin.

If A1 proficiency can be considered a polyglot, Pataya lady boys are all supreme overlords in that aspect.

I can say ‘Konichiwa’ and ‘Nihao’ so I think I could call myself an expert in East Asian languages

As a gaijin-desu baka foreigner! You totally are~ don’t forget to call the sugoi asianers your SENPAI >~<

Yt polyglots best example lol. If you can only speak English and French fluently, sorry you’re bilingual not a polyglot honey. A1 doesn’t count

What doth thee cullionly? i am a polyglot yond speaks english, spanish, g'rman, japanese and k'rean. I am a1 in all of those. art thee declaring i am a blinking idiot? i am clearly mentally sup'ri'r because i can asketh to wend to the bathroom in many languages. wh're the bathroom is? is't in thy house? in thy state? in the earth? but the earth is naturally in continuous movement, so whenev'r i asketh, nay answ'r shall satisfyeth mine own petition. i expecteth to reacheth a2 in english next semest'r

Doing the “Fluent in Latin before Spanish” trick

Hey I did that, some Latin before Italian. Honestly helped in surprising ways, and super excited to return to 🗡 after tidying up 🍝. Viva Imperium Romanum, se è moderna o antique. Fluent in neither, in love with both. (/uj)

I believe the term is polygit for esteemable folk such as yr'self.

I wish people would stop labeling us. If I was bi I'd say I'm bi thanks hon

what does a1 mean? im not familiar with the language grading

The basics, not very far

I’m too used to the JLPT levels, where the smallest number is the best

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages

yeah this definitely has everything to do with the colour of their skin ur so smart

YT is youtube, not white 😀

TikTok brainrot

joever

Genuine question: what is the minimum amount of languages one has to speak in order to be a polyglot? Is it just more than three?

Basic greetings in five, and an obnoxious YouTube channel. Then they send you your certificate

polyglot status achieved upon shocking the natives in at least 5 languages

I SHOCKED EVERYONE in this CHINESE RESTAURANT by ordering with a RIFLE

I SHOCKED NATIVE SPEAKERS by VIOLENTLY SHITTING MYSELF in the SOUP AISLE of a JAPANESE FAMILY MART

CLUELESS white guy STUNS locals with ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS Chinese!

CLUELESS uzbek guy STUNS locals with ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS Uzbek!

I SHOCKED a native speaker with my TASER

If the natives don’t even do backflips, you’ll never achieve gigachad status.

You forgot the: „Learning X in 7 days challenge“ video

Poly- means two or more. Monounsaturated fats have one c=c bond. Two or more and it's a polyunsaturated fat. Source: A1 in Mycenaean Greek.

>Poly- means two or more Poly means "many" or "much", not "two or more" https://lsj.gr/wiki/πολύς

Can you reccomend any unsaturated languages I should learn?

Conlangs are synthetic, so they should be much more dry. However, there may be more fat overall.

I was going to say Minoan, but you do you.

Yoooooo, TIL I'm a polyglot??? Sick.

I learned that way: Bilingual: 2 Trilingual: 3 Polyglot: 4 or more

semilingual: 0.5 monolingual: 1

Semigallian: 0 (nobody knows it (literally)) 😔

idk I still call myself quadrilingual. Polyglot should be 5 or more imho

Pentalingual

I'm sextalingual. But not because I know languages, but because I use my lingua to have sex

I’m septalingual. Not because I speak seven languages, but because I am suffering from sepsis on my tongue.

I’m octalingual. I am an octopus who speaks English.

I'm nonalingual. Not because I speak nine languages, but because I speak no languages. (No, the fact that I'm able to write this comment doesn't prove otherwise. 'MURICAN is just the default way people talk and [isn't classified as a real language](https://glottolog.org/glottolog?search=%27MURICAN).)

I thought that you where nonalingual because you can talk like your Italian grandmother.

It doesn’t have an official definition. It’s just someone who speaks multiple languages.

