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Johan Vandewalle | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| ProfArguelles Moderator United States foreignlanguageexper Joined 7259 days ago 609 posts - 2102 votes  | Message 1 of 2 26 March 2005 at 10:47pm | IP Logged |
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According to a current German internet posting with the title: “Sprachgenie: Ein Mann mit vielen Zungen,” a twenty-six year old Belgian architect named Johann Vandewalle was recently awarded a competitive »Preis von Babel« for conclusively demonstrating a knowledge of twenty-two living languages, though the nine dead languages he also knows could not be tested. The majority of the languages Vandewalle knows are Turkic, for he regards the members of this family as far superior to all others in terms of their logical beauty. He regards languages such as English, French, German, and Russian as boring but necessary reference tools—boring because they are carriers of the flatly homogenized one-world-culture. Vandewalle is another obsessive student of languages, who has devoted every spare moment to their study since the age of thirteen, and who dreams of overtaking Mezzofanti. There is nothing incredible in this article, but I have not been able to find any further references to either Vandewalle or to a prize named Babel. Does anybody have any leads?
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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 2 of 2 27 March 2005 at 6:13am | IP Logged |
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As requested, here are the details of this polyglot:
VANDEWALLE, Johan, Scientific researcher, Department of Slavonic and East-European Studies, Ghent University, Rozier 44, B-9000 Gent (Belgium) telephone: +32 9 2643812 e-mail: <j.vandewalle@rug.ac.be> He is not 26 years old but 45. The prize he received is called "Polyglot van Vlaanderen/ Babelprijs" (Polyglot of Flanders/Babel Prize) organised by the Provinciaal Centrum voor Moderne Talen, Hasselt and ASLK, Brussels. Full details and academic biography are on this website I don't think every member on this forum should do so - bu perhaps Ardaschir can contact him to ask him more details. Edited by administrator on 27 March 2005 at 6:18am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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