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Recent interview with Ziad Fazah | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6702 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes  Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 17 of 43 14 March 2009 at 7:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm surprised that the subject of Ziad Fazah's many languages keeps turning up, and even more that people keep defending him instead of just ignoring him until some substantial proof turns up.
I did in fact see that notorious video (in fact several times) and it is not just a case of judging somebody on a bad day. No, he was presented with some simple questions and was asked - not to translate, certainly not to answer -but simply to tell what the question was all about. It couldn't be more simple, and he failed in every single case. He even failed when he was shown a printed text (as far as I remember it was in Persian). And he not only failed, but tried to charm and guess and fudge his way out of his problems instead of giving a rational explanation for his fiasco. Portunhol asks whether we should judge him on his worst performance ever. The answer is yes. Let's say that you are taking your driving test, and you run into a street light, a fire hydrant, a parked bicycle and an old lady. Would you then still expect to get your licence just by saying you had a bad day? That being said, I still find it incomprehensible that the Guinness people - who are not normally known to be easy to convince - accepted his claim to know all those languages. There may be something more in this story that we haven't heard about, but until further notice I just can't take Fazad's latest claims seriously. Edited by Iversen on 14 March 2009 at 8:01pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| portunhol Triglot Senior Member United States thelinguistblogger.w Joined 6251 days ago 198 posts - 299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (classical) | Message 18 of 43 14 March 2009 at 10:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Iversen has given us some good food for thought that I would like to chew on a bit. This is, after all, a forum and what is a forum if not a place where one exchanges ideas and information with others? I have had a great time learning from many of the members in this forum since I started coming here.
I believe that much of the curiosity that surrounds Ziad Fazah comes from amazement. Could a person really learn 59 languages? The members of this forum are interested in language learning and I find that many of us project ourselves onto talented linguists like Stuart Jay Raj, Steve the Linguist, Richard Simcotts, Alexander Arguelles, etc. I think that many of us tear them down because we feel that as long as they have achieved these admirable things, and we have not, we are somehow inferior. I believe that this inferiority complex is at the heart of the most vicious criticisms of Mr. Fazah and the other talented polyglots that I mentioned. There are those of us who defend Ziad Fazah and this seems incomprehensible to certain members of the forum. I sympathize. David (who defended Ziad quite ardently in the other thread) and I have had personal contact with Ziad and that is probably the main reason why we defend him when others, who have only seen the deceitful video in question, say he is a complete fraud. When I first learned about Ziad Fazah I was shocked and amazed that someone could have such a talent. David claimed to know him, so I contacted David through this forum. He gladly gave me Ziad’s email address. I emailed Ziad and he emailed back with his telephone number requesting that I call him. I’ll admit it. I was dubious. We talked at first in Portuguese, which he spoke with no accent. Then, without the warning that he probably deserved, I switched into Spanish. He continued in Spanish as if nothing had changed. I then switched to English and he had no trouble continuing our conversation in that language. David also claims to have studied a wide variety of languages (including Hindi) with Ziad and reports to having seen him converse in Mandarin, as well as other languages. I recognize that this is not proof but it is compelling evidence that leads us (David and me) to believe that he speaks the other languages he claims to know. I have only personally heard Alexander Aruguelles converse in English, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin and in a little Korean with his wife; I do not feel naïve assuming that he truly knows the other twenty some languages that he claims to be proficient in. Torbyrne and I were chatting once and he stated another reason to believe that Ziad is a talented linguist. Ziad was raised in a middle class home in Lebanon, in the sixties, so he was educated in French and Arabic. He moved to Brazil so he must know Portuguese. There are recordings online of him speaking English and that lousy video shows him speaking Spanish. Then there’s the newspaper article, again you can find it online, about Ziad talking in Persian with a refugee in Brazil with whom the police could not communicate. Right away you can see that there are six languages that he must know and those of you who are truly polyglots (like Iversen) should know that it’s no stretch of the imagination to believe that he also has a good handle on the other languages he claims to know that are related to the ones already mentioned (i.e. German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Hebrew, Catalan, Italian, Dari, Cantonese etc.). The logic behind Iversen’s comparison between Ziad messing up on TV and a driver running down an old lady is quite sound. While the logic is sound the comparison is a little off. Ziad was not like a teenage kid coming in to take his driving test. He had already been on television several times which is why they asked him to come to Chile in the first place. What has a person who has driven cars for twenty years proven when he runs over a fire hydrant? Has he proven that he was faking for twenty years and just got lucky until he hit the fire hydrant? Did he show that, in fact, he had no knowledge of driving at all? No, he has only shown that he was lacking in judgment when he made that mistake which is really all Ziad Fazah can be accused of for going on Chilean TV without a few days of study to refresh his memory. I understand those of you who are skeptical because you certainly have reasons to be. Expressing doubt is one thing but thoughtless defamation is another. I do not think that anyone on this forum has been justified in calling Ziad a liar, a fraud or anything of the like. If you feel so strongly about Ziad being a liar then you owe it to him and yourself to contact him before you slander him any further. If you are not confident enough to contact him and find out for yourself then you have no business writing such malicious things in this forum. Edited by portunhol on 14 March 2009 at 11:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6702 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 19 of 43 15 March 2009 at 12:30am | IP Logged | |||||
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Portunhol's answer also gave me things to think about - and as he wrote, we are here to exchange ideas and information with others. Let me first mention that we discuss Fazad because he has claimed to know 59 languages AND because he has claimed to have learnt most of them in an incredible short time. The more extreme the claims, the more scepticism - it couldn't be otherwise. However the number 59 languages is not totally out of bounds, though I personally wouldn't expect anybody to be actively fluent in this number of languages. Passive knowledge, certainly, and maybe some degree of speaking ability. But I was inclined to give him the benefit of doubt until I saw that video ...