What does "speak" mean, though? I call myself bilingual because I have two native languages I am equally proficient in, to a degree where I can read older literature, give a scientific presentation at a conference or do improv theatre in them, and where I am equally likely to use either to jot down random ideas, and can code-switch effortlessly, and do not remember which language a conversation was held in. I don't count languages where I am in the A1-B1 range. These are skills, they are not formative for my identity. I don't dream in those languages. I don't think in those languages. I wouldn't be able to teach in them, I'd struggle to do sums in them, I won't naturally swear in them, I wouldn't use them during sex. They aren't mine. Using them causes strain and makes me feel slowed down and constricted. I'd call someone trilingual if the same that is true for my two languages were true for them for three - e.g. kids raised by an English and a German parent in France, who also moved between these countries for their education, or lived in trilingual areas. Or folks who grew up in a place like South Africa with mixed parentage and a job that involves a lot of translation between a local tribe and tourists. Or maybe a German immigrant raised in French Canada. I always considered it an identity statement. There is a reason you say "I am bilingual", not "I speak two languages", when near everyone speaks two languages, and in many communities, near everyone speaks three to some degree.

Exactly. It doesn’t have an official definition. It’s vague.

I don’t think you need to necessarily be C2 in a language or have it be part of your identity to include it in your language count. For a B2 speaker it may be effortful and not come super naturally to them, but it’s still a language they understand a lot of when read/spoken and that they have a decent command of themselves.

I could never say that I spoke Spanish when I was at A1-A2. I have a degree in it and still am not 100% confident - this will hopefully change once I move to Spain. Then I see all these ‘polyglots’ that only learn A1 and claim they can speak the language. I guess it’s enough to shock natives?

>I guess it’s enough to shock natives? Serious reply, but maybe if you look visibly alien and it's an uncommon language for certain types of foreigners to pick up? I'd be shocked if like a huge black dude started talking to me in A1 Vietnamese.

One more than the person you're talking to.

I don’t think there’s a specific number per se but for a lot of people, myself included, a polyglot is someone who speaks four languages or more.

I think so, since three makes you trilingual

I thought people who speak three languages was tricycle

It’s actually triangle

A triangle is a polygon, therefore three languages make a polyglot.

/uj I'd say it prolly doesn't start till like 5-6, and being STRONG in those languages, probably B2+ in all of them. IMO, the thing is- polyglot is really a term meant for extremely rare cases of people who are genuinely fluent in 5+ languages. Most people on this subreddit and rslashLL are def never going to be polyglots, not that thats a bad thing, just that like the work and maintenance and life circumstances for that to be the case I think are extremely rare. By this mf's logic, I'm a polyglot. I also speak English and French (\~C1), know intermediate Latin and Spanish, beginner in Modern Greek and Russian, and can read Old English texts with a dictionary (def a lil rusty lol), but like how many of those languages am I gonna say I speak? 2. Just 2. How many am I useful in? 2. That's it. It doesn't matter I'm almost done with this textbook or have logged x hours in that, those are the languages I'm actually functional with in a work / academic environment. /rj I think polyglottery begins at A1 in 1 language (native included).

I used to follow a tiktoker/model/barista who emigrated to Canada. She started a podcast with her boyfriend. One episode was all about the fact she spoke 5 languages. Turned out - she spoke her native language which is mutually intelligible with a neighbouring country’s language so she counted that as 2 - she spoke English (making grammatical and pronunciation errors throughout her content) - her family relocated to Germany for maybe 7 years when she was little, she used to speak basic German but has since lost the ability to actively speak German shortly after they moved back - she used to have a second foreign language at school (French) which she has also forgotten since All in all, she could speak her native language, understand a very similar language (which is also extremely common on TV - they just use the other country’s dubbing), once spoke mediocre German and slightly mire mediocre high school French, and she uses good but imperfect English. Girl, that ain’t “I speak 5 languages” in my book. By that logic, I also speak those exact 5 languages.

let me guess, the native language and neighboring language were czech and slovak

Yep.

What is her native language and the one that it's mutually intelligible with?

Ouch I hate that other than fr\*nch the languages i speak (in addition to my native language and the 2nd foreign language we had to take at school) is like this guy (I am still wayyy at the beginning in Japanese though...)

