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Re: Multiligualism as the norm?



> A NY friend of mine, Andrew Solomon wrote me the following rather interesting
> comment in regard to our discussion that is archived, as you know at:
> www.ganahl.org

I quote him:

This stuff is all fascinating.  I am nearly monolingual and consider it
a real disability.  It requires treatment at an early age, or else may
be intractable, no?  To learn extra languages if you have grown up with
two or three is somehow fairly accessible; if you have grown up hearing
only English and the version of French your parents use when they don't
want you to understand what they say at the dinner table is to leave a
whole part of your brain unexercised, and that part of your brain may
soon wither.

If everyone on earth spoke all the languages on earth, there might be
peace on the earth.  Robert McNamara's new book about the Vietnam War
begins with a guide to correct pronunciation of the names of the North
Vietnamese officials, maintaining that if you can't pronounce their
names properly, you can't hope to understand their point of view.

Isn't the tower of Babel the point of origin for all human conflict???

love,

Andrew Solomon

>