BELIEVE IT OR NOT, A TEEN WHO'S A POLYGLOT.
The Osgood File. Sponsored in part by Sage. Software and services for America's most efficient and fastest growing businesses, the small and mid-size enterprises like yours. Believe in your numbers. To learn more, visit SageToday.Com. This is Charles Osgood.
As you walk around New York City, you hear a lot of foreign languages spoken - but most of the time, I have no idea what they're saying.
Seventeen-year-old Tim Doner can, though - he can read or write 20 different languages.
SOT - Tim Doner
"...French, Latin, Ancient Greek, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, Hindi, Indonesian, Wolof, Hausa, Swahili, Xhosa, Ojibwe, Dutch, Italian..." (:12)
If you don't believe it, stay tuned...
((( BREAK )))
Tim Doner really does like languages a lot.
And that's why at 17 he is a polyglot.
He hears and speaks them everywhere.
A shy boy he is not.
SOT - Tim Doner
"I also take the subway to school every morning - so over the course of those twenty minutes or so, I tend to hear a fair number of conversations in foreign languages." (:07)
Sometimes, it's fascinating, he says.
SOT - Tim Doner
"It can also be incredibly awkward. I've been listening to people insult me in foreign languages, and I've actually been able to respond to them and say: 'Hey, I speak it as well.'" (:07)
He's the type that uses Skype.
SOT - Tim Doner
"I have a lot of Skype friends from Afghanistan, for example - from everywhere in Europe pretty much - or even from Japan, China, Singapore - more or less everywhere." (:08)
Let me put you to the test, Tim.
How do say "Hi, there, how you doin?" in Hindi?
( NAT / Tim Doner speaking Hindi )
How long have been speaking Hebrew?
( NAT / Tim Doner speaking Hebrew )
How about Ojibwe?
( NAT / Tim Doner speaking Ojibwe )
How long did it take you to learn Swahili?
( NAT / Tim Doner speaking Swahili )
What's in the Tehran Post today?
( NAT / Tim Doner speaking Farsi )
That's not farce, folks - it's Farsi.
All Greek to me, I say.
But, not to Tim - no stopping him.
He will go far someday
And wherever Tim may go,
he'll know exactly what to say.
The Osgood File. Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network. |
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