On Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:53:23 -0500, Nancy Gish <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>In fact, Eliot learned Latin in school and had read The Aeneid in the
original before he went to Harvard. He studied Sanscrit at Harvard. When he
went to Paris in 1910, his French was not very good, and he studied with
Alain-Fournier while there. I'm not sure when he studied German, but he was
clearly fairly fluent when he went in 1914. But he did not learn them all
all at once.

I believe his first ones were Latin and Greek and French and German came
later but still before Milton.


>As someone who finds languages difficult, I admire and envy those who can
learn many. But Eliot's facility, while good, could be matched by many people.

Around 1922 or 1923 E. wrote Hesse about contributing to The Criterion. He
wrote him in French apologizing about his German.


>On the other hand, the son of one of my colleagues was fluent in six
languages, ...

A Swiss guy visiting Sydney, Australia, pulls up at a bus stop where two
locals are waiting.

"Entschuldigung, koennen Sie Deutsch sprechen?" he asks.

The two Aussies just stare at him.

"Excusez-moi, parlez vous Francais?" he tries.

The two continue to stare.

"Parlare Italiano?"

No response.

"Hablan ustedes Espanol?"

Still nothing.

The Swiss guy drives off, extremely disgusted. The first Aussie turns to the
second and says, "Y'know, maybe we should learn a foreign language."

"Why?" says the other. "That guy knew four languages, and it didn't do him
any good."

Regards,
    Rick Parker