I told you about my grandfather
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2025 7:14 am
There are a lot of members of the Authentic French Academy who also inspire me. I'm not going to give names because there are a lot of them, but when I go into the Zoom room and chat with them, well, a lot of members... well, not all of them, we really have all ages in the academy, we have people who are students as well as people who are retired, so, we really have all ages. And when I chat with retired members, when I see them progressing in French, a lot, when I see them traveling, learning things, it inspires me a lot. We also have members who say: "Ah, I'm retired, but I don't have time, I always have things planned, I'm learning lots of things". So, that's really great and it inspires me.
Another inspiration,I told you about the members of the Académie Français Authentique, the retired members, I could also have told you about Steve Kaufmann, a very, very famous Canadian polyglot. There is an interview, you type Steve Kaufmann Français Authentique, and you can find the interview I did with him . He is, Steve, 78 years old. I checked that just now, so, 78 years old, and he is still active. He travels, he moves, I think he plays golf, he learns languages. He recorded a video a few days ago on the state of mind, like what for him in fact, it's in the head. The fact that we manage to learn something or not, it's in the head. It's a question of state of mind.
So, there you go, seeing Steve who is 78 years old and still learning languages, obviously, it motivates me, it inspires me, me who, at 41, sometimes says to myself: "Do I still have the abilities?" Obviously, it's in the head. So, thank you, Steve.
There's a quote that I liked from Cato the Elder, who was a Roman statesman and writer who supposedly started learning Greek at the age of 80. And he actually, when asked laos whatsapp number data about it, he said, "Well yes, that's the earliest age I have left." That's very beautiful actually. Basically, it's now or never. Yes, I'm 80, but I can't go back, that is, I can't decide to learn Greek at 70, it's too late. So, that's the earliest age I have left. Well, I find that really, really inspiring.
In fact, I tell myself that despite everything... we talk about the ability to learn, about age, I tell myself that time passes so quickly that we are not often or we are not the youngest for long. I remember, for a very long time, I was always the youngest, because I was born at the end of the year, in November, so, I was a little... I was really one of the youngest with my friends in fact. I was always the one who was one of the youngest, because I was around people who were born... there you go, who were 6 months, 8 months, 9 months, a year older than me. I was also part of a group of friends who were young or, sorry, older. All my friends were older. I was almost always the youngest.
And it was when I became a project manager, I grew up, that one day I said to myself: "But in fact, I'm not the youngest anymore." And that's weird for me. I who had the impression of being the youngest, of having even more time ahead of me, of having the capacity to easily learn a lot and all while being among the young people in the group, well it went by quickly, but that's not the case anymore.
And I read a sentence in a book by Jean d'Ormesson, who you probably know, Jean d'Ormesson, a very, very famous French writer, in his book Je dirai malgré tout que cette vie fut belle, well he says: "For years, I was the cadet of the Académie française", since he was at the Académie française, so, he was one of the youngest... I was the cadet, that means I was among the youngest or I was the youngest... "time flies, suddenly I am one of the deans". The dean is the oldest. The dean is the oldest. So, one of the deans. So, he says that in fact it went by very, very quickly and he was one of the youngest and he became one of the oldest. And he notes in this book, what I liked, is that he says "suddenly". In fact, he didn't have time to realize it and that's really the feeling I have too, I was the youngest and I find myself the oldest, that's it.
Of course, you have to ride on the experience of everything you've done and learned. I really believe in the cumulative effect, so, that is to say everything we've learned, well we have it, it's in our heads, we have it, it's something that's in us and that won't be taken away from us and there is a cumulative effect, that is to say that the things that... if I learn two things, well I don't know two things, I know three, because there is this synergy effect, and 1 + 1 makes 2 in mathematics, but 1 + 1 makes 3 when you learn things, because it combines and the more it goes on, the more you know in fact, quite simply.
Another inspiration,I told you about the members of the Académie Français Authentique, the retired members, I could also have told you about Steve Kaufmann, a very, very famous Canadian polyglot. There is an interview, you type Steve Kaufmann Français Authentique, and you can find the interview I did with him . He is, Steve, 78 years old. I checked that just now, so, 78 years old, and he is still active. He travels, he moves, I think he plays golf, he learns languages. He recorded a video a few days ago on the state of mind, like what for him in fact, it's in the head. The fact that we manage to learn something or not, it's in the head. It's a question of state of mind.
So, there you go, seeing Steve who is 78 years old and still learning languages, obviously, it motivates me, it inspires me, me who, at 41, sometimes says to myself: "Do I still have the abilities?" Obviously, it's in the head. So, thank you, Steve.
There's a quote that I liked from Cato the Elder, who was a Roman statesman and writer who supposedly started learning Greek at the age of 80. And he actually, when asked laos whatsapp number data about it, he said, "Well yes, that's the earliest age I have left." That's very beautiful actually. Basically, it's now or never. Yes, I'm 80, but I can't go back, that is, I can't decide to learn Greek at 70, it's too late. So, that's the earliest age I have left. Well, I find that really, really inspiring.
In fact, I tell myself that despite everything... we talk about the ability to learn, about age, I tell myself that time passes so quickly that we are not often or we are not the youngest for long. I remember, for a very long time, I was always the youngest, because I was born at the end of the year, in November, so, I was a little... I was really one of the youngest with my friends in fact. I was always the one who was one of the youngest, because I was around people who were born... there you go, who were 6 months, 8 months, 9 months, a year older than me. I was also part of a group of friends who were young or, sorry, older. All my friends were older. I was almost always the youngest.
And it was when I became a project manager, I grew up, that one day I said to myself: "But in fact, I'm not the youngest anymore." And that's weird for me. I who had the impression of being the youngest, of having even more time ahead of me, of having the capacity to easily learn a lot and all while being among the young people in the group, well it went by quickly, but that's not the case anymore.
And I read a sentence in a book by Jean d'Ormesson, who you probably know, Jean d'Ormesson, a very, very famous French writer, in his book Je dirai malgré tout que cette vie fut belle, well he says: "For years, I was the cadet of the Académie française", since he was at the Académie française, so, he was one of the youngest... I was the cadet, that means I was among the youngest or I was the youngest... "time flies, suddenly I am one of the deans". The dean is the oldest. The dean is the oldest. So, one of the deans. So, he says that in fact it went by very, very quickly and he was one of the youngest and he became one of the oldest. And he notes in this book, what I liked, is that he says "suddenly". In fact, he didn't have time to realize it and that's really the feeling I have too, I was the youngest and I find myself the oldest, that's it.
Of course, you have to ride on the experience of everything you've done and learned. I really believe in the cumulative effect, so, that is to say everything we've learned, well we have it, it's in our heads, we have it, it's something that's in us and that won't be taken away from us and there is a cumulative effect, that is to say that the things that... if I learn two things, well I don't know two things, I know three, because there is this synergy effect, and 1 + 1 makes 2 in mathematics, but 1 + 1 makes 3 when you learn things, because it combines and the more it goes on, the more you know in fact, quite simply.