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Ziad Fazah - does he exist? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6922 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 313 of 377 02 October 2007 at 8:57pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I thought the same thing. My apologies.
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| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6678 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 314 of 377 03 October 2007 at 1:15am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I agree with you. I understand the video clip perfectly well and there isn't synchronization problems. It proofs this man spoke Spanish and he didn't speak the other languages. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Walshy Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6945 days ago 335 posts - 365 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German | Message 315 of 377 03 October 2007 at 4:13am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Thanks translator2, I'll have to check that story out some day (when I learn Portuguese).
Indeed. Even a mere photo of Dave M with Ziad still hasn't been provided, and that was promised 2 years ago. At this moment in time, we can't deny the possibility that Dave was a conman, planning on charging money for the language lessons with Ziad and then probably taking off. There are a few inconsistencies in Dave's story which, upon cross-examination, he got all "offended" and very defensive over, such as with Ziad's computer skills. Initially Dave says that Ziad is a computer genius, then when it came time to substantiate his connection to Ziad by setting up his website, Ziad was suddenly inept with computers, then when asked about this, he said Ziad was "normal" with computers, and got very defensive about it. Another inconsistency which comes to mind is how Dave claimed to be competent in Mandarin in a matter of weeks. If you follow this line of reasoning, then it seems obvious that Dave has probably never even met Ziad. Whether or not Dave M sought to profit from us remains to be seen, but I think there can be little doubt that he has been stringing us along the whole time. Edited by Walshy on 03 October 2007 at 4:16am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| lloydkirk Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6416 days ago 429 posts - 452 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian | Message 316 of 377 03 October 2007 at 7:20am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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It is possible that Dave M is Ziad Fazah promoting himself?
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| Polyphemes Bilingual Hexaglot Groupie Virgin Islands Joined 6292 days ago 48 posts - 60 votes Speaks: German*, Dutch*, English, French, Italian, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), Bulgarian, Greek | Message 317 of 377 03 October 2007 at 7:41am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Hahaha, I find that very funny. I hadn't thought about it that way.
Though nothing should be ruled out ;) I am not taking any "side" in this, but I would like to see what DaveM has to say about this. Because he has been keeping awfully quiet, unfortunately. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| asad100101 Diglot Senior Member Pakistan languagel.blogspot.c Joined 6458 days ago 118 posts - 137 votes Speaks: Hindi*, English | Message 318 of 377 03 October 2007 at 8:49am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I talked to Dave Maswary on the phone before, say, a few months ago.. He is not Ziad Fazah for sure because his English accent is pure American. I think I should write an email to him and let him know about this new video evidence. It'd also help open his eyes. Edited by asad100101 on 03 October 2007 at 8:50am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| xtremelingo Trilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6290 days ago 398 posts - 515 votes Speaks: English*, Hindi*, Punjabi* Studies: German, French, Arabic (Written) | Message 319 of 377 03 October 2007 at 9:49am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Edwin and Translator2,
I find it amusing how both of you have quickly jumped at the opportunity to see this man fail on one attempt. I'm sure it made you happy to see a person whom takes the very same interests we do in our language learning fail. What a great support system! I was saddened, not by his failure, but the pathetic, immature reactions of those around him in the audience and the hosts. I personally don't think this video proves anything at all in either way about his abilities. Being on National TV is not exactly the easiest thing to do, particularly when you are being tested at random on the spot, with possibly no revision -- or have been mislead and be tested on languages totally different <-- he could have been setup too. And looking at the reactions of the hosts and audiences, you can tell they weren't exactly very supportive at all, or try to let him save face, which just futher complicates his position, demoralizes him and destroys his confidence. As for Dave M, I recall him stating very early in this thread about this very video in the beginning and suggested that Ziad was nervous. He in fact, did make reference to this video before -- in case you have not read the thread in it's entirety (Edwin). I can believe he is nervous, just given his behaviour as observed and the general mystery that surrounds him, he's not outspoken, he's not flamboyant, he's appears to be a reserved elderly man. If he wasn't, you would hear more about him on the Internet. Throw any introvert in front of a TV camera like that, and I'm sure you will get a deer in the headlights reaction. Keep in mind, he did have the confidence to appear on a TV show to demonstrate his skills. Whether he was ready or not is another story. But his confidence must be worth something. I don't think anyone would purposely go on national TV and purposely humiliate themselves. Would you? So there must be some kind of basis to his claims or confidence level. I do agree it would have been more wise for him to simply say "I don't know." Instead of coming up with anything just for the sake of a response. Then again, he may have been desperate, cornered and felt his reputation was on the line. By providing further responses he just made his situation worse. Bad judgement on his part. Lets not forget. This man did make it into the GUINESS BOOK OF RECORDS. As far as I'm concerned, that organization does have standards, and polyglottery is another area which is highly competitive for that 'title.' I'm sure many interpretors and translators of the world would love to have that wouldn't they? would be great for their resume, marketing campaigns and brochures! So I'm pretty sure when he was inducted into Guiness at that time, that they did their research. Walshy, Dave M, whether we like him or not. He was the only purpose that successfully provided any sort of contact information of Ziad Fazah, at a time when many people were actually VERY convinced that Ziad Fazah didn't even exist! Whether he knows him or not; providing PHONE numbers for a person when everyone else thinks is fictional is pretty damn impressive in either case. Edited by xtremelingo on 03 October 2007 at 9:58am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Polyphemes Bilingual Hexaglot Groupie Virgin Islands Joined 6292 days ago 48 posts - 60 votes Speaks: German*, Dutch*, English, French, Italian, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), Bulgarian, Greek | Message 320 of 377 03 October 2007 at 9:51am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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But DaveM mentioned Mr Fazah had been "cheated" once before on a show in Chile... Probably the show in question. I wonder who put it on Youtube because it has been added two weeks ago, I believe. And it would be interesting to see if there are any 'good' videos. People from Brazil mentioned those.
Couldn't it just be he had some 'black-out'? I don't want to judge people to harshly by just one shaky appearance on tv, it seems a bit unfair. However what's really strange is that as a native speaker from Arabic he should have that much trouble with Persian, but maybe it's really just his nerves or some sort of black-out. However, what has been mentioned before here and which is a bit 'weird' is that he 'made up' answers - and there is no use denying that. This is a bit puzzling. But to be honest, I really did pity the man... Like one of the commentaries on youtube said 'No quiero estar en sus pantalones' (I don't want to stand in his shoes)... I don't think we should be too harsh on him, though. Everybody makes mistakes and has a weak day. Why, even I made a terrible mistake on this forum not so long ago ;) I have to say I am really anxious to know how this whole matter will evolve... I find myself checking the forum quite often for news on this. It would be great if someone were to contact DaveM. What's puzzling as well is this news about the website he started making about a year ago - or even more. I am not attacking anyone, just listing up facts. And like said before, many, many of these facts are quite contradictionary. We have proof, however, that he exists... But we do not have any proof yet that he really speaks all of these languages. By the way, of the top of my head... If you're listed in the Guinness book of records it has to be verified by multiple sources, right? I mean, it has to be recorded, there has to be a certain number of witnesses and so on... Wouldn't that be some sort of 'proof' as well? Because there are probably many, many people who want to appear in this book so they should have a strict set of rules for those who intend to get their name in the book. Well, that's it. To those that know who they are: Say something, please. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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