Adieu Babel: Le monde extraordinaire des polyglottes

by Michael Erard

Le multilinguisme progresse partout. En Afrique, en Asie et dans d’autres parties du monde, le multilinguisme est la règle, et non une exception. En marge de ce phénomène culturel, certains font le choix d’apprendre plusieurs langues étrangères. Adieu Babel est le premier livre consacré à ces super-apprenants, également nommés hyperpolyglottes (des polyglottes qui parlent plus de 6 langues).

Avec cet essai, Michael Erard part à la recherche des plus grands apprenants en langues étrangères.
A Bologne, il enquête sur le cardinal Mezzofanti, censé parler 72 langues au début du xixe siècle. Mythe ou réalité ? peut-on parler autant de langues ? et à quel niveau ?
Au Mexique, en Inde, en Californie et en Belgique il rencontre des spécialistes de l’apprentissage des langues, des locuteurs multilingues et des hyperpolyglottes.
Quelles sont les qualités requises pour parler de nombreuses langues ? Sommes-nous égaux devant l’apprentissage ? Faut-il commencer tôt ? La mémoire est-elle si importante ? Quelles méthodes utiliser ?
Convoquant les neurosciences, la didactique, la linguistique et la psychologie, Adieu Babel tente de répondre à ces questions et bien d’autres, au fil de la plus grande enquête jamais menée sur le phénomène des hyperpolyglottes.

Ouvrage traduit de l'anglais (américain) par Naïma Carthew

Genres: Nonfiction, Language, Linguistics, Psychology, Science, History, Education

505 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 10, 2012

Reviews

[Jeremy Steinberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main reason I picked this book up was that it featured the hyperpolyglot Alexander Arguelles who I follow on his youtube videos, his website and on the website how-to-learn-any-language.com.

I am no polyglot myself but I have studied a fair few languages and have a fascination with them, and have done John McWorter's three linguistics courses on The Great Courses. Currently apart from my native English, I have a B2 level in Spanish, have Japanese "on ice" (to borrow a phrase from the author. It is around B1 level when activated) and have started learning French.

Despite all the criticism that this book has received, this is truly an important book. It is the first book of it´s kind, a book about hyperpolyglots - those rare individuals who know large numbers of languages.

Michael Ernard delves into the lives of many important hyperpolyglots while addressing the important aspects and difficulties of multiple language acquisition, shattering many misconceptions, while trying to find psychological links between successful language learners. The author doesn't have all the answers and he is open about this. Except for a few parts of the book I think Michael Erard has done a more than adequate amount of research - travelling the world to meet hyperpolyglots, working his way through items belonging to Mezzofanti in an Italian library, setting up an internet survery for hyperpolyglots and getting a decent sample size, interviewing various experts in the related academic fields (note, importantly there is no real academic research done of hyperpolyglottery, only really on bilingualism and trilingualism)

Yes there can always have been more research, in particular more quantitative research (The author again is very aware of the need for this), but for the first of it's kind I think the author should be applauded.

Just please no more brain-as-a-globe models, something that I feel seriously insults the intelligence of the reader!

Lastly I leave you to watch Alexander Arguelles's review of the book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1yb80..., and if interested to peruse the relevant how-to-learn-any-language forum thread where several hyperpolyglots and the author himself write some interesting comments: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/...

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Learning foreign languages is a topic that interests me greatly -- since retiring from my career in statistics I've made a concerted effort to achieve mastery of Spanish and French, and hope eventually to add Italian and Portuguese to that list. Over the last few years I've given a fair amount of thought to efficient strategies for language acquisition, as well as to the challenges of switching among languages. I don't have any simple answers.
Neither does Michael Erard, which is probably a point in his favor. In researching this book he set out to investigate the phenomenon that he refers to (excruciatingly, in my view) as "hyperpolyglottery". Acknowledging the difficulties inherent in judging such concepts as "fluency" or "mastery" (particularly in the case of historical figures), Erard adopts a working definition of a "hyperpolyglot" as someone who exhibits mastery of at least six distinct languages. By studying a number of hyperpolyglots, he hopes to gain insight into the process of language acquisition.
The results of his research are frankly disappointing. The book introduces us to a number of reasonably entertaining characters, though one of its primary conclusions seems to be that claims of "hyperpolyglottery" (it hurts me to type that "word", it's so ugly) are invariably exaggerated. The tribe of those claiming extraordinary linguistic capacities is rife with impostors and self-promoters. And the evidence provided by the small number of people whose linguistic abilities seem genuinely exceptional amounts to little more than a series of case studies. There are many anecdotes, but little in the way of firm conclusions.
One suspects that Doctor Erard must have been a little disappointed by the results of his investigation. I certainly was, though I give him credit for trying.

[William Mego · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book quickly began at 5 stars for me, but dropped to three by the end. I did enjoy it, and I do recommend it, however.

The author sets the book essentially as an epic quest to find, as the title suggests, the most extraordinary language learners. Really, we're speaking less of people who learn well, so much as people who learn many languages, followed by argument about how well these "Hyperpolyglots" learn, how deeply they learn, and to what end. As a person who enjoys language and the learning of new language, I was deeply interested in this book.

Beginning with a case study of one historic polyglot, for what to me felt a little long, we eventually make our way to some other historic cases, then at last to some living examples. However, as the author comes into contact with brain researchers, and (IMO) hampered by his own admitted "positivism", here expressed by a need to use numerical data to squeeze meaning out of case study, we digress into a number of speculations about the functioning of the brain, accompanied by (in case the author is reading, I apologize quite sincerely, but it must be said) possibly the most awkward descriptive model of locations within the human brain, ever. I'm sure some people will be quite happy with it, but trying to picture hands upon a tilted inflatable globe of the world in order to picture where a discrete tissue structure isn't doing it for me. Consider including a picture of the brain, with labels in the back of the book, or perhaps just referencing some high-quality pictures on the book/author/publisher website we could consult for a future edition to accompany the globe idea. I ended up thinking about the scene in Chaplin's The Great Dictator where the Adenoid Hynkel character dances around with a globe-balloon.

