1. Alsatian (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
2. Brazilian Portuguese (DLPT Listening 3 / Reading 3 / Speaking N/A)
3. Castilian (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
4. Catalan (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
5. Corsican (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
6. Creole (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
7. Creole Patois (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
8. Dari (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking 1+)
9. English (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
10. European Portuguese (DLPT Listening 2+ / Reading 3 / Speaking N/A)
11. French (DLPT Listening 3 / Reading 3 / Speaking N/A)
12. French Patois (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
13. Galician (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
14. German (DLPT Listening 1+ / Reading 2 / Speaking N/A)
15. Italian (DLPT Listening 3 / Reading 3 / Speaking N/A)
16. Latin (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
17. Mirandese (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
18. Moldovan (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
19. Norman (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
20. Neopolitan (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
21. Occitan (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
22. Papiamentu (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
23. Pashtu (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
24. Persian/Farsi (DLPT Listening 2+ / Reading 2 / Speaking 2)
25. Portunol (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
26. Romanian (DLPT Listening 1+ / Reading 2 / Speaking N/A)
27. Romansh (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
28. Sardinian (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
29. Sicilian (DLPT Listening N/A / Reading N/A / Speaking N/A)
30. Spanish (DLPT Listening 3 / Reading 3 / Speaking N/A)
5. How did I learn my languages?
My method for learning my non-native languages has been a combination of academic studies, reading, and full-immersion conversational practice.
I was never particularly good at learning languages when they were presented to me as an academic or professional requirement. The idea of studying something for the sake of doing rarely fascinated me whereas the practical benefits derived from being able to converse in many languages always captivated my interest. As a result, I always did better in situations that required using languages rather than studying them.
Learning new languages has usually happened naturally for me while developing social relationships within full-immersion foreign language environments. Typically, before my first attempts at communication, I had already studied basic grammar, basic verbs, and survival vocabulary of the intended target language. This would have taken place either in an academic setting such as was the case with French, German, and Persian-Farsi or on my own through books and tapes as I did with Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian.
The hardest part of my learning a new language is getting to the point where you know enough grammar and survival vocabulary necessary to manage basic conversations. Whenever I reached that point I would be overwhelmed by the excitement of being able to communicate in a new language thus experiencing a new culture as an insider. This was instrumental because it fueled my passion and desire towards experiencing deeper levels of communication.
Just because you may have a very limited ability in a language does not mean that you cannot express intelligent or insightful ideas in that language. Being creative in the use of existing language abilities coupled with a lack of fear of making mistakes can be very helpful in getting your ideas across. The more mistakes one makes while attempting to communicate will usually pay dividends in the long run. By "butchering" the language you are ensuring that you are always getting out of your language comfort zone. In time the grammatical and vocabulary mistakes become fewer as you subconsciously begin mimicking the language abilities of the native speakers around you.
In order to enlist the help of your subconscious mind in learning a language you must find a way to engage with your target culture as much as possible. For me it has helped treating languages as means to an end necessary towards becoming a functional person within a foreign society. It did not matter to me whether I was really going to have to become a functional non-native in various foreign countries. Regardless, that is the attitude I took on while in many places abroad which may have tricked my subconscious into believing the latter. One of the neatest things that I have experienced in my life is when you often catch yourself thinking to yourself in a foreign language while abroad. That is usually a good indicator that you are deeply immersed in the native culture and using your subconscious mind towards learning a new language.
I think what has helped me the most is my ability not to be bashful let alone feel shame while "butchering" the native language of others over long periods of time. I do not mean "butcher" in a pejorative way. When I begin using a language I tend to make all the mistakes in the world without thinking twice. That is almost always perceived by native speakers not as an affront to their language but as a genuinely enthusiastic honest attempt by a non-native to interact with their culture.
Many people study languages in an academic setting but do not strive to become good oral communicators within their foreign target language. Many times people are shy and do not speak their foreign language whenever possible for fear of making mistakes and being perceived as ignorant. This closes them off from the target culture thus restricting their learning potential. This tendency is many times reinforced when one studies a language in an academic setting.
