left-footed, female, not luvin grammar 
Content edited
In my opinion hyperpolyglots only have one thing in common: they discovered years ago that they have a passion for learning languages
And they call toes toes, not foot fingers.
@ 3kingdoms: that depends on which language they are talking in
Right-handed, male, grammar-loving here. My wife’s also a language enthusiast, and she’s also righ-handed and loves grammar. I’m musical, she’s not.
Content edited
Spanish for toe: dedo del pie = “foot finger”
Italian for toe: dito del piede = “foot finger”
I would imagine the same for French and Portuguese
Content edited
in French, “foot finger” = “orteil” or “doigt de pied”.
“orteil” is more used than “doigt de pied”.
I am left-handed and ambidextrous, female and I like to study grammar. In my opinion these characteristics of the Geschwind-Galaburda scale quoted in Michael Erard’s book have no scientitfic relevance.
Fasulye
Left-handed male and non-grammarlover here.
I am no good at remembering grammar rules (in any given language) but while those patterns I discover on my own i account, i do remember and use functionally. Funny, considering how language patterns are essentially what make op all grammar.
I believe the brain learns largely from experience, from examples and to a lesser degree from theoretical explanations. I believe this holds for most people. Grammar rules just help us notice patterns, to some extent. The extent depends on our tolerance for reading these rules.
In Portuguese it’s “dedo do pé”. I’ve always found it intriguing that English makes these distinctions whereas we’re all “fingers”. Even our thumbs are fingers.
Content edited
For those interested, here’s a map of the language feature “hand and arm”:
http://wals.info/feature/129A?tg_format=map&v1=cff0&v2=cd00
Main article here:
http://wals.info/chapter/129
Content edited
The idea that B2 and above counts as fluent is actually a very popular one. I have yet to form an opinion on where the “fluency line” should be drawn. I like to wait until a few native speakers ask me “how did you become fluent”, or “how long did it take you to become fluent” before I start claiming it myself.
Content Edited.
Everyone on these forums seem to use these systems, but out of curiosity, how many people have taken the tests? Imy, have you taken the tests to prove that you’re at those levels? If not, how do you know when you’re there? It seems as silly as asking my grandparents (none of them went to college, or ever had any use for the metric system) how much they weigh in kilograms, or how tall they are in centimeters.
I’ve had to take those tests for academic purposes before (B2 in French to study in France, B1 to Study in Russia), and I only took the test that was required. I passed them both, but I couldn’t honestly with academic certainty say if I was B2, C1, C2 by that framework, because I haven’t ever taken one of those tests to verify!
For those who have taken them, what did you think? How difficult were they? I honestly don’t even know if having passed C1 or C2 would mean anything, because some of the students that I was with could not hold a conversation, or comunicate in a meaningful way in France and Russia, and yet they were awarded their certificates. One of the girls in France even was applauded by the family she was living with when she asked correctly, “please pass the salad.” (applauded because she usually couldn’t communicate with them, and gave up and spoke English). B2 exam passed. In Russia there was an equally atrocious case of someone who knew her declensions well enough and had a bit of vocabulary, but her writing was awful and she couldn’t speak without help from teachers and a lot of English mixed in: B1 passed.
Maybe these exams are honest and I’ve just had 2 odd exceptions, but I don’t trust it, so I’d like to hear from others!