[James]

CELEBRITY CAMERON DEMONSTRATES WORD SKILLS

SCOTT MACNAB

09:00 - 27 January 2005
Big Brother celebrity Cameron Stout gave hundreds of pupils in Aberdeen an insight into his linguistic skills yesterday.

The reality TV star speaks a number of foreign languages including French, Spanish, Japanese and Norwegian. He told the secondary school pupils from 3rd to 6th years how this helped his career develop, during a language conference at The Robert Gordon University's Aberdeen Business School.

The TV star has worked in France as an assistant curator and also in Spain where he was an English teacher.

Although now living in his native Orkney, his linguistic skills still come in handy in his current job as a fish trader for an international company.

Stewart Spence, owner of city hotel The Marcliffe at Pitfodels, also addressed the conference.

During the event the pupils took part in fact-finding sessions about working and studying abroad, and interviewing representatives from international companies.

These included recent RGU graduates who are already using their language skills here or abroad in the world of work.

From This is North Scotland

[Romantic Old Bird]

Well done Cameron

Encourage the kids to learns languages! I didn't learn a second one at school, although being married to a Dutchman for 33 years means I have just about mastered that one.

My neice is now studying French, Italian, Russian, Mechanical Engineering and Business studies at Strathclyde Uni. Much of that linguistic acumen is due to the fact her parents let her live in Italy with friends for 3 months when she was 9.

My grandson is 16 months old, and speaks and understands English and Gujurati equally.

We just miss the boat here, and wait til we are older and less receptive.

[CameronBB4]

There is nothing quite like stints abroad to encourage the desire to learn another language. I suppose I'm fortunate in the fact that I enjoy it, rather than looking at it as a chore. I wish "computing" fell into the same category!