Hi Ron,

When an American friend of mine introduces me with his usual "This is Jacek who speaks seven languages," I usually say "But I no longer speak many of them; I only can read them, and even that not always." Otherwise, I prefer not to say (option #3) because it would take too long to explain about language attrition, active A vs. passive B and C, language maintenance, shifts in dominant language depending where you live, work, with whom, at what age, etc. etc.

Jacek

Hi Ron,

I have never thought of myself as a polyglot, and I don't recall having been asked.

I can read four-five languages, but honestly, you cannot count Norwegian and Swedish as 'other' languages since they are so close to Danish. The German and the French that was once fairly fluent, is stuck somewhere on the back burner - difficult, not impossible, but very difficult to revive. For speaking and writing, I have only Danish and English.

Nanna

I speak, read, and write more than two languages, so I guess technically that makes me a polyglot rather than bilingual.  Does one have to be a good polyglot, or does any level of polyglottism count?  I am an ear person, so I take pleasure in the spoken language.

Maxi

Not a polyglot, no, I tend to think of myself as bilingual (Dutch and English) and I have a more than passing understanding of German because I watched a lot of German TV when I grew up (and still do, whenever I think Germany will loose a football match , we Dutch have a hard time getting over the 1974 World Cup ) and the past year my French has improved somewhat because of my emigrating to the South of France. My family and friends tend to think I know everything there is to know about languages, but that is merely because they are misinformed about my capabilities and seem to think my skills are of mythical proportions. Anyway, I wouldn't want to be a polyglot, either: in which language would you dream, for instance, and what happens when you live your life to a ripe old age? Would you remember the dreams but not be able to understand them? Or would you understand your dreams but not be able to remember them? I am, like Maxi, someone who likes spoken languages but I go a bit further: I love to hear Gaelic or Welsh, but I don't understand a word of it. I just like the sounds .

Theo, Dutchman in France

No (and thanks for bringing up the definition), but when you get asked the question Ron pointed out, it's unavoidable to get bogged down in explanations. That's why I avoid the whole topic outside the United States which is a country with no problems in that respect: everybody can and often does claim that they speak this and that either, as it turns out, because they had some Spanish in high school, or because their great grandparents came from Europe in the 19th c., or because they live in Chinatown and dine in Little Italy...

As for the definition of polyglottism, some of them agree that it involves 'several',i.e., more than two languages, but some will settle for as few as two:

a person who speaks more than one language
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

The term multilingualism can refer to an occurrence regarding an individual speaker who uses two or more languages
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyglot (person)

Someone who speaks and/or writes two or more languages. Multilingual.
www.multilingualchildren.org/resources/glossary.html

When it comes to night dreams, there is no problem at all: I never remember them. As for day-dreaming, I use the language that suits me in the given moment...

Hi, is a polyglot a good thing, or a bad thing like snobbish, or just a hip thing? I am not sure what it is right now. If it means love of languages,  I am definitely a polyglot. 

I speak five well, read quite a few and love all of them. 

It doesn't take much... According to the definitions I quoted, everyone who translates from B to A is, by definition, a polyglot.