The book is at it's absolute strongest in the middle, where having finally moved on from the first figure, we find other stories, and then meet some living people. At this point, you're going to be hooked. At this point, the book has earned 5 stars from me.

One star was lost simply through endless re-explanations of possible causality, accompanied by "cliff-hanger" style breaks in the text implying some amazing discovery or unbelievable event. I'm still not totally sure what jaw-dropping thing we were being lead to about Krebs' brain. Increased white matter someplace around Omaha, Nebraska or a pinkie around Gibraltar, I'll guess.

But where the book bogs down, and thus losing the other star comes nearer the end, where contradictions begin to arise. While saying there's no connection between this and that, he suggests there are. While more or less suggesting non-polyglots have a dimwitted obsession with methodology, he continually returns to breathless descriptions of it for every case study, and even closes the book with a number of suggestion sections complete with italics. The book spends so much energy building it's own vocabulary of power words that by the end, you'll be reading sentences about neural tribes of hyperpolyglottery (should that be hyperpolyglotteracy though?) who promote brain plasticity through managed dopamine and executive function training.

All in all, while I have loads of complaints with the book, I DID actually enjoy reading it, and if the subject matter resonates with you, you SHOULD read this book. Yes, I spent some time just now giving it and the author a hard time. A little less reliance on hard numbers (or MORE, proving something), and a few less literary "devices" (like the recapitulation-coda ending, cliffhangers, emotionally charged language where events don't warrant) and this would have easily been a 5 star book. I rarely give 5 stars, and I don't START at 5 for books, they have to earn them, and this book did just that. It just gave two away by the end is all.

[Ruchira Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erard writes on pp. 49-50:
====
One question that polyglots don't get asked is, "When you go crazy, what language do you go crazy in?" Which is too bad, because it's been demonstrated that psychotic polyglots, it turns out, aren't equally disordered in each of their languages. In one case recorded by British psychiatrist Felicity de Zulueta, her psychotic patient, a native English speaker, switched into Spanish because he knew that Zulueta also spoke the language. Both were then surprised that his hallucinations and disordered thoughts disappeared. "In Spanish...he felt he was 'sane,' but when he spoke in English, he went 'mad,'" Zulueta wrote. In three other cases, Zulueta's patients had disordered thoughts or heard voices in the language they had learned first and used most. Using a language that they spoke less frequently overall and learned later dismissed their delusions. In another case, a patient was equally psychotic in Italian and English, but heard voices only in Italian, her mother tongue. Not only that--in English she denied that she heard voices at all, whereas in Italian, she readily admitted hearing them. Other patients hear friendly voices in their native languages, hostile ones in their second languages. A subsequent researcher quipped that the more competent an insane person was in a language, the higher their degree of psychosis.

Some scientists have suggested that the extra effort of using a second language jolts people out of a deluded state into reality. Others suggest that the deeper relationship to your first language makes you less inhibited, and so more likely to express what's troubling you. In a language learned later, you can hide from your true self.
====

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author has notes, interviews, research, studies and contacts to help him study the fascinating group of people he calls hyperpolyglots - those who have mastered 7 languages or more. If you are looking for definitive information, you won't find it here.

While there is information interspersed throughout the rambling text not much of it is useful or enlightening. The book is a hodge-podge. For the few hyperpolyglots he meets, the portraits are sketchy, showing the time commitment that learning and maintaining languages takes, but little else. There is a trip to India which merely raises awareness that it is a multi-lingual country. The author's research is a compilation of internet surveys which would have little merit if there were to be a peer review.

One example of the disorganization is the issue of shadowing, which could have, if well presented, provide a clue as to how languages can be acquired. On p. 130 there is a hard to follow description of how the author learned Hindi... or did he? Is this tongue in cheek? It isn't until p. 233 that you get a description of what shadowing is, but there is no substantive critique of its potential in language acquisition.

Points are introduced, but just not developed. For instance, does Ziad Fazah deserve the recognition he gets, or is he a fraud? On p. 150 there is mention of 16th century document from Java that outlines the responsibilities of a "polyglot". The content of this document isn't shared, but there is a quote from someone who calls it a "striking example of outward-lookingness..." Throughout the book there are opinions of how language learning could be correlated with left handedness, homosexuality, males, twins, etc. The info is scattered such that I lost track of it all but I have the understanding that none of it is valid... am I right?

While there are some interesting anecdotes, this book is a missed opportunity to report on these unique language learners.

[Daniel Clausen · Rating 4 out of 5]

What does it mean to “know a language”? Is there a magic method for language acquisition? Is the ability to learn a language more hereditary or is it driven by motivation? These are the questions wrapped up in the quest to find the secret of the world’s polyglots -- those individual who know (or at least claim to know) many languages.

In his book, Babel No More, Michael Erard takes us on a fascinating journey -- one that is both personal and intellectual -- to discover the secrets of polyglots. This journey starts with the myth of Giuseppe Mezzofanti, an Italian cardinal and university professor who is said to have known over seventy languages. Erard begins with archival research into Mezzofanti’s life. From here, he travels to meet modern day polyglots, interviews researchers of multilingualism, explores the neuroscience of language acquisition, collects data on polyglots through surveys, and performs statistical analysis.

As a work of scientific exploration, this book is a breath of fresh air. Instead of working from an established thesis and then presenting evidence, this book functions as part intellectual exploration, part detective story. The author isn’t afraid to acknowledge intellectual dead ends, to express doubt, to explore his own biases and motivations, and to veer off course from time to time. For these reasons, the book is an important example of an alternative vision of good social science -- closer to what Donna Haraway referred to as “situated knowledge” than positivist science.

However, perhaps the best way to describe the kind of research Erard undertakes is to use his own terminology. Erard is involved in “polyglot” research. In order to answer his questions on the nature of polyglots, he has to borrow something from different traditions of research. Rather than an “all or nothing” kind of research done within one kind of tradition or field, he instead practices a “something and something” kind of research that borrows liberally. Thus, the book uses a little bit of neuroscience, a little bit of investigative journalism, a little bit of history, a little bit of anthropological field research, and more than a little gumption to uncover its answers.

