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Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners Paperback – October 2, 2012

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4.1 out of 5 stars 51 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Free Press (October 2, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1451628269
  • ISBN-13: 978-1451628265
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #259,193 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsOne Lives a New Life for Every New Language One Speaks
By Serge J. Van Steenkiste on January 23, 2012
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Michael Erard sets himself the goal to untangle the myths, history, and science surrounding what he calls the hyper-polyglots. Mr. Erard defines the hyper-polyglot as a person who can speak (or can use in reading, writing, or translating) at least eleven languages (p. 12). The author initially chose Dick Hudson's definition of the hyper-polyglot, i.e., a person who can speak (or can use in reading, writing, or translating) six or more languages. Mr. Hudson, a British linguist, has found that community-based multilingualism, where people, not just special individuals, speak many languages, has a ceiling of five languages (pp. 12; 23-24; 47; 68; 104; 189).

Unfortunately, Mr. Erard's prose wanders too aimlessly. The author summarizes his findings about hyper-polyglottery in eight recommendations that he articulates in chapter 19 (pp. 260-265). As a multilingual native originally from Belgium, I did not find all these recommendations practical. Think for example about the next three recommendations:

1. "If you want to improve at languages, you should manage your dopamine."
2. "If you want to promote brain plasticity, you should find flow."
3. "If you want to improve at languages, you should build executive function and working memory skills."

(American) readers will have to look elsewhere in Mr. Erard's book to figure out what it takes to become a bilingual, multilingual, polyglot ... or a hyper-polyglot.

1. Language learning is not easy and takes hard work, pushing (successful) language learners to use their time efficiently (pp. 115; 141; 268-269).
2. What makes someone a successful language learner is interest driven by motivation, perseverance, and diligence. Instant gratification has no place in this equation (pp.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsWonderful book for language geeks, but needed more work
By K G R VINE VOICE on January 17, 2012
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Erard's book "Babel No More" is about hyperpolyglots, defined arbitrarily by the author as anyone knowing six or more languages. Many characters appear along the way. For example, Cardinal Mezzofanti, a 19th Century Italian Prelate who knew dozens of lanaguages, to modern day South Indians who use multiple tongues on a daily basis, to modern Europeans who have apparently learned numerous languages.

Babel No More is original, being the first book I have found that deals with hyperpolyglots as individuals, how people can master many languages, how the brains of hyperpolyglots are different from others and several other related topics. Of course, numerous books have dealt with each of the covered topics in far more detail, but Erard brought them all together in a book accessible to the lay reader.

It was clear from early on that the book would have benefitted from more work and research by Erard. The book starts off with the author at a library in Bologna, Italy, doing research on Mezzofanti. Erard then makes clear that he doesn't know Italian or much of anything about most of the languages he sees in Mezzofanti's archives. I'm less than clear about how much the author hoped to gain by conducting archival research on materials in languages he didn't know, and even worse, that he didn't try to get translated. He comes across materials in native American languages and rather than trying to determine what level of linguistic competence Mezzofanti was demonstrating in them (such as by contacting an Algonquin scholar), Erard just moves on. Later, he describes the polyglot Emil Krebs as having learned "Altarmenisch." The word is German for Classical Armenian, which Erard could have easily found with a few seconds worth of research.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsSuperHyperMultiPolyglots
By takingadayoff TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on January 17, 2012
Format: Hardcover
With memories of failing college French, mangling German in Berlin, and being unable to even hear the critical difference in some letters in Polish, I was looking forward to Michael Erard's Babel No More, a book about successful language learners.

Erard takes an already interesting topic and makes it a little more irresistible by turning it into a multi-faceted mystery. Are the occasional reports of super linguists, people who learn languages with ease and speak dozens, true or are they urban myths? Are there any of these hyperpolyglots, as he calls them, alive today? If they exist, is there something we can learn from them, some secret language-learning method that will make sad uniglots like me potential hyperpolyglots?

Erard sets out to verify or debunk the story of a 19th century Italian who was supposed to have spoken over fifty languages and learned new languages in weeks. From there he tracks down and meets some current-day polyglots and starts to find some unexpected and disturbing similarities. Most of the self-identified polyglots are men, many are left-handed, and quite a few seem to exhibit some autistic tendencies. Erard is reluctant to make too much of these similarities, yet he can't explain them away either.

And then there's the most vexing problem - what does it mean to speak a language, or to know a language? Does it mean with native fluency? With ease? Able to get by? Everyone has a different standard and this makes it hard to compare or group these hyperpolyglots in any meaningful way.

Erard is best when he is interviewing the polyglots and finding out how they learn languages.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Great

Published 9 months ago by Wonchang C.
4.0 out of 5 starsI was hopeful it would identify specific ways that I could more easily...

Very interesting book! It was what I expected: an investigation of the top language learners in the world. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Christian Winter
4.0 out of 5 starsIt's the journey, not the destination

What does it mean to “know a language”? Is there a magic method for language acquisition? Is the ability to learn a language more hereditary or is it driven by motivation? Read more

Published 12 months ago by Daniel Clausen
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat insight!

This book is a must read for anyone interested in polyglots or the polyglot culture.

Published 12 months ago by Jonathan Anderson
4.0 out of 5 starsbabel no more

This was quite an interesting read on the mystery of polyglots. I speak three languages, and hope to learn my fourth in the near future. Read more

Published 16 months ago by George Leventhal
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Terrific and fascinating book. After reading a copy from the library, we had to own it.

Published 16 months ago by old fashioned
5.0 out of 5 starsinteresting read

As an avid language learner, I find myself reflected in some of the characters in this book. It is great to see a combination of anecdotal evidence and some real studies that have... Read more

Published 19 months ago by Avid Reader
5.0 out of 5 starslike walking around with headphones shouting out sounds associated...

I read the hardcover version when it first came out. Fascinating... among many other things, it gives interesting descriptions of the things some people do to learn new languages,... Read more

Published 20 months ago by Ash
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Good book!

Published 22 months ago by Tellasia
5.0 out of 5 starsBy a polyglot wannabe

For those wanting to learn more than one language, or those interested in the people capable of learning many languages, this a well written book. Read more

Published 22 months ago by Daniel Thompson

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