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Gregg Cox "Greatest Living Linguist" | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| mcjon77 Senior Member United States Joined 6613 days ago 193 posts - 248 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Egyptian), French | Message 25 of 34 29 November 2007 at 11:48am | IP Logged | ||
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Have there been any fraudulent claims that this guy has made? I understand that many may not like his dictionary, however, I haven't seen any statements Mr. Cox has made that would make me think he is a fraud.
As far as the dictionary is concerned, I also see some of the flaws behind its concept and implimentation. However, I also commend him on following his dream of creating the dictionary and attempting to contribute something of value to the language learning community. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6705 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 26 of 34 29 November 2007 at 5:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have followed the links provided above without finding any fraudulent claims made by himself - in fact it seems that he only has claimed to speak 14 languages, which is quite feasible, and the rest would then be passive languages (although the sources aren't exactly plentiful and overtly trustworthy). The problem is that Guinness apparently have accepted the tests made by Mr. Cox as proof that he speaks those languages, which maybe says more about Guinness than about Mr. Cox.
But judged by the extract the dictionary still is a joke. Albeit a joke that ought to figure in Guinness as the largest worthless dictionary in the world. Edited by Iversen on 23 October 2008 at 9:21am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Tigresuisse Triglot Senior Member SwitzerlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6007 days ago 182 posts - 180 votes Speaks: Italian*, English, German Studies: Russian | Message 27 of 34 23 October 2008 at 2:03am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi guys !!
I'm sorry to bring this thread alive after so long time ... but this morning I read an article about Mr. Cox and his dictionary in the "Deutsch Perfekt" magazine which is a magazine created for people learning German, and in this article Cox says it has done language exams in 64 languages. The dictionary he did has 25 volumes and covers 8'000 words translated into 225 languages .... Do you think something has changed??? Bye Marta 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Fat-tony Nonaglot Senior Member United Kingdom jiahubooks.co.uk Joined 6142 days ago 288 posts - 441 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Russian, Esperanto, Thai, Laotian, Urdu, Swedish, French Studies: Mandarin, Indonesian, Arabic (Written), Armenian, Pali, Burmese | Message 28 of 34 23 October 2008 at 10:04am | IP Logged | ||
It may not be a major point in this debate but I would certainly consider it possible to have taken and passed military exams in 64 languages, although it wouldn't really mean anything without mentioning what level you achieved. At level one, a decent knowledge of a related language would easily enable you to pass as there is no writing exam and the speaking part is very basic (the conversion follows a set plan and you have to deal with a few, fairly predictable, transactions). I would certainly feel comfortable taking a level one exam in any of the Romance or Slavonic languages after just a few days study given my solid base in French, Spanish and Russian. That could give you around 15 national languages (and more "minority" languages), repeat for Germanic, Indic, Iranian, Arabic+Dialects etc, etc and 64 is easily achievable. The definitions and details of the military levels and exams can be found here. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| amberblueaz Newbie United States Joined 5847 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes | Message 29 of 34 23 November 2008 at 11:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello,
I have a question for those of you who are questioning the validity of a man that you don't even know. Is it a jealous reaction? Looking up information on "Google" and basing the searches on jealous feelings will never allow you to find credible information. What is wonderful, is that without even asking Dr. Cox what is true, people come to their own conclusions. I know that Dr. Cox does what he does out of the passion for language...not to impress you. Just an FYI...the "Greatest Living Linguist" site was made for him...not by him...and by true friends and admirer's. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7148 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 30 of 34 24 November 2008 at 2:51am | IP Logged | ||
That was my reaction as well. I have had many newspaper articles written about what I teach (in the areas of mathematics and study methods mainly) and most misrepresent what I say. I used to get upset and embarrassed. Now I give my own handout notes to the reporter. I know the mistakes aren't deliberate, but I have sometimes been attacked for them. I am impressed by what I have read about him. I don't understand the comment made that he hasn't read his books on the shelf. I can't tell which books he has or hasn't read. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| amberblueaz Newbie United States Joined 5847 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes | Message 31 of 34 24 November 2008 at 1:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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Very well said. Who really can say what a person has or has not done? Books in a picture can never tell someone if they have been read or not. I know that in my life I have read some very well written books. Sometimes I lose them and buy them again just to keep them in my library. They may not be worn, but that does not mean that I have never read the book before.
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 magister Pro Member United States Joined 6605 days ago 346 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Turkish, Irish Personal Language Map | Message 32 of 34 19 September 2009 at 2:52am | IP Logged | ||
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I've resurrected this old thread because I've come across the transcript (in German) of a relatively recent radio interview in which he appears.
Here we learn where his 225-volume dictionary ended up: he donated it to Universität Bremen. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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