cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5815 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* 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.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Alvinho Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 6211 days ago 828 posts - 832 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish
| 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....
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Rout Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5689 days ago 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).
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6249 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French
| 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.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Rout Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5689 days ago 326 posts - 417 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish 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.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
tommus Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5843 days ago 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
1 person has voted this message useful
|
krog Diglot Senior Member Austria Joined 6026 days ago 146 posts - 152 votes Speaks: English*, German 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?
1 person has voted this message useful
|
tommus Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5843 days ago 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.
1 person has voted this message useful
|