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Political Leaders and Languages

 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots Post Reply
142 messages over 18 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 17 18 Next >>
cordelia0507
Senior Member
United Kingdom
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1473 posts - 2176 votes 
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Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 129 of 142
22 August 2009 at 2:29am | IP Logged 
Kim Jong-Il (North Korea) apparently speaks fluent Russian and Japanese, as well as good Chinese in addition to Korean. Three very different languages.
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Alvinho
Triglot
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Brazil
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 Message 130 of 142
24 August 2009 at 3:56pm | IP Logged 
shamefully, Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, said that people who speak other languages, especially English, is snobbish and foolish......he does it all to play "the prince of poor" as well as claims that ignorance is a virtue but not a defect....
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Rout
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
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326 posts - 417 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Spanish
Studies: Hindi

 
 Message 131 of 142
24 August 2009 at 5:35pm | IP Logged 
cordelia0507 wrote:
Kim Jong-Il (North Korea) apparently speaks fluent Russian and Japanese, as well as good Chinese in addition to Korean. Three very different languages.


He is also said to have studied English.

I wouldn't believe anything the North Korean government says. If you ask them he frequently makes 3-4 holes in ones per round of golf, he's composed 6 operas, he's an internet expert, Official biographers claim he was born in 1942 at Baekdu Mountain as foretold by a swallow, and heralded by the appearance of a double rainbow over the mountain and a new star in the heavens (Soviet records say 1941 Vyatskoye, Khabarovsk Krai, Soviet Union).



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William Camden
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United Kingdom
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 Message 132 of 142
24 August 2009 at 6:04pm | IP Logged 
I remember seeing a photo of Kim Il Sung, taken in 1958 during a visit to North Vietnam. He is talking to Ho Chi Minh in the picture. There is no interpreter present that I could see, so perhaps they had a language in common. Most likely it was Chinese.
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Rout
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
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326 posts - 417 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
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Studies: Hindi

 
 Message 133 of 142
24 August 2009 at 6:58pm | IP Logged 
William Camden wrote:
I remember seeing a photo of Kim Il Sung, taken in 1958 during a visit to North Vietnam. He is talking to Ho Chi Minh in the picture. There is no interpreter present that I could see, so perhaps they had a language in common. Most likely it was Chinese.


I wouldn't doubt he spoke Chinese. It's reported he went to school there during the war.
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tommus
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CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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979 posts - 1688 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish

 
 Message 134 of 142
17 April 2010 at 4:40am | IP Logged 
Nick Clegg: leader of the UK Liberal Democrats

He did well in the recent historic leaders' debate preceding the UK election. According to Wikipedia: "He was brought up bilingually in Dutch and English and also speaks French, German and Spanish." He had an interesting language learning background:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Clegg
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krog
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Austria
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Studies: French, Latin

 
 Message 135 of 142
17 April 2010 at 6:16pm | IP Logged 
tommus wrote:
Nick Clegg: leader of the UK Liberal Democrats

He did well in the recent historic leaders' debate preceding the UK election. According
to Wikipedia: "He was brought up bilingually in Dutch and English and also speaks French,
German and Spanish." He had an interesting language learning background:



Surely he can actually speak 'no more than 30' languages?
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tommus
Senior Member
CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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979 posts - 1688 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish

 
 Message 136 of 142
17 April 2010 at 8:59pm | IP Logged 
krog wrote:
Surely he can actually speak 'no more than 30' languages?

Maybe you are not considering the occasional polyglot.


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