Clive James Quotes

Man is multiplied by the number of languages he possesses and speaks.

I can read more languages than I speak! I speak French and Italian - not very well, alas, but I can get by. I read German and Spanish. I can read Latin (I did a lot of Latin at school.) I'm afraid I do not speak any African languages, although I can understand a little bit of the Zulu-related languages, but only a tiny bit.

I am fluent in Spanish and I understand French, Italian and Portuguese.

If you were to ask me to speak Swedish or Dutch or German, I have no idea if I could pull that off!

The knowledge of languages was very useful. I have a university degree in foreign languages and literature.

I like to travel, and I would love to be fluent in at least four languages.

I have an impeccable memory, and I can learn dialogues in any language in 20 minutes, including Telugu and Malayalam.

I learned French before I learned Spanish.

I don't speak Filipino or Spanish, but I've sung in both.

Study a foreign language if you have opportunity to do so. You may never be called to a land where that language is spoken, but the study will have given you a better understanding of your own tongue or of another tongue you may be asked to acquire.

We need a president who's fluent in at least one language.

I was very adept at acquiring languages.

There is a slam-dunk case for extending foreign language teaching to children aged five. Just as some people have taken a perverse pride in not understanding mathematics, so we have taken a perverse pride in the fact that we do not speak foreign languages, and we just need to speak louder in English.

Foreign languages are another favourite topic, and as these men are bilingual they have a fair notion of what it means to speak and think in many different idioms.

I just started taking Mandarin classes. I love the idea of globalization: of being able to work in different countries.

I'm pretty good with languages.

I speak French, German, English, and Dutch, and I can say a few words in Spanish - none of these languages have anything to do with Valyrian.

I meet people overseas that know five languages - that the only language I'm comfortable in is English.

All the kids are learning different languages. I asked them what languages they wanted to learn, and Shi is learning Khmai, which is a Cambodian language; Pax is focusing on Vietnamese, Mad has taken to German and Russian, Z is speaking French, Vivienne really wanted to learn Arabic, and Knox is learning sign language.

I've always been inspired by people who can speak other languages.

Growing up in Switzerland, you learn German pretty much from day one in school. You learn French and Italian as well. I took English as an extra language because I figured that was the language of the world.

It is not easy, but young people have to learn languages.

I have sung in over 20 different languages and enjoyed it. I have even sung in foreign languages like Spanish and Russian.

I learned to say 'hello' in German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Indonesian, and Italian - languages of the countries I've visited.

I learned English, French, Italian.