How many languages does Melania speak? And why does it prove she's smart?

[thesquanderer]

On CNN in the last hour or so, one Melania defender talked about how smart she is, that she speaks 6 languages; then another talked about how smart she is, that she speaks 5 languages; then another talked about how smart she is, that she speaks 3 languages.

First, considering how the campaign presumably has an official bio, I'm surprised all of these Trump spokespeople are at odds about how many languages she speaks. (Maybe on days like this, Melania know how to say "oh shit" in some extra languages.)

Second, why should this be promoted as some kind of indication of exceptional intelligence? Only in America. According to wikipedia, the majority of people between 25 and 64 in Slovenia (almost 72%) speak 3 or more languages. Most people speak Slovene, Croation, and English. German, Italian, and a local regional language are also quite common (the latter varying with what region they are in). Only 8% are monolingual!

ETA: I'm not saying she isn't smart. I'm saying that this use of multi-lingualism to "prove" it (three times by three people in rapid succession!) is questionable and ethnocentric .

[oberliner]

1. She speaks five languages: Slovenian, English, French, Serbian and German

That is pretty impressive.

[whatthehey]

4. Depends when she learned them.

Subject an average, or even dull, kid to a multilingual environment from birth to puberty and they will grow up multilingual with no real effort.

Try it at 15-30 and the kid's a fricking genius if they come out with more than 2. Juvenile neurological plasticity is pretty cool.

[oberliner]

7. I believed she learned French as an adult

Over the course of her career as a model.

[whatthehey]

8. Can't be *really* dense then

It's not that language acquisition as an adult one at a time makes you a genius (picking up a bunch just by sitting in a Schiphol bar all day for a few years would, which is essentially how babies in multilingual places do it) but it is very difficult. I learnt French and Latin as a kid and even after a while trying to learn Spanish, which is essentially a cousin to both, I'm not much past asking the way to the bathroom in a barbarous accent. Immersion may do a better job (I'm assuming as a model she was in France for protracted periods) but even then moving in a multilingual circle makes it less effective as people can always use your existing language(s) with you. I remember when I was in Italy I'd use, admittedly terrible, Italian to people and most would use English back to me.

[oberliner]

13. I don't think she is dense

People often tend to assume that someone is less smart than they are when they speak with an accent.

She is definitely one of the least offensive people on Team Trump as far as I am concerned.

[PatSeg]

22. Definitely the least offensive

and last night she was the only person who was not painful to watch and listen to.

[oberliner]

23. I think Ivanka is the least offensive

She actually sounds reasonable at times. Certainly much more so than her father, or the other yahoos they trot out there.

[LynneSin]

39. people who have learned multiple languages in their lifetime tend to pick up new languages

It's one of the advantages European children have over American. In Europe, children start young to learn other languages so it is not uncommon for Europeans to know multiple languages.

In the states, our schools tend to wait until the child is older when learning new languages can actually be a challenge.

There was a documentary (and movie) about a real life 'feral' child who had no exposure to language until she was in her teens. She was locked in a basement most of her life with very little human contact.

When she was discovered, Speech Therapists tried to teach her english but found that she could only master a few words. There is a belief that children have a certain time period when they are at the greatest capacity to learn languages and once they hit their teens that ability tends to wane. So teaching teenagers a foreign language is much harder once a child has progressed from that period of language learning.

Links about the movie and child.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mockingbird_Don%27t_Sing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child)#First_foster_home

[Her Sister]

2. Most of my European friends speak 3 or more languages.

Necessity plus schooling.

[get the red out]

3. Doesn't bother me that she is smart

I am always impressed by multi-lingual people.

But it doesn't improve her husband one bit, he's a terrible person and a scary prospect for President.

[Logical]

14. I agree!

[tonyt53]

5. Those languages are regional, and most do speak multiple languages because of it.

I've done business with Croatians here in the US and they have told me this same thing when I complimented them on how well they spoke English. Also, since Melania has done a lot of nude/near nude photo shoots, I guess "time to take your clothes off" sounds the same regardless of the language it is spoken.

[Sheepshank]

37. She is touted to speak the languages of the countries where super models...model

London Paris Rome. He job and career take her to countries where she is immersed in the language and must learn rudimentary skills or fall behind. I don't know if there is any extensive conversations skills or not. That information is always oddly missing.

Her native tongue is a given, and looks like German is the outlier.....except for the Drumpf heritage, that may have prompted the Rosetta Stone purchase for that language.

[AgadorSparticus]

6. I posted on this last night.

The fluent part is up for debate according to newsmax.
Speaking 5 languages is impressive from an American standpoint since we aren't big on foreign languages. But most Europeans speak a minimum of 3-4 languages. That is their average and to be expected of just about everyone. And because she was in the fashion industry, even moreso.

What impresses me would not be what is a common denominator amongst all europeans. It would be something that she did on her own merits. Did she do anything on her own? Besides be a lingerie model? Don't get me wrong. I don't knock it. You work with what God gave you. And more power to her and everyone in the fashion or beauty industry. They make good money and live glamorous lives.

But so often we equate beauty (i.e. very narrow set of facial features) with all these other positive traits: intelligence, charisma, benevolence, integrity..... we lift them up just by them being beautiful. It is human nature.

And conversrly, when someone actually HAS the intelligence but the wrong skin color or whose facial features are not within the accepted norm, we make bullshit excuses to denigrate them.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=2263373

[onecaliberal]

9. If she were really smart she'd have known she plagiarized 2 paragraphs of the speech Michelle Obama

Gave in 08.