The book is also brightened by personal insights into his own rationale for seeking out the best language learners. The book’s intellectual journey is punctuated by moments of humor when the supposedly sacred is revealed to be somewhat absurd. One of these moments comes when Erard meets Alexander Arguelles. Rather than a bright social butterfly with divine talents, we instead find a down-on-his-luck hermit who spends his days in a cramped study room. As Erard writes, “See his spreadsheets, his tapes, his books double-stacked on the shelves, and his living room empty, his refrigerator bare. Alexander may be a language god, a kind of archi-polyglot, but the truth about his life is far from divine” (p. 126).

One of the downsides to this sprawling examination of the topic is that the book often feels like it wanders -- and at times, it’s easy to get lost. There are many stories of “polyglots” -- but there is not one story. The author is cognizant of this -- our minds are wired to look for reductionist answers. But what if there are no reductionist answers? What if our questions lead to many stories with diverging conclusions?

If the book stands as a formal challenge to a social science that is too rigid in method, perhaps it also presents a similar challenge to language teaching. The author writes at one point, “I bear the emotional legacy of teachers and textbook writers who made me submit to pedagogical contraptions that made language learning cumbersome and absurd. One goal of adulthood is to avoid all the irrelevant and absurd things imposed on us in childhood, so the path clearly leads away from the language classroom” (p. 20). The author throws out this challenge without delving into his own theory of what represents good language teaching; and since all of the polyglots that we encounter are models of autonomous learning, we are left to speculate about what exactly represents good language teaching in Erard’s estimation.

However, from the book we can glean some partial answers to this question. An important theme of the book is that the “all or nothing” view of language acquisition -- that a learner must aspire to be like a native speaker -- often forces learners into irrelevant forms of learning that may not bear on the practical and emotional needs of language learners. Instead of an “all or nothing” learning environment, the author seems to suggest a “something and something” environment where learners are able to define for themselves what kind of language abilities they need.

The book does come up with some answers to the questions of how advanced language learners are able to acquire their abilities. But following his “something and something” polyglot form of research, Erard avoids reductionism. Instead he borrows liberally from his many different kinds of intellectual journeys. Without giving away too much of the ending, one of the conclusions is that there is no miracle method for studying languages. As the author discovers, whatever the method is -- that’s the method. There is no substitute for hard work and motivation. Another conclusion is that there are limits to what can be learned. Though there are several polyglots who have language abilities that reach beyond twenty languages, the reality is that most follow a “something and something” model of language competency. That is to say, polyglots tend to have advanced capabilities in their first two to six languages; after that, their abilities tend to drop off significantly. They may have a number of “surge” languages they can brush up quickly, but after those languages proficiency in other languages becomes far more limited.

Some readers may find this journey too long and bizarre for such basic, common sense conclusions. As a detective story, many will find the ending a disappointment. But as a work of research on a complex social and linguistic phenomenon, this book is quite an accomplishment.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Diminishing returns on this book. I started out being very interested, but as the book wore on, the sloppy editing started to get to me (multiple instances of what would strictly be called bad grammar or broadly be called "extremely casual writing style"; occasionally something was referenced that must have been taken out during the editing process, without removing the reference as well); the author seemed to lose focus; and it got increasingly repetitious. A better editor (or more thorough editing) would have made this half the length would have made this a better book.

Maybe the strangest part was a lengthy description of the brain's structure that instructed the reader to picture the brain as a globe with the axis at Greenwich, facing you, and one hand on the Middle East and one hand on the northeast coast of Brazil, in order to tell us where Broca's and Wernicke's areas are... or something? A simple diagram would have sufficed, instead of an entire page of directions involving globes, continents, countries, axises, and fingers?...

The author's rather extreme discomfort with autism/Asperger's seemed odd to me, and his knowledge seemed poor for someone who studies linguistics--he said his impression of people with Asperger's was based on Rain Man.

[Ahmed Almawali · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتابٌ ورحلةٌ ممتعة ولكن أقل من المتوقع، ولا أرغب أن أكون ظالما في تقييمي له فهنالك عوامل أعتقدُ أنها ساهمت في التقليل من استمتاعي بالكتاب، فالطقس القرائي لم يكن مناسبا خصوصا في النصف الأول من الكتاب حيث كنتُ متعثرا، أقرأ صفحات منه وأتركه، وهذا التجزءُ إن كان مفيدا في أحيان فللأسف هو ضار في أحيان أخرى، وهذا ما حصل لي في الكتاب تزامن هذا مع الترجمة الحرفية التي تفاءلت فيها خيرا أولا ثم سرعان ما لم ترق لي. المزاجُ القرائي تحسن في النصف الآخر من الكتاب لذا استمتعت به.
مايكل إيرارد لديه هدف وهو أن يفهم سيكولوجية متعددي اللغات المفرطين (٦ لغات وصاعدا) ولأجل تحقيق هذا الهدف كان يسعى ليبحث عن كل ما يتعلق بهؤلاء ويسافر للقاء بهم والحديث معهم لاكتشافهم ومدى مصداقية ادعاءاتهم وماذا يعنون بأنهم يعرفون عشرين لغة أو ٥٠؟ وكيف اكتسبوها؟ وماذا عن طفولتهم؟ و
السؤال الأساس كان هل العمل الجاد المركز هو السبيلُ لاكتساب اللغة أم هي أسس عصبية خلقت في الدماغ ؟ يرجعنا هذا السؤال للمتلازمة الشهيرة: بيئة أم استعداد وراثي
سؤال آخر لا يقل أهمية ماذا عن العلاقات الاجتماعية والتواصل مع الآخرين لدى هؤلاء المفرطين؟ هل هم أناس اجتماعيون أم طبعهم العزلة والانطواء؟

كانت رحلة ممتعة، وإن كانت لم تحسم الإجابة لبعض لأسئلة المترددة حول سيكولوجية متعددي اللغة المفرطين.

