#languages

Which natural gift would you most like to possess? The ability to master other languages (which would have hugely enhanced the scope of these answers). How would you like to die? Fully conscious, and either fighting or reciting (or fooling around). What do you most dislike about your appearance? The way in which it makes former admirers search for neutral words. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#death #languages #polyglots #questionnaires #talents

The first problem of the media is posed by what does not get translated, or even published in the dominant political languages. ↗

— Jacques Derrida

#dominant #even #first #get #languages

It is generally recognised that women are better than men at languages, personal relations and multi-tasking, but less good at map-reading and spatial awareness. It is therefore not unreasonable to suppose that women might be less good at mathematics and physics. ↗

— Stephen Hawking

#better #generally #good #languages #less

Printing ballots in multiple languages costs millions of dollars every year. It also discourages immigrants from integrating into American society and gaining the benefits that come from speaking English. ↗

— Ernest Istook

#american #american society #ballots #benefits #come

Yes, we are all different. Different customs, different foods, different mannerisms, different languages, but not so different that we cannot get along with one another. If we will disagree without being disagreeable. ↗

— J. Martin Kohe

#another #being #cannot #customs #different

We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary. ↗

— Booker T. Washington

#borrow #down #english #just #languages

My parents both had Oxford degrees, they read important books, spoke foreign languages, drank real coffee and went to museums for pleasure. People like that don't have fat kids: they were cut out to be winners and winners don't have children who are overweight. ↗

— Arabella Weir

#both #children #coffee #cut #degrees

It was pretty awful for us children because we never really knew the local children. Mother was keen for us to learn languages, so our travels took us to France and Italy, as well as the West Country. ↗

— Mary Wesley

#because #children #country #france #italy

After an extensive interview he arranged for my weaknesses in foreign languages to be over-looked and so I started a Biology degree at Birmingham in 1967. ↗

— Paul Nurse

#arranged #biology #birmingham #degree #extensive

A philosopher is, no doubt, entitled to examine even those distinctions that are to be found in the structure of all languages... in that case, such a distinction may be imputed to a vulgar error, which ought to be corrected in philosophy. ↗

— Thomas Reid

#corrected #distinction #distinctions #doubt #entitled