I think that conventional language instruction is very valuable because it provides a person a basic grammar and vocabulary base but that it generates decreasing returns as it focuses more on getting people to memorize new words, learning to prepare short but accurate writing samples, and participating in non spontaneous dialogues in a classroom setting without attempting to engage the subconscious mind. I think that being able to enlist the help of your subconscious mind in learning a language is very important. That is not easy to do in a classroom environment because it is harder to trick your subconscious into believing that what goes on in the classroom is real communication rather than mere academic exercises. Sometimes the process of striving for what one believes to be accuracy in pronunciation, grammar, and syntax at the beginning phases of instruction my help foster non-constructive learning oriented attitudes. Surprisingly, when I studied Portuguese, French, Persian, and English as foreign languages within a classroom environment my creative free-wheeling approach was not encouraged by my professors and was often ridiculed by my peers. Ironically, I found that being in a classroom "studying" a language was often tedious, boring, stressful, and ultimately non-rewarding whereas being abroad totally immersed in a new environment isolated from my native culture supposedly making a fool out of myself "butchering" a foreign language was an exciting, relaxing, confidence building, and enjoyable experience. I know that for many people the idea of being isolated and alone within a foreign culture for an extended period of time may seem uncomfortable, stressful, and sometimes even scary.
I still find my "full-immersion-at-any-opportunity-method" to be very effective and enjoyable when trying to progress to medium or advanced proficiency on a conversational level. In order to benefit from this method it helps to be abroad or to live in a metropolitan area where it is possible to cultivate social relationships within immigrant or expatriate sub-communities. I also read international newspapers on the Internet because due to my interest in seeing how other cultures interpret similar current events. Sometimes I am able to expand my vocabulary by inferring the meaning of new words via context. The tedious alternative of sitting alone in a room for many hours a day translating passages with the help of a dictionary while memorizing new words that would be quickly forgotten in time without use never really appealed to me.
6. How well do I know all of my languages?
I was born and raised between Italy and the United States and maintained native proficiency in both Italian and English throughout my life. I attended middle school and Lyceum in Italy and attended elementary school and university in the United States. My linguistic ability in Italian and English are those of a typical university educated native. I scored a 3 in reading and a 3 in listening in the Italian DLPT.
I studied two years of basic French and three years of French literature in Italian high school. I learned to speak the language through a variety of small trips to France visiting friends I had met during a school exchange program in 1990. My French is comparable to that of a foreigner who has worked and lived in France for many years. When writing letters I cannot survive without spell-check. When communicating verbally I always am able to get across what I need. To this day I sometimes continue "butchering" the language and at other times my delivery is very polished. If needed, I could function professionally in French (lecturing, training, following directions, dealing with the public, etc.) or attend a French advanced university degree program. I scored a 3 in reading and a 3 in listening in the French DLPT.
I studied German for two years in Italian high school. I never became fluent as I would have liked with the language. Although, I could definitely survive in Germany without having to resort to English I am extremely limited to how I can communicate. I can talk about mostly biographical data but am not able to delve into abstract areas where I do not have proper vocabulary. I have a good base on which I could build on but that would require me spending some time living in Germany. I scored a 1+ in reading and a 1 in listening in the German DLPT.
I studied two years of basic Latin and three years of Latin literature in Italian high school. Although I enjoyed reading Latin literature in Italian I did not enjoy the study of the Latin language itself because was not finalized towards learning a new avenue of communication. However, today by virtue of my varying levels of proficiency in every other romance language I am able understand spoken and written Latin quite well. Usually people learn Latin to gain a better vocabulary base in English or to acquire a better base for learning romance languages. I guess I did the opposite. I never really learned to communicate by writing and speaking Latin because unless you are a Franciscan monk there are no opportunities to do so in our world. It is after all a dead language although I would be very eager to watch movies similar to "The Passion of Christ" where the language in its spoken form is brought back to life. There is no DLPT test for Latin.
I never studied Spanish academically. During 1995 I bought a "Learn to Speak Spanish" book. I then started by speaking Italian with a pseudo-Madrid accent while utilizing the initial 10-15 Spanish words I had recently learned. Over the years I have had countless conversations in Spanish with natives on intercontinental airline flights, at work, or at various social functions. Despite my shortcomings, my Spanish is equivalent to that of an educated Italian who has lived and worked in Spain surviving on Spanish for a two month to one year period. I could function professionally in Spanish (lecturing, training, following directions, dealing with the public, etc.) or attend a Spanish advanced university degree program. I scored a 3 in reading and a 3 in listening in the Spanish DLPT.