[Simona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pros:
+ very motivational and inspiring for language learners
+ interesting neurological insights in the second half of the book
+ debunking myths surrounding language-learning

Cons:
- rather tedious anecdotal passages, almost diary-like, when the title would rather have you hope for a more sober and scientific approach
- the book seems much too long for the message it conveys, it could be condensed considerably
- the "hard facts" most readers will be looking for are only reached in the last chapter of the book which can be frustrating
- rather inconclusive ending

[Tarek Wisdom · Rating 3 out of 5]

وداعاً بابل ... نعم وداعاً .... لكن لماذا ؟
بابل تلك المدينة التي جذبتك حتماً في يوم من الأيام لجمال عمارتها في تلك الأيام الغابرة، ببرجها اللولبي المطبوع في خيال كل واحد منا... ذلك البرج الذي تقول الأسطورة أن الناس اتفقوا وتساعدوا في بناءه ليصلوا إلى السماء علهم يطلعوا ماوراءها ... نعم اتفقوا ! ... حيث كانت لغتهم واحدة ... ثم شاء الإله أن تختلف ألسنتهم لتختلف لغاتهم ويتفرقوا فيما أجمعوا عليه !

----------------------------------------------------

* بدايةً الكتاب عبارة عن "بحث" بمعنى الكلمة وليس قصة أو رواية أو...أو .. لذلك لاتخلو قراءته من الملل لطوله وتفصيله في بعض الأمور

ثم بصراحة .... أرى الكتاب فيه بعض المبالغة إن لم يكن الكثير ... ولا ألوم الكاتب .. أقصد الباحث, لأن الناس عادة تكون غير متعاونة في إثبات الأمور التي يدعونها !

كما إن الحديث عن ماهو نادر بين البشر دوما مايكون محط للشك والريبة !! فمن منا رأى من حوله شخصاً يتحدث ب4 لغات ولن أقول أكثر كـ6 و 11 و 20 و ربما يصل الأمر إلى 60 لغة !!!

ورغم ذلك حين يتحدث الكتاب عن أشخاص (يعرفون) أكثر من 11 لغة -لن أقول أقل رغم شكي بذلك- فهو لايعني إطلاقا أنهم يجيدونهم جميعاً ... بل أشبه مايكون بواحد منا حين يبتاع كتاب "تعلم اليابانية في 6 أيام" ثم يحفظ بضع كلمات وبضع جمل أساسية .... ثم يدعي أنه يعرف اليابانية !
كذلك أولئك الأشخاص حين يتعدى حاجز اللغات الرقم 11 مثلا فلن تكون القدرة بتلك اللغات على التحدث والاستماع والقراءة والكتابة حتماً !!

هناك لغات نشطة وربما تصل إلى 6 نعم ... وهناك لغات خاملة جدا ويمكن لأي أحد أي يصل بها إلى ماتسمح له به مرونة دماغه.

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------- بعض الاقتباسات ---------------------------------
* "الشخص يتعلم القواعد من اللغة، وليس اللغة من القواعد !"
للأسف هذا مالاينجح عادة في التعلم إن لم تختلط مع أهل تلك اللغة

* "يقال إن القدرة الموسيقية والقدرة على تعلم اللغات الأجنبية متلازمتان"

* "...إنها ليست استعدادات وراثية بقدر ماهي استعدادات اقتصادية.. إذا كنت لا تتحدث لغات فلن تأكل"

* "إن الأدب الهندي القديم أحد أكبر الآداب التي ساهمت بفعالية في الحضارة الإنسانية يمكن أيكون غير قابل للقراءة عمليا من قبل الهنود" !!
شخصياً أول مرة أعرف أن الهند تحوي عددا من اللغات قد يفوق الـ 20 لغة !! لدرجة أن لايفهم ابن مدينة على آخر مالم تكن بينهم لغة مشتركة !!!
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[Christian Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author was way too verbose and essentially asked, then repeated, all the questions the reader had in his or her mind anyway. In the end he comes to no definitive conclusion as to why some people acquire languages faster than others, stating simply that it's partially genetics, partially personal characteristics like determination and focus and partially the language environment of your locality.

The author also poorly attempts to describe the human brain as a projection on a world map with statements like "If your fingers are holding American and Asia then where your thumb is resting on Mexico is the frontal lobe," and such. What?

Only a worthwhile read if you want to an insiders view of the hyper polyglot community and the idiosyncrasies of it's members. It won't, however, tell you much about how to acquire new languages.

[بثينة الإبراهيم · Rating 5 out of 5]

هذا الكتاب محفز ومحبط أيضًا لمن ابتلي بعشق اللغات وتعلمها! كثيرًا ما يكون الدافع نحو تعلم اللغات اقتصاديًا، فالبائع البسيط في الهند مثلًا، وفي كل مكان، لن يصرّف بضاعته ما لم يتعلم لغات الزبائن. حاول الكاتب استقصاء قاسم مشترك يجمع مفرطي اللغات المتعددين، كأن يكون الأمر متعلقًا بالدماغ وتشكيله، لكن لم يعثر على دليل يجزم بوجود مثل هذا. كان الجميع من هؤلاء المفرطين يؤكد على أهمية التدريب، لكن كيف ينتقل الشخص من لغة إلى أخرى بسرعة كما فعل الأسطورة ميزوفانتي- الذي فاق عدد اللغات التي يتقنها المئة، وقد تعلم كثيرًا منها في ظرف أسبوعين في عيادته لجرحى الحرب واستماعه لترتيلهم للصلوات- قد ظل سرًا... الكتاب يملأ بالحماس والضآلة والإنهاك والحماس من جديد لتعلم اللغة. هذا الكتاب يثبت إمكانية الإطاحة ببرج بابل! الترجمة رصينة ومتقنة .

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow! I really enjoyed reading this!

I had never thought of my ability or drive to learn languages as special because its always been normal to me. And because I'm in one of the best linguistics programs in the world in a country that famously speaks multiple languages well... Everyone I know speaks 2 languages, and most people in my school program speak 3 or more (although there are exceptions and some people are more interested in the theory than the language acquisition).

