(students worksheet)

PROJECT N1

Date :

(GROUP 1)

Personal Information about the speaker and family

Tim Doner = 17/ Jewish /New Yorker

senior student in High School = the Dalton School
passion = languages. + hobby = a way of life.
best known as a prodigy = worlds youngest hyper-polyglot

(GROUP 2)

Foreign languages spoken /countries visited

a hyper-polyglot = ability to speak + than 23 foreign languages + obscure

tongues and dialects = Swahili, Wolof, Hausa, IsiXhosa, Ojibwe, Urdu .
self-taught at Hebrew, Arabic , Farsi, Pashto, Hindi, Yiddish, Persian, ,
French, Chinese, Mandarin , Russian Italian , German etc
European and Middle-east languages + African dialects and dead languages

23 different languages/ fluent

Latin and Ancient Greek.

teach himself foreign languages + interested in languages /13

next language = Creole next year. Hebrew = first foreign language + Arabic

13/ Hebrew => his bar mitzvah.

Tims parents = Betsy and Ezra Doner => learned French in school /
lived in Hong Kong => Ezra studied Cantonese,
not speak several languages.
Interest = Middle-East culture.

=> one week!

(GROUP 3)

Means of learning languages

(GROUP 4/ GROUP 5)
Reasons/ Personal Motivation / Advantages of being a hyper-polyglot

over summer vacations and on weekends /

20 hours a weekbecame

self-taught via grammar books and online applications / iphone.

YouTube = a platform => to learn + showcase his skills.
records his own videos + posts videos of him speaking the language
+ gets comments = helpful.

NYC cab drivers / interact with others at restaurants / in

different neighborhoods / connect with people around the world / email and Skype.
teachers or conversation partners
audio input = important

Hebrew / bar mitzvah.

13 / study

Interest = learning about the Middle-east and in the

Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

=> start Arabic.

Be able to speak the language => a better understanding of the history and
culture of the Arabic countries.

E.g : most rewarding part of learning Farsi

= understanding Iranian culture and history.

practices his language skills = the real-world => speak with new
Yorkers /

a passion = foreign languages / + a hobby = a way of life.

=> language / learn.

=> watch series + shows + movies + listen

to music = helpful => colloquial language

+ good training

repeat to himself = a very good way to learn. the Internet = very

crucial => to chat with native speakers.

learning languages = for the fun of it. / a great tool to learn about
foreign cultures / understand the culture + history

of the people who speak

the language / broaden the mind

have a fluent conversation with anyone / to be put into contact with
people all around the world / travel the world
to break the language barrier

/ make yourself understood

language => something with which you can connect with another person.
Tim => he starts to speak foreign languages = a bit of a different person
Each language = expression of how one society or culture thinks.
Tim => raise people with other languages =>open them up to foreign
cultures + ideas /give the opportunity for more connections as they get older.