The thing I simply cannot understand is how anybody who claims to speak certain languages can bungle up five or six simple tests in a row, - and react as if nothing has happened. It may very well be that these were his only lapses in an hourlong TV-program and that they have been cut out and presented in one disastrous row just to make fun of Mr. Fazad - but why, and if a million TV viewers in Chile had seen him do brillantly in the rest of the program why didn't they put some of that on the internet? Or clips from the other, allegedly succesful programs he has participated in? The problem is that we have conflicting evidence: we have one video that shows five or six total misses in a row, but we also have positive first- and secondhand evidence from people who have spoken to him in maybe half a dozen languages in all, and on top of those we may expect him to know several languages simply because of his background. Let me add that Ziad Fazah of course doesn't owe anybody here any proof at all, - but it will take some positive counterevidence to convince me (and others) that he still speaks 59 languages, - including those that he bungled up in that fateful video. Edited by Iversen on 15 March 2009 at 12:33am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gamma Octoglot Groupie Brazil Joined 6942 days ago 82 posts - 85 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, English, GermanC2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Finnish Studies: Icelandic, Dutch | Message 20 of 43 15 March 2009 at 8:53pm | IP Logged | |||||
Psychological disequilibrium should be the explanation. If you fail for one time on TV, you get the crowd yelling at you, lose confidence and get inhibited - things that certainly would not happen in a minimally serious, decent, tranquil and friendly conversation. Consequently you miss the next questions or tests. Edited by Gamma on 15 March 2009 at 8:58pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Walshy Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6941 days ago 335 posts - 365 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German | Message 21 of 43 16 March 2009 at 11:51am | IP Logged | |||||
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http://rapidshare.com/files/209829599/YouTube_-_Poliglota_en _Viva_el_Lunes.avi.html
Only good for 10 downloads. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ronp Heptaglot Newbie Australia ronpeek.blogspo Joined 6093 days ago 33 posts - 74 votes Speaks: English, Dutch*, German, Flemish, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: Norwegian, Mandarin, Esperanto, Finnish, Macedonian, Hindi, Greek, Indonesian, Lithuanian, Basque, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic (Written), Sign Language Studies: Turkish, Swahili | Message 22 of 43 16 March 2009 at 1:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi Walshy,
Thanks, I missed it first time round. Ron Edited by ronp on 16 March 2009 at 1:24pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| LanguageGeek Triglot Senior Member GermanyRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6106 days ago 151 posts - 159 votes 4 sounds Speaks: German*, English, Hungarian Studies: French, Russian | Message 23 of 43 16 March 2009 at 1:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I watched it... Really sobering. Maybe Farsi was still the best, but he cleary didn't seem to understand the simple Russian question. His Chinese translation must have been wrong as well, judging by the facial expression of the Chinese gentleman.
I don't know Spanish, so I would be interested in what Fazah said as a justification. But the overall impression I got is rather sad. This man overstates his abilities. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6702 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 24 of 43 16 March 2009 at 1:26pm | IP Logged | |||||
The audience weren't yelling, the questions weren't posed in a threatening way and they were posed clearly enough for me to hear the words even though I only understood some of the languages. Those who posed them sometimes looked overbearing, but with good reason. No, that video was a fullblown disaster, and if you are going to believe in Ziad then it must be on the basis of other evidence. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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