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I have spoken to Ziad Fazah | ||
Tags: Ziad Fazah | Conversation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| tiger Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4109 days ago 15 posts - 27 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 81 of 104 03 February 2013 at 12:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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This just proves he is an entreprenuer, not a linguist. Or don't you find it odd that he claimed to learn 58 languages in 3 years and then he didn't care about anything related to languages anymore? If I learned 10 languages, I wouldn't stop liking them and I doubt 95% of the people here would.
Richard Simcott has achieved a lot, but is he a retired language learner? Not at all. He's trying to improve his weaker languages (Russian, Albanian) and learn new ones (Turkish, Mandarin Chinese). Okay. Let's say he is fluent in French, but his site allows you to enroll in any course he speaks the language of. Anyone here could learn 6 languages fluently, 4 to an intermediate level and claim fluency in languages such as Chechen after reading a Wiki article. There's this Canadian guy - Cesare Monteleone who claims fluency in Manx Gaelic, but of what I have seen and asked my fellow Irish speakers, he just puts words from dictionary one next to another without any sense of syntax. There are only 100 or so speakers who can debunk his claim and we all here could do the same with Niuean language. Of course he didn't have to reply, but I asked if we could do this next month and he could at least turn me down with a reply... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6662 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 82 of 104 03 February 2013 at 6:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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Tiger,
I asked him once and he told me flat out he's not terribly interested in languages anymore. He told me not to follow in his footsteps to learn so many languages, and to not make a career based solely on languages. He is not a linguist by any means. He learned languages because he thought they would be the key to financial success, and he's been extremely disappointed that that hasn't been the case. If you speak with him, you'll see that he's an individual who is very concerned about money, in the sense that I think it worries him. Based on things that DavidM has said on this forum, and by corresponding with Ziad himself, I'd wager that Ziad's financial situation is insecure, hence his attitude towards the classes. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5641 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 83 of 104 03 February 2013 at 7:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Journeyer, I find your post very interesting in this discussion! If a person only learns a lot of languages to have financial success and make a living, of course he will lose interest in his language learning as soon as the whole strategy remains without financial success.
If I compare Ziad Fazah with me: I don't have financial success with anything either, but my motivation to learn languages always was and is still focused on the pleasure of learning and using languages, never on mainly making money with them. Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 03 February 2013 at 7:21pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tiger Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4109 days ago 15 posts - 27 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 84 of 104 03 February 2013 at 7:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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If that's the case then it's sad more than anything else. I agree with Fasulye, because I learn languages for the same reason she does.
Does anybody have any info on his books, though? I'm interested in buying at least one just for the fun of it, but all the Brazilian websites read "out of stock" and the e-mail adress pertaining to Mr. Pietsch is outdated. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4924 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 85 of 104 03 February 2013 at 8:08pm | IP Logged | ||
This is the first time I've heard this as well. And it is sad, but I have to wonder how anyone would ever think that learning languages would bring riches to their life. At no time in human history has that ever been the case. Fame (or infamy)? Sure. But wealth... I've never heard of a case where a polyglot has gotten rich because they're a polyglot. That said, you CAN live comfortably working with languages, if you focus that knowledge on a particular discipline (or two). But just knowing a lot of languages and hoping to become financially comfortable? I don't think so. R. == 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6662 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 86 of 104 03 February 2013 at 10:06pm | IP Logged | ||
You've been better informed, probably. I grew up believing a person could make a lot of money with languages. This was never the reason why I was interested in languages, but many times people told me that if I knew languages, my skills would be in so much demand I could write my own ticket. Even now that I've seen that's not true, that languages simply aren't enough, when I tell people how hard it's been to find a job they often say "But you speak other languages!" and are surprised when I say that this just isn't enough; that languages need to be coupled with other skills to be really marketable. Happily, my interest in languages has never wavered because I love them for their own sake. :-) EDIT: I wanted to clarify that I haven't been relying solely on languages to find work, despite challenges looking for employment. Since college I've always considered languages to be add-ons to other skills. Edited by Journeyer on 04 February 2013 at 3:53am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6173 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 87 of 104 04 February 2013 at 3:13am | IP Logged | ||
Very well put and something that students should really think hard about when they choose their majors. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4924 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 88 of 104 04 February 2013 at 7:30am | IP Logged | ||
The good thing is that you're part of a generation that doesn't let a single job define who you are as a person. My generation was taught that if you stayed with a company, no matter how low you started with them, eventually you'd be able to rise within the ranks. My generation was taught that because our fathers came up through their companies that way and they told us that's what we should expect. Luckily my generation also learned early on that this wasn't true (thanks to Reaganomics in part, I suppose), but our parents - who often times were getting laid off at the same time we were - after spending 20-some years with the same company, didn't fare as well. In any case, having a portable skill set is invaluable. Sorry for the fork in the discussion, but I just wanted to offer encouragement. Hang in there and you'll eventually find work you love. R. == Edited by hrhenry on 04 February 2013 at 7:34am 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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