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Nick Clegg; polyglot vice prime minister

 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post Reply
s_allard
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 Message 1 of 7
13 May 2010 at 2:14pm | IP Logged 
Those of you who follow British politics know that the leader of the Liberal Democratic party has become vice prime minister in a coalition government. How many know that Nick Clegg is fluent in English, Dutch, French, German and Spanish? This is rather unusual in such high-ranking politicians. What is not unusual is how he learned all those languages.

For all of us here who are obsessed with learning many languages, it is quite sobering to learn that Clegg learned these languages very early through a combination of family connections (English, Dutch, Spanish) and immersion in the country (German, and French I would think). It illustrates something that we all know to well. To be truly multilingual, it is best to start early and with some form of immersion.

I'm not saying this to discourage anybody. Quite the contrary, I think it is an encouraging development to have politicians who are really multilingual. I do wonder though if he will use these languages officially.
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Andy E
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 Message 2 of 7
13 May 2010 at 2:29pm | IP Logged 
s_allard wrote:
I do wonder though if he will use these languages officially.


Well, he spent some time as an MEP, so I imagine he already has.
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Cainntear
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 Message 3 of 7
13 May 2010 at 6:41pm | IP Logged 
'I'd give Nick 8/10 for Spanish,' says Lib Dem leader's wife, Miriam González Durántez
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Smart
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 Message 4 of 7
13 May 2010 at 9:38pm | IP Logged 
Interesting. I wish any of my politicians knew a lot of languages :(
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JimC
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 Message 5 of 7
13 May 2010 at 11:46pm | IP Logged 
There is already a Nick Clegg thread here.

Nick Clegg thread

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tommus
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 Message 6 of 7
14 May 2010 at 12:26am | IP Logged 
s_allard wrote:
I do wonder though if he will use these languages officially.

I saw him being interviewed in Dutch on Dutch TV. He seemed to be very fluent but perhaps a bit rusty using some political phrases in Dutch. He seemed very comfortable, natural and relaxed. Maybe a native-Dutch speaker could comment.


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jeff_lindqvist
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 Message 7 of 7
14 May 2010 at 1:50am | IP Logged 
There is already a thread on Nick Clegg:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=20330


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