I learned Portuguese while living in Boston. My first exposure to the language was via a co-worker who became a good friend of mine during 1996. He was a Brazilian native and introduced me to the local Brazilian community in Boston. For a long time I could not understand hardly anything around me despite the romance roots of the language. At a later date I met the Brazilian native woman who would one day become my wife. I quickly went from merely being exposed to the language to attaining an intermediate conversational level within one month. All of the sudden I got the sounds and rhythm of the language and began speaking to her in Spanish while, imitating a Brazilian accent, and inserting the ten Portuguese words I knew at the time as much as possible. Over the years Portuguese has become the language I speak the most at home. Although my Italian accent in Portuguese will always give me away I am able to speak at a very advanced educated non-native level completely at ease discussing advanced topics such as politics, economics, technology research, etc. I could function professionally in Portuguese (lecturing, training, following directions, dealing with the public, etc.) or attend a Brazilian advanced university degree program. I scored a 3 in reading and a 3 in listening in the Brazilian Portuguese DLPT and a 2+ in reading and a 2+ in listening in the European Portuguese DLPT.
I studied Persian-Farsi at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California during a one-year full-time intensive course during 2004-2005. I received and Associates of Science Degree in Persian-Farsi in 2005. This language is the first non-Western language that I have attempted to learn. Regardless of what my test scores may say, I cannot and possibly may never be able to read and write the language with the ease and speed I have grown accustomed to with Indo-European languages. I can read and write but I do it too slowly to be of any professional use working in Iranian society. Obviously, it would take many years of practice to improve in those areas. My speaking is a different matter altogether. I can survive with the language and am conversationally fluent given my proficiency at improvising my way through conversations regarding economics, politics, and history. I maintain long-standing personal friendships within the American/Iranian which occasionally give me an opportunity to dabble in the language. I scored a 2+ in listening, a 2 in reading, and a 2 in speaking in the Persian-Farsi DLPT.
I never studied Romanian nor attempted to speak Romanian in my lifetime. Out of curiosity one day during the year 2005 I started reading Romanian newspapers and listening to Romanian news programs over the Internet. Most likely due to the fact that I already had acquired significant proficiency in every other romance language I was able to understand anywhere between 60% and 90% of what was being stated. I proceeded to take the DLPT and got a 2 and a 1+. Basically if I were to spend some time in Romania living off the local economy it would probably take me a few weeks of speaking and basic vocabulary studying to get to a point where I could begin leveraging a small conversational base towards becoming rapidly fluent in the language in a similar fashion to what I did with Spanish and Portuguese. Could l live, work, or attend university classes in Romania? Not right away but I would be able to do so after two to four weeks of full immersion. I scored a 2 in reading and a 1+ in listening in the Romanian DLPT.
7. What is the value of knowing multiple languages?
In my opinion the benefits of knowing many foreign languages are mostly cultural and sometimes of a social nature. Knowing how to communicate in multiple languages opens you up to different world cultures and enables you to gain the ability to sense and manage the many nuances that arise when dealing with many different perspectives. Sometimes you will meet people with an international multi-cultural background that will sense this in you and who enjoy being around you. Invitations to parties, dinners, and other social events normally privy to a limited circle of people would normally follow. The nurturing of certain social relationships may offer additional opportunities to use and improve different foreign languages.
Although it never hurts, unless you have chosen translating or interpreting as a career there are few financial benefits to knowing multiple languages alone. My language ability rendered me a more competitive candidate when I worked a senior multi-product multi-country management role with First-e Bancorp in Dublin, Ireland in 2000. Typically languages can make a difference at senior liaison or executive roles which require many years of experience in a particular sector.
Some people feel that after you have gained proficiency in several languages you are a "notable polyglot" and therefore are deserving of media attention. I have never sought to interest the media regarding my language ability. I doubt I would be able to generate very strong interest even if I tried. I do not think that the media has a burning desire to write about living linguists who speak many languages unless they are politicians, entertainment stars, or sports celebrities. Generally knowing a lot of languages will not get you that much fame. For example, Ziad Fazah who is reputed to be the world's most accomplished living polyglot appeared in Brazil's variety show Fantastico a few times which spurred a handful of articles. However, eventually the buzz died down and to this day generates a mere 431 hits off of a Google search.
It is impossible to scientifically define what constitutes language proficiency, determine who has better language proficiency, and go back in time to evaluate the language skills of those long deceased. Mainly for this reason there is a cultural filtration phenomenon that defers to fame as criteria for selecting which "notable polyglots" are remembered in the history books. Usually the people who are remembered in history as "notable polyglots" are usually published academics, politicians, entertainment stars, sports celebrities, or other famous individuals.
