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I have spoken to Ziad Fazah | ||
Tags: Ziad Fazah | Conversation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5334 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 33 of 104 04 January 2012 at 8:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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I had another conversation with Ziadh Fazah this evening. He told me about how as a young boy he had dreamt of working for the UN, and how he set out to learn the most difficult languages first, and took up Mandarin. He said that you need to be creative and disciplined, and that is how he learned the 59 languages in three years when he was a young boy in Lebanon. He expressed gratitude that God had bestowed him with such a gift.
I asked him what his definition of speaking a language was, since that was one of the questions that came up in this thread. He answered that first you must know the entire grammar from A to Z, and then you need about 3000 words. If you then need to speak about any particular topic, you would need to learn that specific vocabulary. As a minimum 1500-2000 words were needed to make basic conversation. He added that on a daily basis, the only languages he spoke were Portuguese and Arabic, and that he would need to prepare before using the others. In our last conversation we also spoke in French, Spanish, Italian and German without any preparation, but I assume he meant his lesser used languages. I also asked him how long he would need in order to revise a language so he could speak it without effort, and he answered 2-3 weeks for a difficult language like Mandarin for example. He is planning to set up a website from which he can teach languages. He also wandered what his image was on this forum, and I told him that it was a bit mixed, since some were fairly critical, but others were more positive. He then asked me to send his greetings to you all. 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6868 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 34 of 104 04 January 2012 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you for the update. That sounds pretty similar to the talks I've had with him as well.
I assume you have your conversations in English mostly? Do you use Norwegian ever or do you ever skip around languages? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5334 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 35 of 104 04 January 2012 at 9:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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This evening we spoke in English only. Last time we spoke the languages I was able to speak in: English, German, French, Spanish and Italian - and he spoke a little Norwegian and Russian to me. The first five went very well. We were both a tad rusty in German and Italian, but we had a flowing conversation - with a lot of laughter mixed into it. He is fluent in English, Spanish and French, though with a minor accent in English and Spanish. I did not hear any accent in his French.
He did not speak more Norwegian because he has not used it in a very long time, but he said that he wanted to read up, so that we could speak Norwegian together in a later conversation. He did not speak more Russian, because I could not keep up. My Russian is very basic. Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 04 January 2012 at 9:20pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 Mae Trilingual Octoglot Pro Member Germany Joined 4991 days ago 299 posts - 499 votes Speaks: German*, SpanishC2*, Swiss-German*, FrenchC2, EnglishC2, ItalianB2, Dutch, Portuguese Studies: Russian, Swedish Personal Language Map | Message 36 of 104 22 March 2012 at 1:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hey there...
Thanks for posting. I found it interesting to see that Mr. Fazah speaks more or less the same languages as we both do. Concerning some posts in this thread: Sincerely, I don't know why people always question the fact of using the expression "to speak a language". We all know Torbyrne. The difference between Ziad and Torbyrne: Torbyrne does not claim to "speak" X languages. He often says in his videos that he has "studied many languages". So let's just agree with Mr. Fazah, that he may have studied 59 languages, and that he is fluent in some of them. - Mae 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Midnight Diglot Groupie Czech Republic Joined 4639 days ago 54 posts - 111 votes Speaks: Czech*, English | Message 37 of 104 23 March 2012 at 8:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello, I know this might not be the right place. But where did my thread about the hyperpolyglot Cesare M go? Just asking.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5334 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 38 of 104 23 March 2012 at 9:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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Could you please not discuss that in this thread? Otherwise it will be derailed.
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| Midnight Diglot Groupie Czech Republic Joined 4639 days ago 54 posts - 111 votes Speaks: Czech*, English | Message 39 of 104 23 March 2012 at 11:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would not if my thread wouldn't mysteriously dissapear, but I won't make any more posts then. Someone could've at least message me.
On topic : I personally exchanged some e-mails with Ziad and he clearly speaks many languages. Some of them fluently and some only conversational, but the number isn't that big if you spend only 3 months on each language. MAybe not hyperpolyglot, but an accomplished polyglot for sure. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6868 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 40 of 104 24 March 2012 at 12:43am | IP Logged | ||
Forum courtesy would ask that you simply start a thread to address this question rather than ask it in an unrelated thread. Please keep this thread related to the topic at hand. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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