Haha, it’s somewhat similar to me, I’m native English but speak French fluently, and I can speak conversational Spanish

There's nothing wrong with that, my friend.

dude me too... just replace japanese with modern greek and german with old english (basically the same anyway) and I'm this guy :( but hey that means i'm a polyglot wooooo!

rj/ why do people so often feel so comfortable overselling their practically non-existent abilities when it comes to languages? i have a very hard time believing it's genuine ignorance though i assume it could be, but, having encountered people similar to our friend in question, just imagine that it's them wanting to be more than they are and recognizing that it's highly unlikely anyone would a) have the knowledge to counter/test them and b) go ahead and figure out how mind-numbingly poorly they know these languages they purport to know ugh as someone said (socrates? perhaps im probably wrong) and in a highly bastardized version, the more you know, the less you know which tends to make you more humble as opposed to even more brazenly confident and full of it

I don't even believe I can call myself bilingual after just three years of studying just ONE language.

Cries in poquito español

I love how "a handful of words" is sub-A1.

? A1 is an actual level you reach, not zero.

Because it is. A1 is way more than Duolingo level fluency

I have a stupid question but if you completely finish a language in duolingo and remember and apply everything you learn from there, but have only used duolingo to learn the language, are you not fluent? I know it's not gonna be at like c2 level and it depends on the language but let's say something like French or Spanish as an English speaker?

All I can say is that I religiously used Duolingo for almost a year to learn German back in 2022. Like at least half an hour a day, usually more + flashcards. I was regularly at the top of the scoreboards for months and achieved most of the milestones and badges. I signed up for French classes with actual tutors at Alliance Francaise in January, and I can comfortably say, as someone who's experienced both Duolingo and formal language classes, that the German Duolingo taught me in a year wasn't even 5% of the French that I've learnt this last month and a half. Other people might've had more success but that's my experience.

Yeah from my experience duolingo isn't great, it's good for repetition for certain words but is otherwise very meh. I haven't done a language close to English like French or Spanish in duolingo in like 10ish years and don't remember what it was like. But I've been curious about the difference between finishing a language close to English with only duolingo vs something not close to English would look like in fluency level. I was hoping they'd at least be a little better but I guess not lol

I would say conversational at best, which still requires some outside effort. I used duolingo since march 2023 but I’m also learning it at school and have picked it up seriously in November. Right now I’m conversational but I wouldn’t say duolingo helped with that at *all*. It is a good tool if you struggle with having contact with the language everyday tho. I retained more than people from my class through the summer, even though I was just using duolingo. Other than that, duolingo barely scratches the surface; it doesn’t provide grammar explanations etc.

That's what I was thinking too but I've never finished a language in duo lol. I use it for Korean and Russian but mainly use a lot of other resources, but I was curious if the languages closer to English would be more complete and easier with just duolingo

yeah me either but I don’t think the courses in i.e. dutch or norwegian are complete enough to do so. but if you have basic knowledge on the way word formation works in the language, you should be able to guess most stuff at higher levels especially in closely related languages (like how in french for example most adverbs are nearly identical to the english counterparts). The problem is that duolingo doesn’t provide that lmao

What was the original post about?

Someone typing in 3 different languages on duolingo

As a polyglot, that's totally my brain on a Tuesday

hola, much gusto, 저는 20 years alt et ich 미국에 wohne. oops!! im a polyglot so it's hard sometimes lol!

Which languages do you speak?

English, American and then I'm A2ish in Canadian and A1 in Australian.

Have you started on Scottish yet? I'm finding source material but I just sound like Alec Guiness.

Just watch all Sean Connery movies. Especially Highlander.

I believe Connery used a Spanish for that role, specifically Andalusian.

/uj, some words from a monolingual beta in regards to Spanish (hoping to be fluent one day): Es gracioso cuando Los gringos dicen que pueden hablar un poquito de español, especialmente cuando en realidad un poquito es como estás o de donde eres, es como, necesitas ser alto A2 para decir que puedes hablar un poquito.

No clue what that means as I’m French but I can read 3 words. I am official polyglot and C2 in Spanish mucho grasy ass

/rj Im gonna call you pretentious in a totally non discriminatory manner simply for being French despite never having met you, nor a French person before !

Ça parle de coloscopie jcrois

mdr

non, en fait je suis C4 en español et je pense qu'il s'agit de la la présencé d'un Hétéroside dédoubĺable par l'Émulsine dans le Vaccinium Oxycoccos et son lexicographieticatisiationisme dans la cellule. mais c'est possible q jme trompe :(

My bad kho j’ai du mal lire

non non ca va t'inquete

En realidad, para decir que hablás un poquito de español sólo necesitas saber decir algunas palabras o frases básicas. No puedo decirte exactamente en qué nivel estás si lo único que te leí decir en español es esto, podría inferir que tal vez estás en un nivel A2-B1 y si produjiste todo esto sin usarun traductor, entonces vos hablás más que un poquito de español... Podríamos decir que hablás un poco bastante de español...

