FORTY LANGUAGES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 135, 30 July 1941, Page 5

FORTY LANGUAGES

EXPERTS AMAZING RANGE "FIRST TEN THE HARDEST'" Since Germany's attack on Russia, broadcasts from Moscow have assumed greater importance, and the Victorian Department of Information, Melbourne, has been employing two translators on this service. One of them, Dr M. D. Goldman, knows more than 40 languages—ilio cannot give the exact number. Many of 'these are dead languages. Dr Goldman finds at the end of: 2Vz years in Australia, that although Australian slang is picturesque it is extremely difficult to master. Here are some of the opinions he has formed about languages and their learning:— The first ten languages are the hardest to learn —after that new ones are comparatively easy. For English-speaking people, Czechoslovak is. the most difficult to learn and pronounce. All languages are equally fascinating to study. First learning the ancient lan-> gunge of a country makes the modern language easier to learn. Dr Goldman was formerly a loci, turer in Oriental languages and Islam at universities and colleges in Europe. As a child, Dr Goldman spoke Polish because it was his na'tional tongue, Russian because it was the official language. In his home he SDoke Yiddish and studied Hebrew. At school' he took Latin, French and German. The Oriental languages in which he lectured were included in his own university course, but other European languages were studied during travel and as a hobby. European languages Dr Goldman cannot speak are Hungarian, Finnish and Basque. During his voyage to Australia he spoke 18 languages a day—acting as interpreter to ps many nationalities on board ship.