Does anybody come?
I don’t like these polyglot gatherings. They’re all just circle jerks and i find the idea of two English people, for example, speaking in say Russian with each other is proper cringe.
Linguaphiles as my good pal, confidente and mentor Christophe would say.
Disagree with you completely. This is a gathering of the best language learners on the planet and they have important things to say.
The essential thing is to unite into a single coherent group. Then they will generate some clout with academia and government.
Pie in the sky.
For starters, which government ?
Polyglots giving talks to other polyglots is a circle jerk.
Agree it’s pie in the sky, but you have to start somewhere.
The central point is that for the last 200 years the schools and universities have been the main influence on language learning, and they have failed, basically because their fundamental role is to develop the intellect and learning a language is a profoundly un-intellectual activity.
The polyglots are assembling a body of knowledge and practice which is far more effective for language learning than that of schools and universities.
But schools and universities are organised, so they have terrific clout. While the polyglots remain just a bunch of individuals they will have no influence.
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That’s because schools and universities aren’t places of learning, they are places to be educated. There’s a big difference.
It’s quite a common and natural thing for sundry groups of like-minded enthusiasts in any field to occasionally gather to share views, experiences, techniques, and fellowship. You’re being unnecessarily harsh even if it’s not your cup of tea.
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There’s nothing harsh about the opinion of this being pointless. Two English dudes stood there speaking French for example is beyond cringeworthy.
So, I have been there.
I’ve started to refresh my Czech a month before the trip. And I must say it worth it. I understood almost every word even when the speach was very rapid.
The most interesting for me was the fact I can understand Czech after about 3 months of learning it. The 1st month or two I learned it was 3 years ago before my trip to Prague. I could survive that time. But now I could understand everything.
For sure, there were speakers who talked English. But it was a lot of Czech, as well.
Czech is my 5th slavic language. Of course, it is so eazy for me because my native tongues are 2 other slavic languages.
But I am pretty sure the westerners who claim they learned Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, English should be compared to people slavic who learn slavic languages.
It was extremly easy to understand Ukrainian, Polish and Czeck. But I still have problems in Italian, Spanish, German and even English.
Anyway, back to the conference. It was very useful for me personally.
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