Harmony of Babel: Profiles of Famous Polyglots of Europe

by Kató Lomb, Ádám Szegi (Translator), Scott Alkire (Edited by)

In the 1980s, the distinguished interpreter Kató Lomb researched and interviewed polyglots to discover how they learned their languages. In 1988 she published her findings in "Harmony of Babel." The book became immediately popular in Dr. Lomb's native Hungary. In 2013 TESL-EJ of Berkeley was proud to publish the first English translation of "Harmony of Babel." The English edition attracted many readers worldwide and Dr. Lomb's fame spread. The success of the English translation prompted the translator and editorial team to prepare a new edition of "Harmony" featuring an introduction and the transcript of an interview Dr. Lomb did for Hungarian television in 1974. As with the first edition, readers will learn how some of the world's greatest polyglots think about, and use, their languages. Their views, grounded in real-world experience, will be of particular interest to linguaphiles who are seeking to supplement their theoretical knowledge of language learning.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction, Linguistics, Hungarian Literature

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Kató Lomb was a Hungarian interpreter, translator, language genius and one of the first simultaneous interpreters of the world.

Originally she graduated in physics and chemistry, but her interest soon led her to languages. Native in Hungarian, she was able to interpret fluently in nine or ten languages (in four of them even without preparation), and she translated technical literature and read belles-lettres in six languages. She was able to understand journalism in further eleven languages. As she put it, altogether she earned money with sixteen languages (Bulgarian, Chinese, Danish, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Ukrainian). She learned these languages mostly by self-effort, as an autodidact. Her aims to acquire these languages were most of all practical, to satisfy her interest.

According to her own account, her long life was highlighted not primarily by the command of languages but the actual study of them. Through her books, published in Hungarian in several editions as well as in some other languages, interviews (in print and on the air) and conversations, she tried to share this joy with generations.

Reviews

[Giuseppe D · Rating 4 out of 5]

“When does the brain become too old to accept a new language? I beg your pardon: How should I know? I’m not even eighty yet!”
This is the quote I liked the most from this second book by dr Lomb that I read and that I enjoyed once again very much because her passion about learning and speaking and practicing foreign languages transpires from every line. On the other hand, this book is a bit repetitive if you already read the first one.

[Soobie is expired · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, it was high time to read this book. It was sitting on a chair for too long. I had previously read all books - the ones translated into English, of course, by Lomb and I was really looking forward to this one.

Here Lomb interviews the greatest polyglots of her time and ask them the same questions in order to have a sort of round table. Extremely interesting. For me, it's actually strange when people consider Latin a living language and state they can speak it. I took two years of Latin back in high school and I wouldn't even know where to start to introduce me. I don't know how to explain it but the words I had to learn (castra-castrorum, for instance) simply couldn't serve the purpose of holding a modern conversation in Latin. Well, for talking about ambassadors going into the enemy's camp it was perfect.

Yep, people frown upon polyglots. They can't know all those languages. Well, as a polyglot in training I can relate to that. English is by far my strongest language. It's the one I use if I have to write something relevant (or poems). I like to say it's the language of my brain. On the contrary, German is the language of my heart: the one I wanted so much to learn and the one I love for its logic. Still, German is a bit less strong than English. Spanish has the same structure of Italian and most of the words are similar: it's easy to read and speak. Still, Spanish is weaker the German. French is tricky for its pronunciation but it's still sort of easy because it's a Latin language. I can read in Dutch, I can write in Dutch, I'm also able to watch TV in Dutch and understand what's going on. But speaking it's so difficult: I've never gotten the hang of it. A lot of weird sounds. I learned Swedish by myself so I've actually never spoken it with a living person. I can read, though, I can write (maybe it's even easier than writing in Dutch, albeit I took three courses in Dutch) and I can watch TV, provided I have subtitles. But Swedes are a bit stingy for what subtitles are concerned and most of my Swedish movies have only German subs. Friulian is the language of my region. I can understand it if I here someone speaking it. I can utter some sentences and I use tons of Friulian words when I speak Italian. Still, when I read in Friulian for the first time... I couldn't recognize the words: I had to say them aloud in order to grasp their meaning. That's probably because I hadn't seen them on print before.

Back to the book. I liked the question Lomb asked and the variety of answers she got. The best question was probably the one about reading.

I hope TESL-EJ would translate more of Lomb's books.

[Annamária Takács · Rating 4 out of 5]

It had a lot of great ideas for a better language learning, but almost everyone being interviewed in the book has a different opinion about the whole process. So, you have to choose the method that fits you the best. But one thing is sure: now I feel like studying, and I feel like I'll be able to do it. Every beginning is hard, but after being familiar with a family of languages, you can learn the others faster and faster. I am optimistic. :)

[Roger Woods · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book where the author interviewed many polyglots( those who can speak 8 or more languages!) across Europe. She herself was employed as a simultaneous translator. There are some very interesting accounts about their lives. However, if you thought the book would give you the secrets of learning languages you would be wrong although it gives a few clues. There doesn't appear to be any easy way! Hard work and constant application seems to be the message here.

[Beáta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ez egy interjúkötet a nyelvtanulásról. Lomb Kató több nemzet és ország poliglottjaival beszélgetett
arról, hogy ki hány nyelven kommunikál, olvas, ír stb., milyen módszereket alkalmazott egy-egy
nyelv elsajátításához. Ahány ember, annyiféle technika; mindenki másra helyezte a hangsúlyt.
A tanácsok mellett a szerző megosztott velünk néhány vicces sztorit is. Nekem nagyon tetszett, hogy jutott be az Európai Parlamentbe.

[sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Acabo de terminarlo hace algunos días y fue inspirador leer las historias de los políglotas que compartían este amor por los idiomas como yo. Hoy en día la poliglotía es algo que no suele encontrarse entre la gente (al menos en mi experiencia) y, dado eso, en mi opinión personal creo que el mundo está yendo a peor. Porque en un tiempo en el que ser multilingüe no se ve como algo tan útil como antes, siento que estamos perdiendo mucho: una conexión y una necesidad de entender el mundo que nos rodea. Ser capaz de hablar varios idiomas no solo permite comunicarse con otras personas, sino también descubrir varios mundos nuevos llenos de perspectivas y matices que, si no los hablara, nunca sería capaz de comprender tan profundamente.

En mi caso, empecé a estudiar lenguas para mirar a través de la ventana que estaba cerrada por la barrera lingüística. Cuando aprendí español descubrí un mundo completamente nuevo con cosas y personas con las que antes nunca hubiera tenido la oportunidad de hablar. Leer libros escritos por gente de habla hispana me ha abierto a diferentes maneras de ver el mundo, su prosa y sus experiencias, las cuales son muy diferentes a las mías. Eso me ayudó a entender mejor que hay algunas experiencias y perspectivas que solo se pueden comprender realmente si uno es capaz de entender la lengua original de una persona y su obra.

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” - Nelson Mandela