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baddolphin
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What languages, except English, did J. Robert Oppenheimer speak?
baddolphin said:What languages, except English, did J. Robert Oppenheimer speak?
I'm curious why you ask.baddolphin said:What languages, except English, did J. Robert Oppenheimer speak?
I find this guy and his brother very fascinating. That's why I want to know more about him, including what languages he spoke.zoobyshoe said:I'm curious why you ask.
I see.baddolphin said:I find this guy and his brother very fascinating. That's why I want to know more about him, including what languages he spoke.
This is a confusing statement. When you say, "I have found that he spoke about 6 languages," do you merely mean you read an assertion he spoke 6 languages?I have found that he spoke about 6 languages, but so far I know only about these 4:
Dutch
Due to the phrase, "despite having little experience with the language," it might not be correct to conclude he spoke Dutch. Based on his experience with German he might have undertaken to deliver lectures in Dutch if someone else wrote them, if he were provided with a good translation, and he had heavy coaching on the pronunciation. (I'd be willing to do that myself, having studied German four years in college, and finding that, when I am confronted with Dutch text I can 'decode' much more of it than I should be able to, never having studied it. It's very similar to German.) On the other hand, if he actually managed to write these lectures completely by himself, I'd conclude he spoke Dutch.- In the autumn of 1928, Oppenheimer visitedPaul Ehrenfest's institute at theUniversity of Leiden, the Netherlands, where he impressed by giving lectures in Dutch, despite having little experience with the language.
Oppenheimer's native language was English, but he also learned German from his mother, who was a German immigrant.
Yes, Oppenheimer was also fluent in French and Sanskrit. He learned French during his studies at Harvard University and Sanskrit while studying at the University of Göttingen in Germany.
Oppenheimer was raised in a multilingual household and was exposed to different languages from a young age. He also had a passion for learning and studied abroad, which allowed him to become proficient in French and Sanskrit.
Yes, Oppenheimer's knowledge of German and Sanskrit was useful in his work as a physicist. He was able to read and understand scientific papers written in these languages, which helped him stay updated on the latest research and developments.
No, it was not common for scientists during Oppenheimer's time to be proficient in multiple languages. However, Oppenheimer's language skills set him apart and allowed him to make important contributions to the scientific community.