[hamsterjill]

32. +1

n/t

[DetlefK]

10. Sir Christopher Lee.

RIP

[vegetarian x]

26. Nice. But typo: Mandarin Chinese.

[cosmicone]

11. I speak 11 languages -- big deal

Just based on where I have lived over the years ... not a sign of "intelligence"

[NWCorona]

18. What languages? Not doubting just curious

I think it is a sign of intelligence and aptitude if you can master multiple languages.

[cosmicone]

25. No

Growing up, I lived in Italy, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Singapore and several Indian states. Almost all Indians speak a minimum of 3-4 languages.

[NWCorona]

28. I disagree somewhat and there have been multiple peer reviewed papers touting the benefits

But the read pretty dry.

Here's this tho. Hopefully your not a huffugee.
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5453033.html

I'm not saying that it's a guarantee that you will be smart if you speak multiple languages but the impact on the brain for the better can't be denied.

[cosmicone]

29. As a neurologist and neuroscientist, I agree with the article

that it is salubrious to be bi or multi-lingual. Nevertheless, it is not indicative of intelligence to speak many languages.

[NWCorona]

31. I agree that it's not indicative as you learn language through immersion

And an absence of a solid education will leave you stranded like the untouchables in India.

I'll admit that I'm a little biased on this.

[cosmicone]

35. There are no untouchables in India

India has a far stronger affirmative action, massive assistance and quotas in many cases to promote the former untouchables.

India has had a chief ministers, president, lawyers, supreme court justices, several ministers, MPs and local assembly members who are former untouchables.

Former untouchables are also not a political minority -- they constitute 34-40% of the population and they are not necessarily poor -- many are actually wealthier than former upper class citizens.

[NWCorona]

36. That's good to know.

[SheilaT]

12. If you live in the United States you may have to travel thousands of miles

before being in a place where no one speaks English. Anywhere in Europe if you cross the street you may well be where no one speaks your language. Europeans grow up surrounded by other languages and are taught at least a couple while in school.

Yes, I'm quite envious of those who are multi-lingual, but it's the sheer opportunity to learn more languages that make the difference. It has nothing to do with native intelligence.

[blm]

15. GOP hated on Teresa Heinz Kerry for speaking 5 languages fluently (once worked as a UN interpreter).

And, of course, for being a Portugese/African-American. And for being an environmentalist. And for being married to John Kerry.

[SFnomad]

16. Long live Freedom Fries!!!! n/t

[NWCorona]

19. That was the stupidest thing ever to come out of the French backlash

[thesquanderer]

21. Colbert nicely turned "freedom fries" around...

...in the opening clip at http://deadline.com/2015/11/stephen-colbert-paris-attacks-bill-maher-acro-cats-1201626087/

[SFnomad]

17. John Kerry speaks French, so he's an elitist liberal ... Melania speaks it, so she's "smart" #smh

[PatSeg]

24. Very good point

Even Mitt Romney was criticized for speaking French.

Meanwhile, it is not important if SHE is smart, she is not running for president. The focus should be on the candidate.

[MineralMan]

27. Where she grew up, being multi-lingual was a survival skill.

Most people in Eastern Europe speak multiple languages, actually. They have to. One of them is usually Russian.

However, the definition of "speak" is often hard to pin down. Not that many people are actually fluent in multiple languages, although they can often get by, conversationally, in them.

I speak English fluently, because it is my first language. I also speak Spanish, French and Russian, but none of them fluently. I learned Spanish as a kid growing up in a California agricultural small town. I learned French in high school as my foreign language, and the USAF sent me to a total immersion Russian language program so I could do some specific work during my enlistment. I'm conversational in all of them, but not anything like fluent. I get along just fine when I have to speak them, though, but when things get complicated, I often can't keep up. I "speak" them, but can only carry on normal social conversations competently in them.

I've also learned the basics of Turkish, from being stationed in that country while in the USAF and German, because I was around German speakers for a couple of years. I'm not even conversational in either, but I can be polite, count, and carry on tourist-types of conversations in them. I could say I "speak" those two languages, but that would be a stretch.

So, how many languages Melania Trump "speaks" is really difficult to judge.

[ismnotwasm]

30. She appears smart enough

Studies show that certain kinds of processing improve by learning more that one language, so yes, in that sense, yes it makes one "smarter". She seems healthy, happy and comfortable in her own skin.

She also had the appalling poor taste to marry Donald Trump--I don't know how smart that is, but she certainly has to weather a lot of bullshit, given how he acts. In private, he may be a very different man, but I doubt it.

[thesquanderer]

34. re: "marry Donald Trump--I don't know how smart that is"

For some people, marriage may be looked at as a career/lifestyle opportunity... And based on his track record, it's just a temporary gig anyway, with a nice golden parachute...

[Ilsa]

40. "it's just a temporary gig anyway, with a nice golden parachute..."

[hamsterjill]

33. Define "speaks 6 languages" for me.

For that matter, define "speaks another language" for me.

My point being that I live in Texas and many people consider themselves fluent in Spanish when they have mastered "Buenos Diaz".

Anyone can say they speak six languages, but exactly how fluent is Melania in all of those languages? We have no way of knowing that, do we? So it may simply be another Trump brag fest.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

42. I agree. She can hardly string an English sentence together - can't even

imagine her speaking beautiful french

[leftynyc]

38. My grandpa spoke 6

and never graduated high school. He was no dummy but he wasn't an educated man. He just picked up languages easily, was an immigrant and lived in a neighborhood where there were many immigrants from many countries.

[nolabear]

41. I don't doubt she is smart. I can't figure out whether to be mad or feel sorry.