Once upon a time I had a dream (with my opened eyes. - LOL) that I’d speak fluently at least 50 languages and now I’ve ended up with kind of 6 among which only 2 (apart from my native - Slovene - of course) I speak really fluently and one kind of fluently … having huge troubles with Cymraeg due to my memory I know that bridge you’re talking about is very far in the future for me which I might never live to see the day to reach it … 
This, I think, is very important to the notion of a polyglote. And the desire to learn new patterns and hew worlds. I speak 2 languages fluently, apart from my native Russian, and can read, listen to, understand and translate from Belarusian, French and Latin, and am learning Cymraeg now, but I don’t think I, for instance, could be considered a polyglote or that I’ll ever become one. There’s this problem that a language is a world in itself, and I constantly come across new things in English and Italian that I’m not very familiar with but that I want to know… For instance, this forum has opened to me the world of English names for plants and fungi:) And when I’m considering the choice (because we all have to choose as, unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in a day) between learning a whole new language or improving my English, I normally choose English. I think that there’s not much possibility to bring more than 3 languages to the level of proficiency when you can understand everything from academic lectures to comedy shows in it, and can feel the language as if it were your native one. Just because of the time limits:( But I might be wrong and I’d be curious to know other opinions.
It’s very beautiful:) Maybe Aran will make a course of it, as, I think, the language can be considered as rare.
I seem to remember that Georgian has a really beautiful written script.
(You could also put “Georgian Script” into a google image search).
Yes, it’s very nice. Looks a bit like Elvish. Maybe we can adapt it to Cymraeg.
It probably is Elvish!!! 
I’m back from the Polyglot Conference, and it was great.
I kept having people tell me–“oh, you need to meet so-and-so, he speaks Welsh,” but it never seemed to happen. And yes, it was always “he” for some reason, even though the attendees generally were maybe half and half male/female. I did meet Simon from Omniglot immediately upon arrival, but didn’t even realize or notice that he had Welsh, because I was too transfixed by the fact that he is an actual Manx speaker (one of two at the conference). In the end, I ended up using a couple sentences of Welsh with another low-level learner, and that was it. I did get to make a lot of use of my other languages, however, including Irish.
I do not remember meeting any Georgian speakers, which seems a bit strange given all the rare languages that were represented (e.g., Faroese, Greenlandic, Armenian, Albanian, Wolof, various endangered indigenous languages of the world) and the appeal Georgian tends to have for language learners.
I think the meeting in Berlin is the Polyglot “Gathering?” They announced that next year’s Polyglot Conference is going to be in Greece. A bit far for me, I’m afraid. I’d love to go, if I could, of course.
@stella was talking about limits on how many languages one can learn to a particular level. Using the CEFR scale, I think we can say that the absolute limit for mastery at the C1/C2 level generally is far higher than 3, because there was a presenter at the conference who has I believe 8 different languages at that level. If we’re talking about an ability to pass for an educated native for an extended period of time, including using the proper slang, slightly adjusting register for social situation, making cultural allusions, etc., maybe we’re closer to 3 then, but I expect that at least 4 is possible under the right circumstances.
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Now while I didn’t meet any Georgian speakers at the conference, I have been in contact with several people online in the past who were studying Georgian. I once learned the alphabet myself, but that’s all, and I’ve since forgotten it.
Thank you, it’s very interesting!
Yes, I was talking about this kind of mastery:) I’d be glad to take at least one language to such a level. Probably, it might be easier to reach a high degree of mastery in several languages if they’re connected somehow (belong to the same group or are historically related).
I’ve long since given up on trying to get to this level, since I think it is almost a requirement to live in an appropriate community for an extended period of time to get the exposure needed for this (not something I plan to do), and also because I’m more likely to want to learn several languages decently well rather than one language very, very well.
Glad to hear you had a good time Geoffrey. I’ll have to start saving my pennies to see if I could manage Berlin AND Greece next year! That would be brilliant.
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There are a significant number of families where the parents speak their own different languages to their children and where at school or in their newly adopted country their children pick uo another two or three languages.
Of course, much to my envy, the languages are ‘‘absorbed’’ rather than learned in the sense we adults learn them.
So I would expect that there are very many cases of three well-mastered languages, and not too few cases of four or five.
There are always some extreme cases - so maybe the rare 6 or 7??? Whoever is out there let yourself be known to SSiW where you will be warmly welcomed, cuddled and loved,
Justin
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Ah…I guess I hadn’t realised that the “Gathering” and the “Conference” were two different things. Small details like that sometimes escape me. 
Well, that’s why I thought it’s only one. I’ve noticed the difference and I believe “conference” really is only annual thing though (although I don’t follow too much these things.)
Talking of which…
…
Oh…Elvish … sorry …
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I’m sure that’s true…at least it’s easier to work out what they mean in the first place! I told you I could manage a bit of scientific Romanian. That is because I was waiting for a friend at the Patent Office Library years ago, and started browsing Journals at random. I found an interesting article, started reading and, about half way through, met a word or sentence that sort of threw me! ‘What language is this?’ I thought. looked at the cover and found it was Journal of the Romanian Chemical Society!!
Absorbing languages the natural way, which causes kids from Quebec to be totally bilingual and have all their storybooks in French… bliss. But that’s how I learned German from POWs and it doesn’t last if you lose the exposure.
Cymraeg can go that way too!!!
ps.Is Manx more like Irish, Scottish Gaelic or Cymraeg?
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Manx belongs to the Goidelic group, thus it’s more similar to Irish and Scottish Gaelic. Unfortunately for me, because, despite my ambitious dream to learn a bit of all the Celtic languages (with Cymraeg being the favourite one), I doubt I’ll ever go beyond reading Irish with a dictionary or saying a few basic sentences - the Goidelic languages are too hard for me.
Oh, it happens a lot to me with Spanish and Czech! Once I needed to read some articles for my coursework which were about a Spanish writer, and only available in Spanish, and I managed to do it without much difficulty. I’m sure it’s because I know Italian, French and Latin! I think at the level of “understanding” you can sometimes manage if you just know some languages of the same group. Doesn’t happen with English and German, though.
I agree that it’s a requirement for most languages, except maybe English. It has so many materials available worldwide - books and films and audio, that one could manage to improve all the skills to a very high level using just that. Well, except the accent maybe, but not much can be improved here, I think, once you’re an adult.
You can say that again!!!
Oh, how about Saxon? From Saxony? Does it still exist? It is what my ancestors called the invaders…Sais, Saisneg…
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That awkward moment when you realize that you didn’t even think about the etymology of the word, though it’s so obvious!
The ancient Saxon, I think, died out, and the Saxon dialect of the modern Germany is probably (not sure) still spoken, though it’s been constantly made fun of by the German comedians.
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