yes
LAMB: How many languages can you speak?
MCWHORTER: Speaking is something that I don't like to lay claim to because I don't think you really speak a language unless you've lived in it for about a year. And I've never done that with a language. So I can speak various languages, but you know, badly. I can pick up a newspaper and read in 12 languages. To me, that's the skill that I've worked on. Can I pick this up and read it without having to work very hard at it? That I can do.
Speaking -- just a few days ago, I began a very strange task because I decided I am going to really speak one of these. I'm taking these Berlitz one-on-one intense Russian lessons, where they just throw you in a room and beat you up in the language for hours at a time. So next time we have an interview, I'll say that I can really speak Russian. But for now, just reading.
LAMB: Why do you want to do that?
MCWHORTER: Because it's like Mount Everest. They're there. I find it so immensely gratifying to teach myself to be able to read in and even halfway speak a language that I wasn't born with. That sort of thing has entranced me since I was young.
booknotes
MCWHORTER: Speaking is something that I don't like to lay claim to because I don't think you really speak a language unless you've lived in it for about a year. And I've never done that with a language. So I can speak various languages, but you know, badly. I can pick up a newspaper and read in 12 languages. To me, that's the skill that I've worked on. Can I pick this up and read it without having to work very hard at it? That I can do.
Speaking -- just a few days ago, I began a very strange task because I decided I am going to really speak one of these. I'm taking these Berlitz one-on-one intense Russian lessons, where they just throw you in a room and beat you up in the language for hours at a time. So next time we have an interview, I'll say that I can really speak Russian. But for now, just reading.
LAMB: Why do you want to do that?
MCWHORTER: Because it's like Mount Everest. They're there. I find it so immensely gratifying to teach myself to be able to read in and even halfway speak a language that I wasn't born with. That sort of thing has entranced me since I was young.
booknotes