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Ziad Fazah - does he exist? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7379 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes  12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 49 of 377 20 October 2005 at 3:32am | IP Logged |
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I received additional pictures of his book including a very interesting summary of Ziad Fazah's method to learn a new language. It is written in the finest Portuguese and accessible by clicking on the image links on this page.
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| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7379 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 50 of 377 21 October 2005 at 2:30pm | IP Logged |
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A forum member sent me this link which I believe to be about Mr Fazah although his name is not mentionned.
The Poligloteishon Era la época en que todos aseguraban que no veían "Viva el Lunes" y sin embargo cada martes, cuando una anécdota del programa salía a colación esos mismos reconocían haberla visto, "justo cuando estaba haciendo zapping". El programa, aunque exitoso, ya iba en bajada. Con bombos y platillos se anunciaba a un políglota que amenazaba con hablar cuanta lengua viva y muerta existe sobre la tierra. Para demostrar sus enormes talentos, la producción del canal llevó personas que dominaban varios de esos idiomas. Los idiomas más fáciles los sorteó con relativo éxito, pero cuando empezaron las lenguas más remotas y menos conocidas empezó a chacrearse francamente el asunto. El que dominaba, digamos, el hebreo, decía un par de frases, el políglota -sudando helado- pedía que le repitieran la expresión y luego hacía una traducción aproximada con cara de autosuficiencia al comienzo y de súplica después, que recibía una irrevocable respuesta del hablante: no, no es lo que yo dije. Luego de repetidas escenas por el estilo, reconoció que estaba confundido, que no sabía qué le había sucedido y que probablemente fuera el nerviosismo. Pidió una nueva oportunidad que, la verdad sea dicha, no fue mucho más próspera. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7018 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 51 of 377 21 October 2005 at 3:50pm | IP Logged |
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For those who can't understand Spanish, the text above is just recounting the story about Ziad Fazah appearing on a Chilean TV program (discussed a couple of pages back on this thread).
The author of the above article appears to have taken some pleasure in the poor man's discomfort at not understanding the native speakers of certain languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| 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 52 of 377 22 October 2005 at 12:11pm | IP Logged |
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Administrator, I noticed that the main picture of your article of Ziad Fazah is covering a whole lot of text. Does that happen in your browser?
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| Dave M Groupie United States bfmfightwear.com Joined 6929 days ago 56 posts - 63 votes | Message 53 of 377 08 December 2005 at 2:16am | IP Logged |
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Ziad is a friend of mine and he is currently teachingme Mandarin Chinese. I have spoken to him in 6 different languages all of which he speaks well if not perfectly. He grew up in Lebanon speaking French and Arabic. He has lived in Brazil for 36 years and his Portuguese is perfect as is his English. His Spanish is excellent as is his Italian and he has not had mch success in his life becuase he is stuck here in Brazil where opportunity is rare.
We have spoken on the subject of his 58 languages and he mentioned that of them, 25 or so he could walk out on the street and speak perfectly. The other 30, if he was to do another television challenge, would require a few days of revision. His comments on it are that he beieves that once you understand the grammatical structure of alnaguage it never really goes away, it simply is their and if you don't use it it does get rusty but after a few days of review its there again. If anyone wants to pass a message on to him I see him Tuesdays and Thursdays. My e mail is dmaswary@hotmail.com Aso, he lived near a port in Lebanon where he was exposed to people traveling which is where he had exposure to varied languages and the opportunity to learn so much. He actually learned closer to 14 languages in that time period and hte rest one ny one afterwards, some like one spoken on a Cariebean Island (Piamontese or something) took him a week because it is a mixture of Dutch,Spanish, and Portuguese. Others took longer but he has many students, most of whom want o learn English and a few brave souls who attempt Arabic with moderate success. He is a genius but Brazil offers little opportunity for anyone. However his account of 58 languages is absolutely true. 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 54 of 377 08 December 2005 at 2:42am | IP Logged |
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Can you please get a recent photo of him? I want to see what he really looks like.
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| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7379 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 55 of 377 08 December 2005 at 2:52am | IP Logged |
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Welcome to the forum David!
This is the first time somebody reports a direct contact with Mr Fazah, thanks very much for your message. Would you be able to ask Mr Fazah if he has any recommendation for learning languages or any message for his fans who visit this thread? Thanks Francois 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Dave M Groupie United States bfmfightwear.com Joined 6929 days ago 56 posts - 63 votes | Message 56 of 377 08 December 2005 at 12:27pm | IP Logged |
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Ziad is surprisingly unaware that he even has fans. I see him every Tuesday and Thursday and we have become good friends in a short amount of time. I will talk to him tomorrow and tell him to stop by this board. I am currently coming up with some projects I'd like to work on with him in terms of creating language courses on languages that he speaks which are hard to find (Pashto,Kurdish,etc....) For anybody that wants o pasa direct message on to him my e mail is dmaswary@hotmail.com
I am trying to talk him into creating a website so threads like "Does Ziad exist" won't happen again. I'll shoot a phot of him if you like. Those pictures in the book were taken around 3 years ago. he is well-known in Brazil for his appearances on the show O Fantastico in Brazil where his abilities in various languages were tested.He passed and he does indeed speak all those languages. I am going to try and develop various projetcs with him and he has told me he'd like me to be his successor (seriously) as I learned my first 6 languages alone using a method similiar to his. Ziad is modest to a fault and lives in Rio de Janeiro in a small suburb not far from Copacabana. I don't want to give his exact address because frankly, it'd not safe to do so but heres a few tidbits for you. He considers Chinese the hardest language he had to learn because of the writing system and tones He considers Arabic to be an true achievement because of the grammar, although since he is Lebanese it is his native language along with French which he learned in school as a child His English is impeccable, as is his Portuguese. Our first contact was through a newspaper ad in the O Globo magazine and as I am self taught in Portuguese he thought I was from Portugal or from the south of Brazil (Gaucho)when I left a message on his answering machine. When I told him I was self taught he was shocked. He is anxious to do leave a mark on the world, so if any of you have contacts anywhere he needs your help. Brazil in an unforgiving place. That photo of him on the book cover is what he really looks like, he has lost bit of weight since then but otherwise that is a pretty accurate representation of him He is a computer genius as well. He is a devout Christian and a religious man. He would be thrilled to talk to all of you, like I said he is unaware that he has fans and I have been treying to talk to him to get him out there more. I am meeting him for Mandarin tomorrow and I will try to get him here. Trust me, he will be overwhelmed with all the accolades. His language teaching method is pretty straightforward. He starts with phrases in the target language and stops to explain why a certain phrase needs to be the way it is grammatically. As the catalog of known phrases builds up he moves into one grammatical mode after another. His classes are intense and machine gun fast. He tries to overload you and make you think for yourself instead of "parroting" What he will tell you is that will power is the key to success. Some of his students are phemnomenal because they themselves are intense about studying and learning. If you go throughthe motions itdoesn't mater what course books,materials or theories you have you won't learn. If you are determined, nothing will stop you and you will find a way. Once again dmaswary@hotmail.com for any questions and we can talk by e mail and I'll be happy to pass on any messages 1 person has voted this message useful |
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