#languages

Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own. ↗

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

#knowledge #languages #travel #understanding #communication

Do you wish to speak in Provençal, French, or Latin? They are all I can manage, I'm afraid." "Any will do," the rabbi replied in Provençal. "Splendid. Latin it is," said Pope Clement. ↗

— Iain Pears

#communication #conceit #languages #mockery #papal-authority

I also think pronunciation of a foreign tongue could be better taught than by demanding from the pupil those internal acrobatic feats that are generally impossible and always useless. This is the sort of instruction one recieves: 'Press your tonsils against the underside of your larynx. Then with the convex part of the septum curved upwards so as almostbut not quiteto touch the uvula try with the tip of your tongue to reach your thyroid. Take a deep breath and compress your glottis. Now without opening your lips say "Garoo".' And when you have done it they are not satisfied. ↗

— Jerome K. Jerome

#humour #language #pronunciation #men

Language by its very nature is naive,we make it complex and naughty. We make it look and sound like what it is not. ↗

— Nahiyan bin Asadullah

#nature

I’m bilingual, speaking English and body language. I prefer the latter, because I can speak it silently and without listening and while my back is turned.
 ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#english #ignore #ignoring #language #languages

Different languages, the same thoughts; servant to thoughts and their masters. ↗

— Dejan Stojanovic

#languages #literature #literature-quotes #masters #philosophy

It is time for dead languages to be quiet. ↗

— Natalie Clifford Barney

#languages #quiet #time

To a teacher of languages there comes a time when the world is but a place of many words and man appears a mere talking animal not much more wonderful than a parrot. ↗

— Joseph Conrad

#appears #comes #languages #man #many

I wish life was not so short, he thought. languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about. ↗

— J. R. R. Tolkien

#i #i wish #know #languages #life

Most metaphysical words in Hopi are verbs, not nouns as in European languages. ↗

— Benjamin Whorf

#languages #metaphysical #most #nouns #verbs