Dave M Groupie United States bfmfightwear.com Joined 6929 days ago 56 posts - 63 votes
| Message 153 of 377 13 June 2006 at 1:38pm | IP Logged |
His english is a personality quirk. He throws in excessively academic words because it is just the way he likes to speak, like Beast from X-Men.
Believe me, I am a native english speaker and I can say anything to him and he understands it. Aside from excessively technical language, hard to understand slang (which I myself don't always understand) and an occasional phrase here or there, he understands 99% of what I'm saying perfectly without me having to measure my language.
Like I mentioned I am trying to develop a website for him. Hopefully with much video included.
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Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6871 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language
| Message 154 of 377 13 June 2006 at 2:42pm | IP Logged |
Dave M wrote:
Like I mentioned I am trying to develop a website for him. Hopefully with much video included. |
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Video...that'd be great! Let us know what happens there.
To Lady_Skywalker: I just pass on info. If I find out anything new I'll be sure to mention it. :-)
Edited by Journeyer on 13 June 2006 at 2:42pm
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Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6897 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map
| Message 155 of 377 13 June 2006 at 2:57pm | IP Logged |
Dave M wrote:
As opposed to native fluent he is educated foreigner fluent. |
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This was my impression too, after speaking to him briefly over Skype the other night. And as others have said here he seemed easy to talk to and a very nice person in every way.
He certainly didn't seem to have any difficulty at all in expressing himself in English or Spanish. He was busy with something else and had to hang up so there wasn't time to get a taste of his abilities in any other language than these two.
We discussed the potential of language lessons over the internet a little, the article about him here in the forum and whether it would be useful for him to have webpage.
I did ask him about his Finnish and he said he hadn't used it for 35 years and would need a week or so to brush up and be able to hold a conversation. I sent a text message to him in Finnish after we had stopped talking to which answered in perfectly good Swedish.
Hopefully I'll get to have another chat with him sometime soon.
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lazyj Triglot Newbie Japan Joined 6949 days ago 12 posts - 12 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Japanese
| Message 156 of 377 19 June 2006 at 8:17am | IP Logged |
As someone who has been following this thread since it started, and just re-read it all from page one tonight, I finally have to weigh in. First, I'd like to say thank to everyone who's posted; it has been like reading an exciting mystery novel.
I am now thoroughly convinced that Ziad Fazah does exist and has a knowledge of many languages. However, I still have some nagging doubts about his accomplishments, and I really hope nobody will be offended if I express them. Especially DaveM, your posts have been amazing and I appreciate the time you've put into this, so please bear with me... Can anyone answer the following questions?
1) Why doesn't he post on this forum?
I think I speak for everyone who reads and posts here when I say his presence would be more than welcome. In addition, DaveM posted that, "I get the impression of an overwhelmingly talented man trying very hard to make his mark and having oodles of talent but few people who want to listen," and "His new goals are to teach and to share with the world and make a good living." He certainly has an eager and willing audience, including many potential paying students, on this very site. We would love to hear your ideas, Mr. Fazah!
2) Can anyone verify that those links to emails regarding computer tech support were actually written by this Ziad Fazah?
Ardaschir did post at the beginning of this thread that both Ziad and Fazah are relatively common names, so it seems possible they aren't. However, AML wrote that Fazah's English was similar in an email. At the risk of being rude, should those emails actually be his, can we really say his English is fluent? I reiterate, I don't want to offend anyone, but those are some pretty strangely written, hard to understand emails, are they not?
3) What materials did he use for all 58 languages?
This was one of the biggest sticking points for Ardaschir at the beginning of this thread, and still hasn't really been answered. Do any of the people who are in contact with him know exactly how he could gather so many hard to find language materials?
One last question (not a skeptical one, I promise!)... has the Administrator emailed Ardaschir now that we know Ziad Fazah's contact information?
Thank you.
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Dave M Groupie United States bfmfightwear.com Joined 6929 days ago 56 posts - 63 votes
| Message 157 of 377 19 June 2006 at 10:22am | IP Logged |
1-Ziad went to foreign embassies to speak to people there
2 - He got materials all over the place, one ambassador brought a book from Pakistan, another got Chinese materials from another place etc.....
3 - trust me, his english is miraculous
4 - I am developing his website as we speak, it will include video, all doubts will be erased and it will include millions of contact points and info about my upcoming book, his biography and lots of other stuff and hopefully his video appearances. I am also looking for materials to help him brush up on languages he hast spoken in a while liek Bengali
5 - Gd wiling the website will be up in a week or 10 days
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victor Tetraglot Moderator United States Joined 7321 days ago 1098 posts - 1056 votes 6 sounds Speaks: Cantonese*, English, FrenchC1, Mandarin Studies: Spanish Personal Language Map
| Message 158 of 377 19 June 2006 at 3:14pm | IP Logged |
I am certainly looking forward to the launch of this web site.
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jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6912 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map
| Message 159 of 377 19 June 2006 at 4:22pm | IP Logged |
lazyj wrote:
At the risk of being rude, should those emails actually be his, can we really say his English is fluent? I reiterate, I don't want to offend anyone, but those are some pretty strangely written, hard to understand emails, are they not? |
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I can agree that those emails look strange. :) But, having read web forums for several years I can only say the written language can differ a lot from the spoken language, it could be worse and it could be very formal. By reading sample posts in Swedish from people I've met, one can't believe they are native speakers, but not everybody has good writing skills.
By the way, I'm looking forward to the upcoming website. :)
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andee Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 7080 days ago 681 posts - 724 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Korean, French
| Message 160 of 377 20 June 2006 at 5:14am | IP Logged |
victor wrote:
I am certainly looking forward to the launch of this web site. |
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I second that.. Keep us posted Dave!
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