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Pope Benedict XVI | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| konrad Newbie Poland Joined 6867 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes | Message 9 of 17 08 February 2006 at 9:53am | IP Logged | ||
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In my opinion language abilities of popes are a bit exagerated. I'm sure that they of course speak several languages, but mostly they know how to pronounce it. The best example is the actual pope speaking Polish. I heard on TV that he started to learn my mother tongue, than I saw him speaking his first sentence (quite difficult for a beginner), but some months later the TV showed that in fact he reads the text written for him by some Polish bishops probably. The interesting thing is that the text was written using the German orthography ex.if he wanted to speak the English word "shop", it would be "schop" or something like that. Of course a lot of people in Poland believe the pope is really learning to speak our language. I'm sure he'll learn some sentences when he'll come here in May, but I'm also sure he won't be able to learn my language.
I suppose in the case of John Paul II it was similar. I haven't seen him speaking other language than Polish or Italian, but I think he wasn't able to speak so many languages the people tell. He was Polish, so he had to learn these languages in Poland where we have almost no books or teachers to do it. It was more difficult in the communist times than now, so I imagine he could speak really well only the most important languages for him (Italian for example). Generally he read texts translated by other people and prepared for him to pronunce them well. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| FuroraCeltica Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6868 days ago 1187 posts - 1427 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 10 of 17 08 February 2006 at 2:09pm | IP Logged | ||
I once heard John Paul II speaking English; it was extremely slow, but accurate. 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 11 of 17 08 February 2006 at 5:54pm | IP Logged | ||
His speed might not have had anything to do with his fluency, but possibly his advancing years and Parkinson's disease. P.S. According to wikipedia, he spoke 11 languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 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 12 of 17 29 May 2006 at 2:25am | IP Logged | ||
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Poles say Benedict passes Polish language test
By Wojciech Zurawski KRAKOW, Poland (Reuters) - German Pope Benedict may have dropped a consonant or two during his speeches delivered in Polish over his four-day trip but his efforts to speak the difficult Slavic tongue won over Polish hearts. "He passed his Polish language exam," said Tadeusz Dymek, 63, one of nearly a million people at his open-air mass on Sunday. "It was clear that he struggled with our consonants but we understood him and I believe he understood us. "After this pilgrimage I can say that this Pope is now my Pope," he added. The Vatican has said that Benedict, who speaks German, Italian, French, English and Spanish, practiced his Polish pronunciation for months before the visit. His predecessor pope John Paul spoke many languages and was famous for his ability to address crowds in their own language. Many Poles still feel the loss after last year's death of compatriot pope John Paul and needed reassurance from his successor of their special place in the Catholic world. More reserved than his charismatic predecessor, Benedict started out the trip cautiously, sticking to his phonetically prepared speeches which he read out in Polish before switching to Italian, the Vatican's official language. By the end of a journey, which took him to the cities and shrines that shaped John Paul's life, he made off-the-cuff remarks reminiscent of his predecessor, thanked Poles for a warm reception in Polish and prayed in their tongue. "I am proud that the German Pope talks to us in Polish. His awkwardness in our language helped him win us over," said Marcin Skarzynski, a 40-year-old florist who also attended the mass in a Krakow park. "He did not leave us after John Paul's death and as we learn to love the new Pope, he is learning our language," said mass goer Jacek Polak. Edited by administrator on 29 May 2006 at 2:26am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vilas Pentaglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6963 days ago 531 posts - 722 votes Speaks: Spanish, Italian*, English, French, Portuguese | Message 13 of 17 29 May 2006 at 2:53am | IP Logged | ||
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Italian is the official language of the Vatican even abroad?
it's'nt funny ? A German Pope goes to Poland and speak in Italian....... Very funny.... 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 14 of 17 29 May 2006 at 3:27am | IP Logged | ||
I always thought it was Latin. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6771 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 15 of 17 29 May 2006 at 4:04am | IP Logged | ||
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I believe Latin is official in Vatican City, but Italian is the main working
language (for obvious reasons). Benedict XVI is a notable intellectual with a long history of academic achievement and writing. Even at his advanced age, he's probably got what it takes to get a handle on a few more languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Tjerk Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Belgium Joined 6760 days ago 54 posts - 59 votes Speaks: Dutch*, Flemish*, English, Spanish, French Studies: Swedish | Message 16 of 17 04 June 2006 at 8:58am | IP Logged | ||
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I would like to add my opinion about the pope discussion.
I think you have to make a distinction between active and passive languages. I'm convinced that if you speak about three languages fluently (in the case of the popes that will be their native language, italian and english), add to that a serious backup in understanding of latin texts, it will be not that hard to understand written texts that are in languages belonging to the same family. So I don't think that a pope or topcardinal, who regularly had to review a Spanish text for instance or do a Spanish speech, which is nicely prepared for him, will have a lot of difficulties to understand these texts. They are mostly really intelectuals too. They just have to learn the pronunciation. And when they are for a 'business trip' in Latin America, it will fastly appear as they speak the language.. of course, to learn polish as a member of the Germanic family, Benedict had to do a bit of a harder effort and definitely needed a translator to help him understand the speeches, but as mentioned before.. these people are all pretty smart and also... They already are surrounded by foreign languages during their whole long life (70+) and had to keep on the efforts all the time while a lot of normal people just quit learning extra languages (except maybe one extra because of a new girl friend or passion) once they passed 30 and settled down.... Definitely would like some discussion on my last point because i'm not 100% sure of it, but neither does it sound nonsense to me... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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