Saturday, September 13, 2008

Pretty Girl

This beautiful girl is a host of a Russian fashion TV show, I think. She taped a series of segments in front of Bryant Park with a small crew (director, makeup person and camera man) and spoke in a language that I could not recognize. I knew it wasn't French, Spanish or Italian. No, I don't speak all those languages but I can identify them if I listened long enough.

So how many languages do you speak?

25 comments:

M said...

My dad started going on business trips to Russia (Soviet Union at the time) when I was young, and I used to steal his "Learn Russian" books when he was out of town... 20 years later I went, and it got me by!

• Eliane • said...

Ming, she has a giant belt buckle on her head. I like her top a lot - the colors, fabric and design. Totally wearable (without the belt buckle that is).

The answer is 4 (FR-EN-SP-NL) but none of them correctly.

Isadora said...

Very attractive young lady with very sad eyes. Kind of like the head piece - if I could just figure out what keeps it on her head?!

Alexa said...

Yikes, she looks so serious. Hey, it's just fashion, no need to get nuts!

Languages? English (obviously, duh); French (I lived there and went to the Sorbonne); Italian (enough to have a quasi-literate conversation and make a restaurant reservation via my cell phone); Spanish (can go to Spain and purchase food and cigarettes—somewhat moot since I no longer smoke, thank God); a few expressions in Greek (enough to just get along and ask for roasted, rather than fried, chicken. And I was taught say "Go away" in several languages/dialects spoken in India ). Sad, I know, but kind of necessary .

valeria said...

Italian is my language. English is no. 2 and a little french.
You must have really enjoyed Bryant Park!

Kim said...

Ming, I think Eliane is right. The lovely woman is a victim of fashion with the head piece, although the fabric of the blouse is fab. I thought the headpiece looked like one of the pastries in Nathalie's photo from Avignon today. It seems to be fashion week, and the fashions are meant to bend our imaginations and to be memorable. I guess this succeeds.
Ming, you don't mention if you speak a second language. I studied Spanish in college and French in middle school, but am not fluent in either, and couldn't spell anything in French to save my life. ;-)

Virginia said...

Fashion Week- brought to you by that fabulous fashion photographer, Ming the Merciless!!!!

The headgear reminds me of those little hats worn in the 40's? maybe. I too LOVE the blouse. As far as languages go, I had two years of French in high school. That would help if it hadn't been about a100 years ago. Thanks to comments in French by our DP friends, I am actually getting a little better. Have my handing dictionary right by my computer. I can speak enough to get by and I can say,
"The pen is on the table." A VERY useful phrase!

Changes in the wind said...

Well, I agree with the consensus so far....pretty lady, goofy hat. As for languages....english and sign language.

Hilda said...

What the heck is that thing on her head? Looks like something to support your head when you're injured.

English, Tagalog and a smattering of Spanish. We were a Spanish colony for centuries — my grandmother's generation spoke Spanish fluently, those most of us now only learn it in school.

dianasfaria.com said...

that thing on her head is perfect for fashion week. Even though it's odd, the woman wearing it manages to pull it off.
I studied Spanish in middle school & H.S. & Italian in college so I can read and understand a little bit of both.

Anonymous said...

New yorkers podiums this week.
Michael Koers,business star and screen star("Project Runway")
Oscar de la Renta(Barbara Bush designer)
Malo with Del'Acqua
Anna Sui with Sofia Coppola and...Ming the Merciless
lucky new yorkers for fashion
but on Paris: New York City Ballet!

Nora said...

Just English for me, I'm embarrassed to say...

Anonymous said...

I babble with no end in English, French and Finnish alike. I can also understand, and sometimes even speak a little Swedish too.

Anonymous said...

English and pirate...

Alexa said...

anonymous can show off those bilingual skills on the 19th, which is "International Talk Like a Pirate Day."
Seriously.

Mame said...

Barely getting by in English. Can say, "I'm not a tourist, I live here" and "You're crazy" in Kiswahili.

This is the only week she can get away with that hat. Oh, except one day in late October.

Great shot.

HZDP said...

I spoke Chinese, English and a little Deutsch

USelaine said...

I took German in 7th through 9th grade. "Wo ist Monica? Im boot."

I picked up a tiny bit of courtesy Turkish, along with a list of nouns, when I lived with a Turkish family just after high school, in 1977. It was weird how the German intruded when I didn't even consciously remember it from a few years before.

I tried to take a Dartmouth Method French class in junior college, but had to drop it. I was getting nowhere.

I went to Hungary in 1995, and got about ten weeks of Hungarian instruction. Extremely weirdly, Turkish intruded into my spoken responses, and I could not have recalled any of it if I had consciously tried, not to save my life! I was stunned.

I only ever learned enough Hungarian to buy train tickets, and food, and be courteous, but I could never understand overheard conversations or read the newspaper. Pretty sad, and I felt stupid, because I was simplifying my English with any English speakers there. So I ended up bilingually dumb. But I'm sure that if I ever tried to learn another language, Hungarian would start spilling out.

Yes, I want to know too. What languages do YOU speak, Ming?

Ming the Merciless said...

The only language I'm fluent in (depending on who you ask) is English.

I can shoot the breeze in Mandarin but don't expect an intellectual conversation there. After Sept 11, the NYC Red Cross needed Chinese interpreters so I volunteered. They fired me because I could not translate anything relevant except "What is your name" and "Where do you live?" It wasn't my fault if I can't translate the words, "Social Security Number" and "FEMA Assistance Program". *roll eyes*

I took two years of German and French in college and graduate school so I can read some of the words. But I can't speak them well enough to converse.

Jilly said...

Great shot, Ming! What a dramatic lady. I speak two - just English and French and even the French could have better grammar!

USelaine said...

Thanks for the reply, Ming. 8^) You would have thought they could supply a crib sheet of such esoteric terms! Maybe they will, if they need to on another occasion. I admire your willingness to volunteer.

NormanTheDoxie said...

I was an awful student at foreign languages, so sadly, I only speak English.

nice hat... or whatever that is.

Chris said...

I want to know who would wear such a thing in real life!!

English and Spanish. . . .And I want to learn Catalan and Portuguese.

Unknown said...

i speak the few usual spoken ones in Singapore.

Plus some programming languages too. does that count? hehe...

Gecko said...

She definetly is very pretty. I can only speak English...I was getting into Japanese in school, but sortof went off it when I had to start once, re-start when we got a new teacher, then re-start all over again when I went to high school. I'd love to learn French.