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Ziad Fazah - does he exist? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| SmoothSailing Newbie United States Joined 6955 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English* | Message 57 of 377 08 December 2005 at 4:02pm | IP Logged |
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This is very interesting news, thanks Dave M.
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| Dave M Groupie United States bfmfightwear.com Joined 6929 days ago 56 posts - 63 votes  | Message 58 of 377 08 December 2005 at 4:13pm | IP Logged |
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Gentlemen,
I have just called Ziad and sent him a link to this forum. He was astonished that he even has fans. Hopeully I can convince him to come on these boards. He is also hoping, if anyone has any contacts, to do shows in the US where people challenge him with native speakers of many languages like he has done in Brazil. So if anyone knows Oprah or Dave Letterman, we are all ears. We are also talking about the possibility of publishing a language learning techniques book and a series of courses on hard to find languages that lack substantial materials. Among the languages bandiad about have been Pashto,Kurdish and Azerbijianese among others. All feedback is appreciated and I am hoping he comes by to visit. 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 59 of 377 08 December 2005 at 7:40pm | IP Logged |
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Thank you for letting us know about this Dave. I am very surprised and glad that Mr. Fazah might visit our forum and web site some time soon.
I just have a small question for you, Dave, are you currently in Brazil to study Mandarin with Mr. Fazah? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Dave M Groupie United States bfmfightwear.com Joined 6929 days ago 56 posts - 63 votes | Message 60 of 377 08 December 2005 at 9:43pm | IP Logged |
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No our meeting seemed a bit destined. I came to Brazil to be a full time fighter in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu , I have been here about 3 and a half years. In that time I have learned Portuguese well enough to be confused with a native,Spanish(near native),Italian,Hebrew(near native),Hindi(not fluently yet)and a few words in Russian. All of that without a single lesson. I had never even considered I had this ability, let alone being able to confuse Brazilians into thinking I was from their country n such a small amount of time and without a single lesson and just one grammar book and a dictionary.
I train close to 5-6 hours a day as a fighter and my dream is to fight in Japan as a No Holds Barred fighter. I knew vaguely that Ziad was in the country somewhere,based on an article Id once read, and I know it is my destiny to speak 20-30 languages and I have a very special gift to be able to do so. I have a pretty much photographic memory for word recognition, I understand grammar easily, and my accent and phonetics is what I do best.I didn't think it would serve for much but I decided to keep going with it but I had a sense that their was something out their. One day I picked up the newspaper, I was compelled is more like it, its something I ususally dont do but I just felt like I had to buy the newspaper that day. I saw an ad that said Learn Any Language. Something clicked in my mind and I knew it was him. So I called and left a long message in Portuguese detailing the story on his answering the machine. Ziad called back and asked if I was Portuguese or from the South (Gaucho) I said I was a self taugfht American. He has shocked. I myself was impressed with his speaking voice. In whatever language he speaks he sounds like a radio annaouncer with a serious authority and confidence. We arranged our lessons and I went to his house, he had tea with my wife and we chatted for a few minutes, and then we started Chinese. He is a gifted teacher, Im serious about that. Ive seen people try to teach languages before but he is the only one I've seen who knows how. He is almost telepathic in his knowledge of what you know and then as soon as you think youre moving on to something new he reviews a word from 20 minutes ago. His technique is honed and sharpened. Another thing and I know Im pontificating but Ill tell yall. My Wrestling teacher here (I train Muay Thai Jiu Jitsu,Judo,Wrestling,) is intense and our sessions are military style. If I slack for one minute my teacher gets in my face and calls me a loser and dares me to step up and show him what I got. Ziad has the same intensity when he talks and teaches about laguages. His 20 minutes of study is more intense than many peoples 2 hours. Never ever doubt this man. He has the same fire in his eyes that I see in my teachers who are great and that i see in the eyes of peole who accomplish impossible things. The fact of the matter is that when I met Ziad the language I was really intensely into was Hindi/Urdu ( I still study it) and I am constantly getting more fluent in Italian but my heart is sometime s not into it. Ziadtold me to learn Chinese and if I could, all other languages would be easy in comparison. I took up the challenge and I plan to go through all the middle eastern languages with him, Cantonese and French (as he is native. Italian is very easy for me and some languages I will learn alone and while I still live in Brazil (I am married in 3 years Im taking my wife to NY) I will aim to study several times a week with him. My goal is to find a way to get him into the US. It kills me to see how much talent he has and I cant even get him a tourist visa. If anyone has any ideas of how I can do this, or get him a teaching post in NY somewhere let me know. This is a man who has a lot to show to the world. He is also famous in the fight circles too. He trained Jiu Jitsu at a local school (Carlson Gracie) everytime a foreigner came in he was the translator. When someone showed up speaking Cantonese the whole damn room stopped. I will try to convince him to come on tomorrow. I think he is a little shy and somewhat taken aback by the attention but hopefully I can coax him. You won't be dissapointed, he is a great man and I hope to be able to help share his talent with the world. Dave dmaswary@hotmail.com 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Dave M Groupie United States bfmfightwear.com Joined 6929 days ago 56 posts - 63 votes | Message 61 of 377 08 December 2005 at 9:44pm | IP Logged |
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By the way any questions are fine by me. Feel free to fire away. I myself know how hard it is to find people like this and most of my teachers I have found in a similiar manner (dumb luck) which is why I am trying to help so feel free to ask anything.
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| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7018 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 62 of 377 09 December 2005 at 6:10am | IP Logged |
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I don't know if this has been asked before (if so I apologise) but why did he end up in Brazil? If there are so few opportunities in Brazil, how come he didn't try to go somewhere else originally?
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| Dave M Groupie United States bfmfightwear.com Joined 6929 days ago 56 posts - 63 votes | Message 63 of 377 09 December 2005 at 7:23am | IP Logged |
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He was born in Lebanon. When he was a teenager his family moved. I am a little unclear on this part and honestly Im not sure if Id be violating his privacy if I mentioned it so I'll ask him today. My lesson is at 5:30. It was a mistake though and he sometimes worries about traveling nowadays with such Middle Eastern features. Ill try to get more info on that for you. Hopefully I can talk him onto coming on here today. My class is at 4:30 so we'll see.
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| Walshy Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6945 days ago 335 posts - 365 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German | Message 64 of 377 12 December 2005 at 8:19am | IP Logged |
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@DaveM
In the opening post it says that Mr. Fazah claimed that he could learn all of the worlds languages if he wanted to. I want to ask this without seeming rude, I have nothing but respect for Mr. Fazah, but I can't help but feel that this claim has a tang of hubris. Did he ever claim this, or is it a part of a fake review on a fake website? Oh, and what does he plan to do from this stage of his life? Does he have any specific plans for the future? Thanks. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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