I grew up teaching myself languages, I started when I was about 7 and I never stopped. I grew up in a neighborhood where everyone spoke Spanish. I self studied Italian. Took Spanish in middle school. Excelled at Latin in high school; preforming better than most of the students on the mandatory national tests and earning awards for it without even studying... which is why I decided to take 4 years of it, twice as much as required which allowed me to translate the Aeneid 1 billion times and get a 4 on my AP exam for it. I carried my Latin books with me everywhere. I just loved starting at the foreign words and it was so helpful for breaking down the big english terms I would read in science books. Latin made me realize that I oloved language. I then started self studying Japanese, using grammar books I bought at the bookstore and posting sticky notes on EVERYThing. I worked to translate JPOP songs and listened to them nonstop on the bus to school. I started watching anime pretty hardcore just to listen to the language. TRied to take German in HS and the school wouldnt let me so I settled for angry German music at my friends houses. I started formally taking Japanese classes in college. Took 3 years of classes and studied abroad there. While I was learning Japanese I started taking Italian classes, it was not difficult since I had studied it as a kid and because I took a two week spring break trip there. But I dropped italian because it interfered with my Japanese. I then wanted to take Korean so I did a single semester of that and learned the writing system although it took more study than I was willing to put in (which was any because at the time i was still a very lazy language learner that didnt understand what effort was). Flirted with French for a month over xmas break- and by flirted I mean spent 4+ hours a day studying vocabulary and trying to break down the phonetic system into something I could understand. Had a brush with gaelic and Dutch where I learned some basic phrases and pronunciation but put them back down, having dismissed them as not useful. Then I moved to Amsterdam and learned to speak Dutch at a B2 level in a year, which I considered very slow learning but went at the speed of my classes because I didnt want to put in too much extra energy.

I effectively only speak 2 languages: Dutch and English. Which I dont find impressive.
I use my Latin all the time to help me translate Romance languages when I'm traveling or skimming websites that dont have English translations (because I dont trust google translate).
My Japanese is on ice, I never use it anymore but when I hear it on the street or in food places, I can usually pick up most of what is being said depending on the conversational topic. Conversations usually are easy because people dont use big words or difficult sentence structures usually. And theres context in the environmental cues and gesticulations.
But my Spanish and Italian are probably at an A1+ level and my French is just vocabulary/phonetics so I dont think they count. I do intend to expand on my Romance langauges though.

I've always found language learning fun and easy so I've taken this attitude of
"yeah sure i'll study that language!" or
"oh this book i want to read only exists in Finnish? Yeah ill start learning Finnish!" or
"Oh I'm headed to Bulgaria so I guess I should learn some phrases" or
"yeah, I'll learn every language if I have time" or
"Maybe 7 languages sounds good" or
"My kids will speak at least 3 and be raised bilingually" or
"oh yes, please teach me some polish phrases to suprise my Polish friend with!"
I spent a lot of time walking around Dublin while I was there looking for a good grammar on the Irish language and talked to a guy in a bookshop specializing in Irish books about the culture and the language for 45 minutes! Not because I wanted to become fluent in Irish but because I wanted to have a feel for the sounds and understand how their grammar system works... but with IPA transcriptions if possible.

This never once struck me as something that normal people DONT do. Up until I read this book, I considered language learning a fun hobby that I picked up and put down because I've never put that much "effort" into it. But this book made me realize that its kind of an addiction for me. I, too, crave the sound of foreign words in my mouth and adore listening to people speak even when I dont know whats being said. I love the systematicity and arbitrariness of language. I havent stopped studying languages... ever... although i'm not always as routine or dedicated as I should be. Sometimes I take a week off and call my everyday activites "studying" because I reason that speaking and listening to Dutch is a type of study or listening to KPOP all day is increasing my understanding of the phonemes, correct pronunciation, stress patterns etc. My everyday life and routine includes foreign languages so its hard NOT to pick them up....
But the reason it includes so many foreign languages is because I MADE it happen.

I've always loved basking in the glow of eavesdrooping on foreign conversations. Its just so interesting! I grew up in a touristy place and I could go to museums and just stare at paintings listening to people walk past speaking French or Spanish or Japanese. And i loved that. I loved vacations walking around foreign cities just trying to pronounce the words. It spoke to me and I knew not everyone liked it but I read books like Eat Pray Love where Liz talks about how she loves the taste of Italian words in her mouth. So I figured this was a ridiculously common thing.

It never occured to me that the structure of my brain would impact how much I love listening to languages or how quickly I pick them up. I studied neuroscience for years in my job and at school and I thought "sure my brain plays a role" but I figured it was more of an overall intelligence thing or a general apptitude for all literary related things. Reading about the more specific brain areas and differences that might be involved in hyper language learninh was fascinating! Although I do dissagree with the author on a few points and think he could have delved deeper into a few things that he didnt seem to have a full understanding of... I loved his style of writting. He was so thorough and well researched! I really felt like I, too, went on this linguistic Odyssey!

I liked Ken Hale the most! I want to be somewhat like him in my linguistic pursuits! He was so down to earth and honest/modest about his level in language. Its easy to fall into the hole of "yeah i absolutely speak 10 languages and im a genius." Some guy the other day heard me list off the languages I'd studied and went woah you speak THAT many!? Even though I told him I only really spoke 2.5 he wouldnt believe it. He credited me with all of them because my level was simply higher than his in them... which is a shitty yardstick, let me tell you.

I also spent some time wondering if I was autistic... which is something I've never wondered about before. I have this extremely systematizing thinking process that I've honed due to my rigorous education in reaserch feilds. But loking back on my lifeI can now see many areas where I had this kind of organization and systematic thinking but it was rough and unpolished.
I told myself in HS that I was the opposite of autistic because I was messy and I loved art and I had a lot of feelings all the time about everything. Then in college I told myself I wasnt autistic because I loved people so much and craved real connections with other human beings and my emotional intelligence is so high.