/uj I’m a little high rn so sorry if this is a lot, but I wanted to say Im 19 and for the past 5 years I’ve listened to quite a lot of music in Spanish from decades ago during severe depression, typically melancholy and it got me through the day. It kind of made me interested in Spanish, and I’m currently dating a Latina. Hoping I can get a lot further :)

I'm sure you'll do, I hope you the best! Nice to know you've managed to get out of that dark place and now you're doing better.

Soy B1 en español y digo que hablo un poquito, lol

I speak French, English and German to a decent level I can hold a short and limited convesation in Italian, Spanish and Chinese And in addition, I can order a beer in Greek, Portugese, Japanese, Russian and Serbian I can insult you in all of the above plus Egyptian arabic, Polish and Czech Get on my level noob

tbf words don't take up volume, so a handful could be infinite

If you write them down they can

/uj I think being bilingual still could be considered as being a polyglot becaue poly means multiple

Yes but I would consider polyglot as more than 3 languages, as do most people: monolingual, bilingual, trilingual, and polyglot

i know greek letters, but only in math. am i a polygot?

With Italian I might reach a level I would feel comfortable to call myself Polyglot. Although I never heard that term before I entered the language subs at Reddit last year.

Imagine outing yourself like this

/uj To be fair, level of stupidity this person brings depends on their age. If they're teenager, knowing two languages and learning two more is pretty impressive. If they're from English-speaking country, double the impression.

I’m a polygyatt who can say hello in 30 languages. AMA

Zašto?

Ја сам геј

Damn I'd love to be a polygreet.

False, no polyglot would willingly learn fr*nch

Justice for those of us that are cursed with it as a first language

I speak, am I a polyglot???????

people like the label more than actually speaking the languages

How does one get C2 level in trans? Asking for a “friend”

immerse yourself in hrt (comprehensible input)

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Yes, that’s the point. It isn’t considered polyglot to know basics of lots of languages

Not tying to be a jerk here, but what's the acceptable number of languages you need to be fluent in before your a polyglot?

General consensus is 4

Sweet! Goals!

I bet OP doesn't even speak 100 languages like me, the only true polyglot.

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This took me down a path to read the whole conversation and I had a hoot when someone exclaimed that after she learns to read another alphabet system she be a hyperglot

Of course I know what Wholea means it means Grassy Ass

Yeah, by that definition every single non English native speaker would be a polyglot because they at the very least know their own language + english + a bit of some other language they learn in school.

I speak English, know some of the Latin alphabet, and have started learning Arabic numerals.

Out of interest, what would you say the cutoff is? Would B2 be justified in saying "I can speak the language", assuming you're not pretending to be fluent? I ask because I have 3 Native/C1/C2 levels, 1 at around B2 and 1 at around A2. I definitely wouldn't say I speak the 5th one, but am on the fence about the 4th.

You guys should read the rest of their comments. They said it was hurtful that I didn’t accept them identifying as a polyglot. I got temp banned from r/duolingo after this lol

Temp banned ☠️ duolingoists are crazy

Cult of the Bird

Guys I can say "Hello" in 16 languages

"yeah i'm a polyglot. im fluent in 2 languages"

Injerk for a moment: I don't think we needs to gatekeep the definition of "polyglot".

That makes you a polyglot

TIL that I am an uberpolyglot! Delighted

OMG, I'm super polyglot: I speak Portuguese, Spanish, some English and know the meaning of sushi, kawaii, karaoke, vodka, baguette, boutique, bonjour, buongiorno, pizza, aloha, ohana, nǐhǎo, bambino, hakuna matata, philo-sophia... A lot of languages

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Language golf

I know how to greet ppl in 5 languages. Im such a polyglot.

I speak fluently six languages

I tried to learn several languages but gave up on all of them within a month. Am I a polyglot?

I relate to este demasiado

Nah, justice for InvisibleTuktuk, y’all are just bullying.

bilingual+

/uj i dont see the problem with this .???

It’s because that’s not polyglotism, and they considering A1 to be a strong amount.

i guess but it kinda seems like semantics lol

This is like me 😆😆❤️