Jimmy O. Yang Quotes

Our common language is English. And our common task is to ensure that our non-English-speaking children learn this common language.

Move beyond the educated elite, and the great majority in most countries outside Europe don't speak English.

One of the biggest problems is - you know, I've got some Hispanic friends - is that a lot of those folks that don't know English, is primarily because they don't even know Spanish. They don't even know their own language.

There are so many people in the world who cannot read English or French or whatever.

I said it in Hebrew—I said it in Dutch— I said it in German and Greek; But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much) That English is what you speak!

It's very difficult to say anything in Icelandic. I can say "takk," which means "thank you." That's about all I learned.

I speak to people in the languagethey understand. First I have a dialogue, if that is not understood I speak inanother language. There is no remedy for this.

A lot of country making films in English, but in Japan we are very shy to speak English.

Adiós," she added in Spanish, "I have no house only a shadow. But whenever you are in need of a shadow, my shadow is yours." "Thank you." "Sank you." "Not sank you, Señora Gregorio, thank you." "Sank you.

Because there'd be two languages I couldn't speak, French and English.

Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and I don't believe you do either!

What I didn't say was that each time I picked up a German dictionary or a German book, the very sight of those dense, black, barbed-wire letters made my mind shut like a clam.

Americans don't speak foreign languages, by and large. Their interest in anything beyond the borders of the country is limited. A European of any cultivation has to speak a couple of languages; he inevitably without being very thoughtful about it gets to understand what other people think about him.

Is it O.K. that I speak in English? The only thing I know in Dutch is how to order pot.

I'm a believer in the benefits of translation. It's a necessity and a privilege - it would be awful to be limited to reading authors who's work was composed in the languages I happen to have learned.

I bought a new Japanese car, I turned on the radio ... I don't understand a word they're saying.

I went back to China and did a movie in Mandarin, and I don't speak Mandarin, so I learned it phonetically. Now, when I'm on set and somebody gives me English lines, I'm like, "Are you kidding? What's happening? This is amazing!"

Simple English is no one’s mother tongue. It has to be worked for.

I am very sorry, but I cannot learn languages. I have tried hard, only to find that men of ordinary capacity can learn Sanskrit in less time that it takes me to buy a German Dictionary

My English is not very good-looking.

My wife spoke perfect Italian and she was very beautiful and very suave Italian men were crowding around her, talking all the time and if I was to even understand what was going on, I had to learn the language fast.

You cannot write in more than one language. Words don't come out as well.

If, in fact, one cannot understand English, and at the point in time that one comes to vote, one has to be given a ballot in a different language, does that not mean that one is also most likely unable to understand the debate that occurred prior to the decision one makes to vote?

I don't speak French, but I took it for five years growing up. So, if I were in a situation where I had to be, like, 'Excuse me, pineapple dog house red, what time is it library?' - no problem.