But reading this book I started to think about the qualities that high functioning autistic people have and measure myself against it. I dont think I have autism... but I do think taht I identify myself as a scientist and reading that scientists score higher on autistic qualities fascinated me. How much of those qualities are learned cognitive strategies or processes and how much are innate drives to systematize the world that we simply polished and improved? I could have been an artist and I wanted to go to art school but I think I still would have created the structure/organization/planning that exists in my life today. I could have become a literary scholor but I still would have applied strict maps and organization of the novels themes and characters. I've always wanted to know the science behind things so I learned how to read microexpressions and use a tiny amount of mentalism but that doesnt make me cold or calculatin or remove my abilty to role switch or empathize. But I can be calculating and cold sometimes. I need attachments but I'm not close with my family so I FEEL like a sociopath sometimes. I sometimes THINK about how to manipulate people because its a fun game and you can imagine people as black boxes and you can poke them or put them in situations to see what they do... or use behaviorism to shape their behavior just to prove that you can and because its amusing. I love charcters that do this on TV and ive just kind of become that a tiny bit sometimes... there a side of me.
And so I thought for the first time, having known that autism was a scale for years, that maybe the traits you see in aspergers could exist at a subclinical level. I dont know why this simply never occured to be previously... but it didnt. I memorized facts about autism in classes and never thought critically about it because it didnt relate to me. This section gets a giant WHO KNOWS emoji of a shrugging girl.



So now that ive accepted that my heros are extreme polyglots and that I have this inherent linguistic talent that im not utilizing to my full potential.... I think I'm going to look into french and Afrikaans while improving my spoken and my academic Dutch.

Ive kind of settled into this linguistic homliness. I used to want to be homeless in terms of country and culture- the great nomad and anthropologist. But what I've come to realize is that I enjoy having a home. Similarly, I want a linguistic home but I'm not satisfied with just learning English. I think I've sufficiently sampled the worlds languages, learned the basics of a few language familes, discovered what I enjoy, and learned the acquisition skills needed both in and out of the acadmeic world to learn any language I want. I am confident that I could pick up any langauge I wanted. But I dont want to speak 13 langaues. Like Kato said in her autobiography (which I started but never finished) she has 5 languages that live inside her. I want an actual connection to the languages Ispeak and I want to learn languages to speak and use them.

I live my life in English and Dutch. My Latin is useful but I'll never improve it. My japanese was good but its no longer useful in my life. I want to learn a bit of French and German to be useful in translating since the countries are closeby. And if I understand the basics, I can always improve them later. The basics are the hardest part. I have intellectual curiosity about Afrikaans, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Polish. I want to explore them but have no reason to speak them. I cannot know what language I will learn next with th intention of fluency and not what ive deemed "linguistic fucking around" but I cant imagine having more than 5 langauges living inside me and I'm okay with taking it slow and taking my Dutch seriously for now. I'll always want to learn more languages but its nice to settle down with a language for a while.

Its like relationships... some people marry a language by getting their PhD in it or becoming monogamously fluent. Some people date languages for a long time but eventually break up with them. Some people court languages by taking classes but never learning anything. Some people flirt by learning phrases and words but never committing. And some people fuck around by learning a lot quickly but with no intention of letting it stick or sticking around.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Babel No More" will make every reader want to learn a new language just to enter into the world of language lovers. The book takes you on an exploration of languages and the people who have mastered them. Erard travels from Italy to India in search of hyperpolyglots and the answer to the question: How many languages can one person learn? This book is full of interesting interviews with academics and ordinary individuals who have studied dozens of languages. And yet, these individuals have remained hidden from the world. Now, Erard has found them and shared their secrets with us. The writing provides insight into why some struggle to learn a second language and why others can speak several. Whether you are a polyglot or a monolingual, you will feel appreciation and excitement in that humans have been gifted with the art of languages.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this book down. I wonder if I can incorporate it into the list of readings for my Issues in Multiple Language Acquisition class this semester.

[Abdulsattar · Rating 2 out of 5]

عن متعددي اللغات و متعددي اللغات الفائقين , محاولة لايجاد نظرية حول ظهور هؤلاء الاشخاص مع عرض تاريخي لسير حياة أشخاص يدعى انهم يتحدثون عدد هائل من اللغات

[Arzoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is absolutely incredible how people can learn so many languages and be so connected with the world as a result of it. This book reignited my love for learning languages.

[Ghaida'A · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
أمسِك بسنونوةٍ صَغيرة
وغمّسها في العَسَل
ثم التهمها...
حينئذٍ سَيكون بوسعك أن تَستوعب كُل لغات العالم.
إنّ الموضوع الذي يتحَدَثُ عنه هذا الكتاب فَريدٌ من نوعه لَم يَسبق لي أن قرأت عنه من قبل،وهذا ما شجعني على البِدء بِه.
استَمتَعت وأنا اقرأ عن الأشخاص الذين يمتَلِكون قُدرات هائلة على تَعَلم اللغات (hyperpolyglot)
مثل الكاردينال ميزوفانتي و زياد فصاح وغيرهم .لكن هناك الكَثير من الأسئلة التي تَدور في بالي و ايضاً بَعضُ الكَلام الذي لَم افهمه،ولا أُنكر انني أحيانا شَعَرت بالمَلل.
كَشَخص يريد تَعَلُم لُغة ثالثة ،لَم يُفِدني الكِتاب كَثيراً ، لَكِنَه ولّد لَدي الدافع والشَغَف للغَوص في أَعماق لُغَة جَديدة.

[Aurélien Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The good language learner has the ability to accept the role of a child when it comes to speaking/writing a new language. Of being naïve, foolish, stumbling, inarticulate but also curious, open-minded, and full of energy.'

Michael Erard is a journalist who has written extensively about language, linguists and linguistics in various and prestigious publications such as Science, Slate, Wired, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and New Scientist. He also has a fascination for hyper polyglot; people he defines as being able to speak at least eleven languages. 'Babel No More' is not only an account of his engaging journey to meet with such individuals, but, also and above all, an insight into what they and their language skills can teach us all.

