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Ziad Fazah - does he exist?

 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post Reply
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Dave M
Groupie
United States
bfmfightwear.com
Joined 6929 days ago

56 posts - 63 votes 

 
 Message 233 of 377
20 September 2006 at 8:19am | IP Logged 
UFRJ ta mandando bem, eu moro em Copa

Translator2 funny you should mention Karate as my pprofession is a professional martial artist and competitor.

A black belt, one who has mastered the fundamentals of his system (3000 words) is consaidered advanced, or metaphorically, fluent. Now being a superstar in the martial art is another story, I know many black belts who have knowledge but aren't fantastic competitiors for many reasons (poor conditioning, lack of motivation, mental inability to handle pressure etc....) yet no one disputes what they are.

I think its a perfect comparison. A run-of-the-mill black belt in Judo versus Jigoro Kano Said Black Belt is still fleunt in Judo but perhaps not a legend like Kano is said art (your impossible standard of 40,000 words. Your argument is as thin as Kate Moss after an anorexis binge
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Iversen
Super Polyglot
Moderator
Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6706 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 234 of 377
20 September 2006 at 9:29am | IP Logged 
fanatic wrote:
I don't care if Daniel Tammet made mistakes in Icelandic after learning the language for a week. I don't care if he seemed uncomfortable speaking the language. As far as I am concerned, he made his point. And the interviewer said his grammar was good. I doubt if he had a large vocabulary, but I would say he is justified in saying he can speak Icelandic.


I have commented on David Tammet in another thread, but not to bash him. On the contrary, it would be superhuman if he not only could learn Icelandic in one week, but also speak it as a native. It is precisely that fact that he isn't perfect that make him useful as an example to the rest of us who need more than a week.

The same applies to the central person person of this thread, Ziad Fazah. I don't think that the 100.000 words for all his 58 or so languages are enough as an estimate of his vocabulary, but fact that he doesn't claim to know 100.000 words in each of his 58 languages makes him less scary and more trustworthy.



Edited by Iversen on 20 September 2006 at 9:29am

1 person has voted this message useful



Sabato
Pentaglot
Newbie
Brazil
Joined 6643 days ago

7 posts - 7 votes
Speaks: Portuguese*, French, English, Spanish, Italian
Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 235 of 377
20 September 2006 at 12:08pm | IP Logged 
Dave M wrote:
UFRJ ta mandando bem, eu moro em Copa


You talk like a carioca da gema :)

I think we should encourage Fazah to join this forum. I'm guessing he would be content to meet a world of language-learning enthusiasts online.


1 person has voted this message useful



fanatic
Octoglot
Senior Member
Australia
speedmathematics.com
Joined 7149 days ago

1152 posts - 1818 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch
Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto

 
 Message 236 of 377
20 September 2006 at 8:02pm | IP Logged 
Iversen wrote:
fanatic wrote:
I don't care if Daniel Tammet made mistakes in Icelandic after learning the language for a week. I don't care if he seemed uncomfortable speaking the language. As far as I am concerned, he made his point. And the interviewer said his grammar was good. I doubt if he had a large vocabulary, but I would say he is justified in saying he can speak Icelandic.


I have commented on David Tammet in another thread, but not to bash him. On the contrary, it would be superhuman if he not only could learn Icelandic in one week, but also speak it as a native. It is precisely that fact that he isn't perfect that make him useful as an example to the rest of us who need more than a week.


I am sorry if I sounded critical when I posted that message. Actually, I was really responding to earlier messages and used your quote as an example. I realize you weren't being critical of Daniel Tammet. I loosely quoted your comments to make a point. That was not right. I should have read my post again before sending it. I didn't mean to be offensive.

It was just that some of the forum members seem to be saying that you aren't a true polyglot if you can't speak your languages like a native. Very few people can speak their second language like a native, even after living for 40 years in their adopted country if they learn the language as an adult.

Even English or Americans who live in Australia for 30 years keep their accent. It just seems to be an unfair criticism.

Edited by fanatic on 20 September 2006 at 8:13pm

1 person has voted this message useful



fanatic
Octoglot
Senior Member
Australia
speedmathematics.com
Joined 7149 days ago

1152 posts - 1818 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch
Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto

 
 Message 237 of 377
20 September 2006 at 8:12pm | IP Logged 
Iversen wrote:
fanatic wrote:
I don't care if Daniel Tammet made mistakes in Icelandic after learning the language for a week. I don't care if he seemed uncomfortable speaking the language. As far as I am concerned, he made his point. And the interviewer said his grammar was good. I doubt if he had a large vocabulary, but I would say he is justified in saying he can speak Icelandic.


I have commented on David Tammet in another thread, but not to bash him. On the contrary, it would be superhuman if he not only could learn Icelandic in one week, but also speak it as a native. It is precisely that fact that he isn't perfect that make him useful as an example to the rest of us who need more than a week.


I am sorry if I sounded critical when I posted that message. Actually, I was really responding to earlier messages and used your quote as an example. I realize you weren't being critical of Daniel Tammet. I loosely quoted your comments to make a point. That was not right. I should have read my post again before sending it. I didn't mean to be offensive.

It was just that some of the forum members seem to be saying that you aren't a true polyglot if you can't speak your languages like a native. Very few people can speak their second language like a native, even after living for 40 years in their adopted country if they learn the language as an adult.

Even English or Americans who live in Australia for 30 years keep their accent. It just seems to be an unfair criticism.
1 person has voted this message useful





Iversen
Super Polyglot
Moderator
Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6706 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 238 of 377
21 September 2006 at 3:05am | IP Logged 
I totally agree. In fact I have been defending the notion of 'basic fluency' lately in another thread, and that's because that's where most of us will eventually end up if we take a language seriously, but can't spend 24 hours daily on keeping abreast with new fads in pronunciation, new slang, local soap opera heroes, new products in the supermarket, the latest gossip about film stars and all that stuff that shapes a native's use of his language.

3 persons have 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 239 of 377
10 October 2006 at 2:34pm | IP Logged 
I wonder if we could get Ziad to join the site. I would be quite interested in hearing his input in various areas of lang. learning.
1 person has voted this message useful



unlocked87
Groupie
United States
Joined 6623 days ago

42 posts - 44 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese

 
 Message 240 of 377
12 October 2006 at 5:06am | IP Logged 
So Dave,
Where is this website you've been talking about? It doesn't take too long at all to get a site up and running, especially if you hired a web developer.


2 persons have voted this message useful



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