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Ziad Fazah - does he exist? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| CaitO'Ceallaigh Triglot Senior Member United States katiekelly.wordpress Joined 6860 days ago 795 posts - 829 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Russian Studies: Czech, German | Message 201 of 377 12 September 2006 at 12:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
That would mean there aren't too many native speakers of any language then. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| 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 202 of 377 12 September 2006 at 1:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Perhaps he was implying that if a person can write it at a university level, than certainly they should be able to speak it as such.
Personally, I express myself better through writing because I have more time to think about what I'm trying to say. That means I have a certain amount of knowledge of the language. If a person can express himself at a university level, maybe that indicates how much time s/he has spent using it/learning it. I recognize that a university education isn't the only thing that decides a person's language abilities...It's just a thought, though. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lengua Senior Member United States polyglottery.wordpre Joined 6687 days ago 549 posts - 595 votes Studies: French, Italian, Spanish, German | Message 203 of 377 12 September 2006 at 2:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The problem with this is (again) that speaking and writing are completely different skills. There will always be more people capable of speaking a language than writing it, simply because literacy is a societal construct (something taught in schools and so forth), while spoken languages are universal.
I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to write as well as s/he could speak, or to speak as well as s/he could write, as they require different types of learning. Someone learning a language in order to write it (and not to speak it) naturally won't speak as well as someone learning a language to use it verbally and not on paper (who in turn will not write as well as the first person, and so forth). The ability to write a language at a University level generally requires a University level education. As the overwhelming percentage of the world's population will never have the chance to reach that level of education, if we use this as a yardstick for speaking a language like a native speaker, then fewer than 5% of the world's population would qualify as "native speakers" of their own languages. In conclusion, I just don't see the sense in equating someone's writing abilities with their speaking abilities. It seems about as practical as stating a native speaker of a language should be able to read a language as well as s/he can aurally comprehend it. It doesn't work because reading - like writing - is not nearly as natural a human ability as the oral component of language. The overwhelming percentage of the world cannot read. The overwhelming percentage of the world cannot write. The overwhelming percentage of the world can speak and understand at least one language fluently. We would not imply that the overwhelming percentage of the world is not composed of native speakers of one language or another. Edited by lengua on 12 September 2006 at 2:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| 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 204 of 377 12 September 2006 at 4:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I see. I guess I was a bit vague, taking the words "speaking" for granted when I meant to say "using in general". Usually when I say "speak a language" I mean "have a knowledge of a language" because sometimes the two seem synomonous to me. But I understand what you are saying.
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| Spasty Groupie United States Joined 6872 days ago 92 posts - 113 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, French | Message 205 of 377 12 September 2006 at 6:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
Merci. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| sakaya Pentaglot Newbie Japan Joined 6648 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Japanese, Italian Studies: Mandarin | Message 206 of 377 15 September 2006 at 4:28am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi everybody. I've been lurking here for a while but thought I'd finally post.
I believe that Ziad exists. He doesn't claim to be perfect in 50 languages. Rather than arguing about whether he exists or not, it might be more productive to talk about his methods. There's been a little bit written on this thread about them but it seems pretty mysterious as to how Ziad actually managed to learn so many languages. Also, how's the site coming along? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| James007 Newbie United States Joined 6705 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes | Message 207 of 377 15 September 2006 at 6:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I'd also like to know about his methods. Has anyone tried his methods with success?
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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 208 of 377 15 September 2006 at 11:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I found his method of memorizing grammar (studying it for 30 minutes a
day, and then going over each grammatical rule 3 times, trying to cover the whole lesson's information in 15 minutes) surprisingly effective. I didn't have the duration that he had to learn a grammar in two weeks, and have added some personal twists to help me find a method that best suits me, but I think I'm going to use his as one of my foundations. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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