I absolutely love this book, not least because meeting with obsessed multiple language learners the author offers a great source of inspiration to anyone aspiring to learn a foreign language. Indeed, he crucially affirms that no matter how awe inspiring and talented such incredible learners are, they are not 'freaks' gifted with uncommon innate abilities setting them apart from the rest of us. On the contrary, their ability is also ours, as we too can achieve such feats if we want to.

Of course, digging into the biographies of past and present hyper polyglots he does find a few patterns linking them all. Such a cluster of personality traits leads him, for instance, to discuss the often quoted Geschwind-Galaburda hypothesis in very interesting and engaging chapters. But, as he rightly insists, this doesn't imply any sort of biological determinism. It actually is just a matter of how to define fluency and proficiency in regard to how and how often the learnt languages will be put into use.

Grappling thus with what it means to master a language, or at least to know one, he challenges many preconceived ideas about bilingualism and multilingualism - both in monolingual societies and multilingual communities. Such debunking is not only relevant is our connected and globalised world (where more and more people having different mother tongues are thrown in together) but, also, to anyone learning a foreign language. Indeed, too many learners feel too easily discouraged for having too high and wrong expectations in the first place. Putting things in perspective by relying both on cognitive science and the personal testimonies of hyper polyglots themselves, this book is therefore reassuring, comforting, and, above all, inspiring.

Needless to add, accessible yet far ranging, from what it means to be proficient in a language to the incredible plasticity of the human brain and the cultural impact of bilingualism and multilingualism, here's also a treasure chest for the intellectually curious. A fascinating read; highly recommended!

[Giuseppe D · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re passionate about languages and would like to be fluent in many of them and you just like being engaged in their studies, this is the book for you and you should definitely read it. It starts from the famous cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti going all the way to modern and living hyperpolyglots.
What is it that makes them more successful at learning languages? Are their brains different from those of others? Are they just more driven? Is it that they have secret methods or they know how to do it?
As you could imagine, the truth is “these people are not born, they are not made, they are born to be made”. There are many factors in the making of a hyperpolyglot. Erard goes through some of the neurological peculiarities of their brains explaining them in very simple ways. I particularly found the Geschwind-Galaburda theory very fascinating, you should read the book if you want to know more.
I also found a particular affinity towards the concept of flow that makes you enjoy repetitious activities that most people find boring because this is exactly what I always experienced when I studied languages and it’s still what I crave in my life when I don’t study them. This book just made me even more aware of how frustrated I felt and feel when I don’t study languages, one of the hyperpolyglots Erard interviewed said ‘it’s an addiction, a very healthy one but still an addiction’.
The author finishes the book with some practical tips to be more like the hyperpolyglots and I’m not going to spoil them all but I really liked one. Most people look for a method when it comes to learning languages, they actually look for the best method. The truth is, every method is fine, but you have to stick to it. The greatest secret of hyperpolyglots is they never give up, their brains keep some of the plasticity typical of younger people, they’re not afraid of making mistakes or sounding ridiculous, they just stick to it for the pleasure of it.

[Ahmad Alahmadi · Rating 2 out of 5]

هو بحث عن سر متعددي اللغات المفرطين، الكاتب وهو متخصص في العلوم اللغوية بدأ بحثه ليرى إن كان هناك سر أو خلطة خفيّة لكون بعض الناس قادرين على تعلّم مجموعة كبيرة من اللغات الأجنبية في حين أن الأغلبية العظمى تجد أن مجرد تعلّم لغة واحدة أجنبية يعد تحدي صعب وكثير لا ينجحون به.. أثناء قراءة الكتاب شعرت وكأنه برنامج وثائقي أكثر من كونه كتاب، وأعتقد أن الكاتب عندما بدأ بحثه كان يأمل بأنه سيجد سر أو مجموعة أسرار وسيضعها في كتاب عندما ينتهي ولكن لخيبة أمله بأنه لم يجد شيء يُذكر فقرر أن يكتب بهذه الطريقة المملة في أغلبها ودش كل هذه المعلومات الغير مفيدة فقط ليعوّض تعبه وجهده أثناء البحث!، مثلاً يذكر الكاتب تفاصيل رحلاته إلى دول الأشخاص متعددي اللغات المفرطين ومقابلة الأحياء منهم وإستخراج مؤلفات ومستندات الأموات منهم من المكتبات العامة، ويأخذك أثناء هذه الرحلات المملة في أغلبها، بالإضافة إلى مقابلة بعض دكاترة المخ والأعصاب وتحليل أدمغة هولاء المفرطين الأحياء منهم والأموات!

في الأخير لن تخرج بشيء لم تكن تعرفه سابقاً، مفرطي تعددي اللغات ليسو سوى أشخاص أحبوا تعلّم اللغات مثل أي شخص آخر أحب أي هواية أخرى وبذل وقته وجهده في تعلّمها .. وكما أنه ليس كل من يهوى ويجتهد في هواية ما من المفترض أنه سيصبح ضليع فيها ويحترفها، أيضاً ينطبق هذا على متعلمي اللغات، حيث لا ينجح منهم سوى عدد قليل جداً بحيث يتمكن فعلاً من التحدث بعدة لغات بطلاقة مقبولة ..

ورغم أن الكتاب بحث غالباً في مفرطي اللغات الذين يعرفون أكثر من ١٠ لغات إلى ٦٠ لغة ولكن في الأخير من ضمن النتائج القليلة التي خرج بها هي أنه لا يمكن للعقل أصلاً أن يتحدث أكثر من خمس إلى ست لغات في الوقت الواحد ،، أي أنه مهما تعددت لغاتك ستكون فقط بحد خمس لغات نشطة يمكن أن تتحدث وتترجم بينهم في حين البقية تكون في حالة أشبه بحالة سبات وتتطلب وقت وجهد لتبدّل بينها مثلاً وتسترجعها وتستغني عن لغة نشطة أخرى ليكون دائماً الحد الأعلى لا يزيد بأحسن الأحوال عن خمس أو ست لغات نشطة.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Babel No More takes a look at whether people really can learn a vast amount of languages and how they are able to do so. He starts off with almost mythological historical figures, then moves on to modern days ones and winds up studying the brain science behind it all. The short answer is that there is no clear, easy answer as to how these people (whom he calls hyperpolyglots) are able to learn more than six languages.

