What polyglots talk about: transcribing the round table discussion on polyglottery and education held in New York City, 2013

Abstract

This paper is based on the experience gained while transcribing the audio recording of the round table discussion on polyglottery and education held at the international conference Multilingual Proficiency: Language, Polyglossia and Polyglottery (New York City, 2013). The discussion covered such topics as the definitions of a polyglot, the measurement of language knowledge, the phenomenon of switching languages in speech and the implementation of polyglots’ experience in language education systems. A summary of the discussion is provided, the key ideas of the participants are pointed out, and some personal observations on the matter are shared, including the difficulties confronted during the process of transcription.