In fact it's a fast way to get your ear familiarized with the language. TV and everyday life in a new country. Of course this is not enough for learning a language, but it's a good start. It's just like a melody you hear for the first time. You can tell who is talented in getting fast the notes and reproducing them in the same way.

Anyway there are two (first) approaches with a new language. Vocabulary and grammar. What I meant in my previous post is not only the vocabulary but mainly the grammar. First you have to be talented and secondly you should have good to excellent knowledge of at least 1-2 languages (grammar) in order for you to get familir fast and easily with a new language.

I would like to remind you of the meaning of the term polyglot, one of which is: A person having a speaking, reading, or writing knowledge of several languages.

By this you can tell if you are a polyglot or not. The way you learn a language then, is up to your talent and your will. The important thing is to be capable to speak, read or write good enough in a language in order to build a good communication and also to be able to articulate your thoughts.

I agree with you Liliana.

You are making a difference between basic and professional knowledge of a language. I totally agree that the latter is a product of years of experience. I think that you can never tell of entirely knowing a language as it is a continuing process that lasts a lifetime.

I was not just talking about us profesionals here, but also about them that have a good basic knowledge of a foreign language, and who according to the definition of the term, can be called polyglots.

The other ones that you mentioned are linguists/translators. Please make a difference, this is a profession, while the other is just the everyday life and can be achieved (almost) by anyone.

Concerning the soap operas, they really have a relatively easy level of communicating, but sometimes this can by tricky. As Ines mentioned, this can be percieved only by translators, as sometimes you should have an excellent knowledge of the language and context background in order to better understand their thoughts and communication.

And by the way, Ines, you do an excellent work. Your language skills are really excellent.

Hi Daniela.  Welcome to Translatorscafe.  You make some excellent points and you seem to have some experience behind them. You are right - language learning is indeed a multifaceted affair taking a number of years, and a distinction should also be made between the professional and non-professional polyglot or bilingual.

Maxi

Thank you Maxi.

Indeed I have an experience of more than 10 years behind and I can tell that it has been my best teacher in all these years. I love my job and as such I am very passionate when I discuss about it

Have a nice weekend,

Daniela

MITHRIDATES, MASTER OF LANGUAGES.

An interesting passage from The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy (see this post):

Mithradates' dazzling memory and facility with languages were legendary in his own time.... Only one other individual in antiquity had linguistic abilities that even approached those of Mithradates. According to Plutarch, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt "spoke many languages and gave audiences to most foreign ambassadors without the help of interpreters." Aulus Gellius remarked that "he was thoroughly conversant in the dialects of the 25 nations that he ruled, and spoke each language as if it were his native tongue." ...

Which languages did Mithradates speak or read with ease? These are certain: Greek, Macedonian, Persian, Latin, Aramaic/Hebrew, Parthian, Armenian, Old and New Phrygian, Cappadocian, and the Gaulish dialect of his Galatian lover Adobogiona. Other languages may have included Avestan (Old Iranian, used in Zoroastrian prayers); Sanskrit (Hindu medical texts); Egyptian and Punic; Celtic/Gallic (perhaps Allobrogesean, the language of his bodyguard Bituitus). He knew some Anatolian tongues, such as Carian, Mysian, Isaurian, Lydian, Lycian (and Pisidian), and maybe had a smattering of Syriac, Elamite, and Sumerian (used in religious texts of the Seleucid era). He could have learned Italian dialects, Marsic, Oscan, and Umbrian; Thracian (spoken by many of his cavalry regiments; and Getic (spoken in Tomis on the Danube). Other possibilities include vestigal forms of Assyrian or Hittite and dialects of Colchis, Sarmatia, and Scythia.

It is certainly important to make a distinction between a polyglot and a linguist/translator.  While I know many polyglots, they are not professionals and have not developed the skill necessary for translation that would be required in business or politics. 

It would be preposterous to believe that you can achieve the same while taking this course:

WHY PIMSLEUR APPROACH?

• Same revolutionary method used by the FBI and NSA.
• All audio! Just listen and absorb. No textbooks. No videos. What you hear is scientifically sequenced so you can retain without pain.

"The Pimsleur Approach, ... boil[s] down the essential elements of a foreign language so that beginners can acquire basic skills immediately..."

I surely believe that you can learn in 10 days how to say "How are you?", "Where do you come from?" and dozens of other things so, technically, you can speak a foreign language by being able to say a few things in it and you can acquire that basic skill "immediately". Maybe you could even land a job with the FBI as a polyglot this way but...

utt  Here is one online critique: http://www.fluentin3months.com/pimsleur/