I prefer to downplay my language skills, and I don't think I'll ever call myself a polyglot, even if I reach a high level in several languages. I have always preferred understatement to aggressive self-promotion, be it from men or women. I do think that women probably get accused of being pushy more than men who put themselves in the spotlight, but personally, I don't like either.

While I have had similar experiences to the author of the post, where I'm at a loss when asked how many languages I speak, and where I mention only one or two. I've also been repeatedly attacked for the price I set for my lessons, from people who can't or won't pay for them (fine, no need to write to me about it), while male teachers I know who set similar or higher prices have told me they haven't experienced this. It appears I should know my place and work for a price I consider too low, because I'm a woman from Africa (never mind my teaching experience and education), not an American guy. I'm not supposed to charge in that range, because people like me aren't supposed to want to be paid anything more than maids or waitresses. It astonishes me sometimes that these people think they have any say in what I charge when they don't know me, and their conclusions are based on their prejudices.

Still, I think it understatement is the way to go, because it's always more pleasant to find out someone has a skill you didn't think they had, or speaks better than expected, than the opposite. I don't like building high expectations. 

Given how lacking I typically find the language skills of self-proclaimed polyglots, I never want to be identified with those "scammers who claim to speak 8 languages because they can order a beer." The author suggests putting oneself forward as a solution to the problem she has identified, but that's not the way forward, in my opinion. We shouldn't all start making bombastic claims. More modesty and understatement would be nice.

That is really fascinating. Maybe it's because I spent a lot of time in school for my graduate studies, but I have a serious case of imposter syndrome, so I always downplay my abilities. I know I can get by very well in a few languages, but I also know I have pretty serious gaps in my knowledge too.

Getting to the first question, I read an article recently on polyglotism (I can't remember which one, unfortunately) that profiled about a dozen polyglots, and they were all male, which I found quite odd. Maybe that is the D-K effect at work!

"In my own case, I’ve always shied away from applying the term “polyglot” to myself because it feels so self-aggrandizing—so…braggy. Also, I’m acutely aware of my deficiencies in all of the foreign languages that I’ve studied, leaving me to be more careful in using the term."

The above quote from the article sums up my position pretty accurately (as a man). Certainly more of an imposter than a Dunning-Kruger in any case. Nearly all of the 'polyglots' who post videos of themselves speaking multiple languages on Youtube are men, and I must profess a certain admiration for having the balls to showcase your talent to the world. How good they really are might be the subject of a future thread; some are obviously incredibly talented but a few probably overestimate their ability.

I think there is an important category which applies to both sexes, that of the introverted language enthusiast/polyglot. Do more women than men fall into this category, I wonder? Personally I couldn't think of anything more toe-curlingly embarrassing than posting a video of myself in the public domain and even wait for my wife to leave the house before playing the piano. Yet once I feel comfortable with a tutor/teacher/native speaker I come out to play.

I think that the Ms Maria's explanation of the phenomenon is the best explanation so far. In the cultures that I know, the vast majority of foreign language students are female, so you would expect more women to be polyglots (assuming a normal distribution of ability). But my anecdotal experience is also that more self-proclaimed polyglots are men.

I'd never call myself a polyglot, because I'm certainly not one. When people ask me how good my Mandarin is, I usually ask if they've seen Fawlty Towers* and say that my Mandarin is as good as Manuel's English or Basil's Spanish.... ;-)

* If you haven't seen them before, you can meet Basil and Manuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-oH-TELcLE