The book started off a bit hard to read, as Erard at first seemed more interested in talking about general, vague questions and talking about how he did his research, rather than what his research found. However, things picked up by the fourth chapter and you really start to dig into the lives of these people. It was interesting to see how each one tackles language learning and what it means to them. However, as Erard notes, there's not been a lot of actual scientific studies done on a large group of people, so many of the answers Erard came up with are not hard and fast. He also delves into the whole question of how do you define if someone is a hyperpolyglot? Do you have to speak a language as well as a native? Erard would argue no, and he's fairly convincing, as are the many people he speaks to who seem to agree with him.

Overall, I loved getting a picture into the lives of people I admire in that I would love to be like them, able to speak lots of languages. However, the book also shows that their abilities are not exactly glamorous and are the hard-won rewards of an insane amount of study. I guess my brain is just not engineered to help make me a hyperpolyglot.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not really expecting to like this book. However, it was far more interesting than I expected. At first thinking that the polyglot was part of cryptozoology lore like Bigfoot and Nessie, the author tracks down people who claim to know several languages. The results are interesting and not quite what I expected.

[Noor · Rating 3 out of 5]

كنت متوقعه غير شي
لم يجذبني الكتاب كنت اريد ان اندهش وانتهيت بمسلمات استطيع ان اصل اليها بالمنطق

زرت موقع اللغات المدرج في الكتاب اخترت اللغه العربيه

وجدت عدة اسباب لتتعلمها كلغه ثانيه وعدد المتكلمين بها بكل دوله شعرت باحساس الغبطه

قررت ان ابدا بتعلم الفرنسيه
وهنا اعترف ان الكتاب ملهم بقدر عدم اعجابي به

[غيداء الجويسر · Rating 3 out of 5]

انتهيت للتو من قراءة كتاب #وداعا_بابل
منحته ٣/٥ لأنني أصبت بالملل في النصف الآخر من الكتاب .. ربما لتفاصيل علمية تتعلق بالعقل البشري والتي لا أفقه فيها شيئا :-)
الكتاب ثروة معرفية وأنصح بقراءته بشدة، وقبل أن تشرع بقراءته تأكد من أنك تحمل معك خريطة للعالم

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

More time than necessary spent on introducing the subject and quibbling about what it means to 'know' a language. Case studies are interesting, patterns of hyperpolyglot personality and methods emerge, and eventually research is reviewed.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was interesting. The author goes around meeting a bunch of hyperpolyglotts and trying to find common threads between them. One interesting point is that there isn't really a commonly agreed upon definition of what it means to know a language, or be fluent in it.

[Jena · Rating 3 out of 5]

El autor de este ensayo quiere comprobar que todos aquellos que se dicen políglotas realmente lo sean. Para ello inicia una búsqueda en los documentos del políglota más famoso del siglo XIX, Giuseppe Mezzofanti, quien se preciaba de hablar más de 70 idiomas. El autor visita Bologna, Italia. Va a la biblioteca pública llamada Archiginnasio en donde se guardan todos los documentos dejados por el cardenal Mezzofanti. La idea de esta revisión de documentos es la de comprobar ese conocimientos de los 70 idiomas y, lo más importante, el método de aprendizaje.
Descubre en el curso de su investigación que la mayor parte de los llamados "hiperpolíglotas" están muertos. Sin embargo, por medio de otros investigadores conoce a 2 sujetos que hablan multitud de idiomas, pero estos 2 tienen algunas características como retraso mental o autismo.
Lo más interesante es la teoría actual de cómo el cerebro puede aprender idiomas sin importar si es el primero o los restantes, porque el cerebro no tiene un idioma nativo.
El autor comienza por recordar a Brocca, quien aseguró que hay una parte del cerebro,en donde se encuentran los circuitos especiales del habla; pero en el año 2000, los neurocientíficos Greg Hickok de la Universidad de California en Irvine, y David Poeppel de la Universidad de Nueva York, establecieron que existen en el cerebro una serie de redes a las que ellos llaman "corrientes"que se intercomunican en los 2 hemisferios del cerebro. Es un sistema dual compuesto por el "cómo" y el"qué". El Cómo le dice al sistema cómo producir significado en el habla, y el Qué, es el que metaboliza el sonido del habla y lo traduce en significado. Lo que todavía está por saberse es qué es lo que activa esos circuitos.
Se cree que debe haber un tipo de capacidad en el individuo, sin importar su IQ, que permita que esas corrientes sean rápidas, fuertes y durables, pues la anatomía funcional del cerebro es aún un misterio.
Al final del ensayo el autor encuentra algunos documentos que le permiten saber cuál era el método de aprendizaje del cardenal Mezzofanti.

[Nedislav · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have this book in my wishlist since 2016 probably. Somehow I never got the chance to read it and it finally the time came!
It’s a really broad research, it goes into defining what a “hyper-polyglot” is, how we can become one, what are the myths of speaking so many languages, do we really “know” a language? It also tracks down several people who shared their history, impulsive habits, ambitions and pleasure from learning languages. Last but not least, it explored several scientific theories, common traits and biological predispositions that might tells us if we are learning languages easily or not.
The neurological explanations were the least entertaining for me as they were a bit too technical and I lost track and clarity at some point. What i really enjoyed however were the stories of the hyper polyglots the author met. They all have different approaches but they take pleasure into learning languages just for the sake of it.
Learning a language is more than just having an economic advantage for your career. If that was the case, we will learn the 5 most spoken languages and that’s all. Why not learn Italian, Bulgarian, Slovak, Swahili or Guarani?
I am really happy that the book rekindled my love for the spoken word and urged me to take up some course or book and expand my limited linguistic knowledge.

[فيصل الجهني · Rating 3 out of 5]

موضوع الكتاب ممتع،لكن محتواه ممل.