Current Events > Reporter gives coverage from Kyiv in six different languages

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://twitter.com/PhilipinDC/status/1495730338315841539

Based polyglot

Meanwhile, most Americans can barely speak English

Two days late and this guy often goes viral. Hes very cool but its only anything astounding from a white anglophone lens

IndorilGawain posted...

Two days late and this guy often goes viral. Hes very cool but its only anything astounding from a white anglophone lens

I mean, he's a white anglophone reporter who reports predominantly in countries within that language family.

I would love to have the time to become a polyglot. Languages are fascinating.

DrizztLink posted...

I mean, he's a white anglophone reporter who reports predominantly in countries within that language family.

<__< He's born in Luxembourg and anglophone refers specifically to English. Such multingualism isn't unheard of in continental Europe or most of the world. Like others have said, the internet doesn't lose its mind when someone from Africa or India speaks 6 languages

IndorilGawain posted...

<__< He's born in Luxembourg and anglophone refers specifically to English. Such multingualism isn't unheard of in continental Europe or most of the world. Like others have said, the internet doesn't lose its mind when someone from Africa or India speaks 6 languages

Well, I'm a dumbass.

And that's true enough, especially considering how the average American probably couldn't even name an African dialect.

DrizztLink posted...

Well, I'm a dumbass.

And that's true enough, especially considering how the average American probably couldn't even name an African dialect.

Lol it's all good

Necessity is the reason most of the Anglophone don't speak other languages - https://www.berlitz.com/en-uy/blog/most-spoken-languages-world If you speak English and Spanish, you can access 60% of everything published on the web, compared to a mere over 1% if you speak Chinese.

We also don't have different languages in our local area compared to the whole country, which again cuts down the need to speak another language, unlike say places like India (where more than 1,600 languages coexist) or a lot of countries in Africa.

Dont most people in Europe speak 3 languages or so

JuanCarlos1 posted...

Dont most people in Europe speak 3 languages or so

No.

However, over half can speak more than one (usually their own and English) and I think it was a third or quarter can speak three or more. So it's definitely a lot more than many English speaking people might be used to still. How many of these are actually fluent (rather than just "can hold a conversation") in another language I don't know.

There are several countries where almost everyone speaks at least two languages though. Sweden and Netherlands are the two I remember, but also several more.

knightmarexx posted...

Necessity is the reason most of the Anglophone don't speak other languages - https://www.berlitz.com/en-uy/blog/most-spoken-languages-world If you speak English and Spanish, you can access 60% of everything published on the web, compared to a mere over 1% if you speak Chinese.

We also don't have different languages in our local area compared to the whole country, which again cuts down the need to speak another language, unlike say places like India (where more than 1,600 languages coexist) or a lot of countries in Africa.

Or, you know, the fact that normative monolingualism is so enshrined in the anglosphere and multingualism and language education isn't valued.

Monolingualism is an aberration, both historically and in the modern age.

IndorilGawain posted...

Or, you know, the fact that normative monolingualism is so enshrined in the anglosphere and multingualism and language education isn't valued.

I was gonna say, there's almost an argument for America because of the geography of it.

Like if states had their own language plus English to make the linguistic distribution more like Europe then you might expect more polyglots. I'm not explaining my thought process well but hopefully it's clear enough.

Then GB comes along and fucks that theory right up.

Said theory already being undermined by the existence of Spanish, let alone indigenous languages, but still.