Mezzofanti's Gift: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners
Author(s): Michael Erard
Multilingualism is on the rise - in the coming decades, as many as two billion people will learn English as a second language. The next stage up from multilingualism is the domain of the 'hyperpolyglot' or 'superlearner': someone who claims to know at least six languages. But what does it mean to 'know' a language? Can a person claim to speak a language fluently if it isn't their mother tongue? What role does culture play in learning languages?
Product Information
'You'll be awed by the incredible characters in this eye-opening book. How do they do it? And what can the rest of us learn from them?' Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein 'Part travelogue, part science lesson, part intellectual investigation, [Mezzofanti's Gift] is an entertaining survey of some of the most fascinating polyglots of our time' The New York Times 'Michael Erard has written the first serious book about the poeple who master vast number of languages-- or claim to ... he approaches his topic with both wonder and a healthy dash of scepticism' The Economist
Michael Erard has an MA in Linguistics and a PhD in English from the University of Texas, and has taught all around the world. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Science, Wired and New Scientist, and his first book, Um...: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean, was published in 2007.
General Fields
- :
- : Duckworth
- : Duckworth
- : 0.422
- : 01 May 2013
- : 198mm X 129mm
- : United Kingdom
- : 01 September 2013
- : books
Special Fields
- : Michael Erard
- : Paperback
- : 1
- : English
- : 404.2
- : 320