Babel No More

Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners Michael Erard Wymiary : 21,1 x 14 Oprawa : Miękka Liczba stron : 306 Data wydania : 02.10.2012 Wydawnictwo : Free Press ISBN : 9781451628265 In Babel No More Michael Erard ""a monolingual with benefits"" sets out on a quest to meet language superlearners and make sense of their mental powers. On the way he uncovers the secrets of historical figures like the nineteenth-century Italian cardinal Joseph Mezzofanti who was said to speak seventy-two languages as well as those of living language-superlearners such as Alexander Arguelles a modern-day polyglot who knows dozens of languages and shows Erard the tricks of the trade to give him a dark glimpse into the life of obsessive language acquisition. How do some people escape the curse of Babel--and what might the gods have demanded of them in return?