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85955d1
|
Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to speak French.
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humor
englishmen
languages
french
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P.G. Wodehouse |
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571e293
|
"In Japanese and Italian, the response to ["How are you?"] is "I'm fine, and you?" In German it's answered with a sigh and a slight pause, followed by "Not so good."
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sadness
languages
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David Sedaris |
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def9c1b
|
The ability to master other languages (which would have hugely enhanced the scope of these answers). Fully conscious, and either fighting or reciting (or fooling around). The way in which it makes former admirers search for neutral words.
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death
polyglots
questionnaires
talents
ugliness
languages
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Christopher Hitchens |
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8c16c1b
|
A ruler must learn to persuade and not to compel... he must lay the best coffee hearth to attract the finest men... a good ruler has to learn his world's language... it's different for every world... the language of the rocks and growing things... the language you don't hear just with your ears... the Mystery of Life... not a problem to solve, but a reality to experience... Understanding must move with the flow of the process.
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|
understanding
problem
leadership
reality
life
flow
team
languages
experience
mystery
persuasion
process
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Frank Herbert |
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fc56a37
|
'Banished men should never speak their native tongue; it comes bitter from their mouth. And this language suits a traitor better, I think; drips off one's teeth like sugar-syrup.'
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|
languages
|
Ursula K. Le Guin |
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acc0a55
|
Uber die deutsche Sprache: ,,Sie halten sich fur tief, weil ihre Sprache unklar ist, ihr fehlt die clarte der franzosischen Sprache, sie sagt nie exakt das, was sie sollte, so dass kein Deutscher jemals weiss, was er sagen wollte - und dann verwechselt er diese Undeutlichkeit mit Tiefe. Es ist mit Deutschen wie mit Frauen, man gelangt bei ihnen nie auf den Grund
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|
languages
|
Umberto Eco |
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806ae42
|
"Do you wish to speak in Provencal, French, or Latin? They are all I can manage, I'm afraid." "Any will do," the rabbi replied in Provencal. "Splendid. Latin it is," said Pope Clement."
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|
papal-authority
pope
languages
communication
conceit
mockery
|
Iain Pears |
|
d9ed510
|
Strange bent over these things, with a concentration to rival Minervois's own, questioning, criticizing and proposing. Strange and the two engravers spoke French to each other. To Strange's surprize Childermass understood perfectly and even addressed one or two questions to Minervois in his own language. Unfortunately, Childermass's French was so strongly accented by his native Yorkshire that Minervois did not understand and asked Strange if Childermass was Dutch.
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|
humour
languages
|
Susanna Clarke |
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e225f33
|
"Though we were forbidden to speak anything but French, the teacher would occasionally use us to practice any of her five fluent languages. "I hate you," she said to me one afternoon. Her English was flawless. "I really, really hate you." Call me sensitive, but I couldn't help taking it personally."
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|
humor
languages
french
|
David Sedaris |
|
ea3372c
|
When Richard created the Purple Gentian, the talent for ancient languages that had stunned his schoolmasters at Eton had come to his aid once again. While Sir Percy had pretended to be a fop, Richard bored the French into complacency with long lectures about antiquity. When Frenchmen demanded to know what he was doing in France, and Englishmen reproached him for fraternising with the enemy, Richard opened his eyes wide and proclaimed, 'But a scholar is a citizen of the world!' Then he quoted Greek at them. They usually didn't ask again. Even Gaston Delaroche, the Assistant Minister of Police, who had sworn in blood to be avenged on the Purple Gentian and had the tenacity of...well, of Richard's mother, had stopped snooping around Richard after being subjected to two particularly knotty passages from the Odyssey.
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|
scholar
languages
|
Lauren Willig |
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a3ed7ee
|
"Bahala na," as the Filipinos say, which is an untranslatable phrase containing the same germ of philosophy as the Arabic "inshalla" or the Spanish "manana" or the English "you must have me mixed up with somebody who gives a shit"."
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|
languages
|
P.J. O'Rourke |
|
6dd3e88
|
It took seven languages to make me; it would have been nice if I could have spoken just one. But I couldn't, so he leaned down and kissed me.
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|
love
languages
|
Nicole Krauss |