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Post by Sherlock on Aug 9, 2023 5:05:28 GMT -5
At the time of the kidnap Hauptmann had been in the USA about 9 years and I would expect him to have reached a higher level of proficiency with the English language than indicated by the ransom notes. However he was not a bookish intellectual, preferring outdoor activities. canoeing, hunting, sing songs around the campfire etc. He had a non-clerical job and his social circle was mainly expatriate Germans so this may account for his slow pick-up of English. If, in addition, he was dyslexic this could explain much about the ransom notes. A good point to raise and one I hadn't considered.
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Post by A Guest on Aug 9, 2023 7:16:06 GMT -5
I should add that students with dyslexia are often quite intelligent and do well in classes that do not require writing. Many do well in vocational schools and become mechanics, painters, roofers, plumbers, etc. Just so I am understanding this interesting observation you make about dyslexia, is this disorder limited to just alphabetical letters but does not affect the ability to correctly see and write numbers?
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Post by Sherlock on Aug 9, 2023 14:42:02 GMT -5
I just glanced at the Wikipedia article on dyslexia. Its a complex condition but difficulty with numbers and slow learning of foreign languages are mentioned as symptoms.
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Post by stella7 on Aug 9, 2023 15:03:03 GMT -5
As the wife, mother, and grandmother of dyslexics I can tell you it is very complicated. And very difficult for school systems to deal with as dyslexics are often very gifted in other ways, just not traditional schooling. My husband is an avid reader but has both dyscalculia and dysgraphia. My daughter and grandson struggle with reading and writing but are great at math. journal.imse.com/12-famous-people-who-struggled-with-dyslexia-before-changing-the-world/
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Post by A Guest on Aug 9, 2023 15:19:12 GMT -5
Thank you so much Sherlock and stella7 for your posts and research. I had no real understanding of this condition. All those famous people who are dyslexic and so accomplished!! Thanks for sharing about your family, stella7.
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Post by Michael on Aug 9, 2023 16:53:09 GMT -5
Thank you so much Sherlock and stella7 for your posts and research. I had no real understanding of this condition. All those famous people who are dyslexic and so accomplished!! Thanks for sharing about your family, stella7. I'm a little behind in the discussions... What is the source for Hauptmann being dyslexic? I need to refresh my memory about this. It is only my recollection, as I sit here, that in the Huddleson report Hauptmann talked about sometimes adding an "e" to the end of words that did not call for it when he was a child while also claiming he sometimes did it presently if he wasn't thinking about it.
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Post by A Guest on Aug 9, 2023 19:00:49 GMT -5
I believe this discussion was about the backward "N" that appeared on some of the postcards received in the early days of the kidnapping. Bernardt mentioned that dyslexia can cause people to write some letters backwards. I didn't think this conversation was referring to Hauptmann. He didn't write the postcards as far as I know.
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Post by bernardt on Aug 10, 2023 8:33:43 GMT -5
The ransom note referring to the "Boad Nelly" has a backward "N" in the word "Nelly." I was not arguing that Hauptmann had dyslexia or wrote the ransom letters but was simply indicating that the writer (whoever he or she was) spells and forms syllables as a dyslexia student would write.
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Post by bernardt on Aug 10, 2023 8:54:50 GMT -5
The ransom writer's problem occurs in the German pronunciation of the language as well as in the English.
The German word for "boat" is "boot.' It has no "d" in it. Often German words that end in a "d" are pronounced like an English "t." But "boot" ends in a "t" and not a "d," indicating that the writer, whose first language appears to be German, has a problem relating to the sound of the word in German and the spelling that represents (symbolizes) the sound, another characteristic of dyslexia.
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Post by Sherlock on Aug 10, 2023 8:56:46 GMT -5
"A common myth closely associates dyslexia with mirror writing and reading letters or words backwards.[19] These behaviors are seen in many children as they learn to read and write, and are not considered to be defining characteristics of dyslexia.[10]"
This is from the Wikipedia article which also mentions alexia - or acquired dyslexia from head trauma and consequent injury to the brain.
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Post by bernardt on Aug 10, 2023 9:30:34 GMT -5
The ransom writer's problem occurs in the German pronunciation of the language as well as in the English. The German word for "boat" is "boot.' It has no "d" in it. Often German words that end in a "d" are pronounced like an English "t." But "boot" ends in a "t" and not a "d," indicating that the writer, whose first language appears to be German, has a problem relating to the sound of the word in German and the spelling that represents (symbolizes) the sound, another characteristic of dyslexia.
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hiram
Detective
Posts: 124
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Post by hiram on Aug 10, 2023 12:35:13 GMT -5
Hauptmann was not illiterate. He had attended school in elementary and middle school and then transferred to a vocational school before being drafted into the military. When he was arrested, Condon was asked to identify him as CJ. At that time Condon quoted a few lines from Goethe in German (for whatever purpose). Hauptmann recognized the origin of the lines and responded. This incident has already been mentioned on the board in another thread.
The schools in Europe and Scandinavia are academically two years ahead of the schools in the US. This has been true since at least the 1950s when I entered college and is still true today. Whether this was true earlier in the the twentieth century I do not know, but the evidence certainly indicates that Hauptmann could hardly be called illiterate. He had read some of Goethe's works in a German literature class before transferring to the vocational school.
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Joe
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 2,645
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Post by Joe on Aug 10, 2023 13:24:44 GMT -5
Hauptmann was not illiterate. He had attended school in elementary and middle school and then transferred to a vocational school before being drafted into the military. When he was arrested, Condon was asked to identify him as CJ. At that time Condon quoted a few lines from Goethe in German (for whatever purpose). Hauptmann recognized the origin of the lines and responded. This incident has already been mentioned on the board in another thread. The schools in Europe and Scandinavia are academically two years ahead of the schools in the US. This has been true since at least the 1950s when I entered college and is still true today. Whether this was true earlier in the the twentieth century I do not know, but the evidence certainly indicates that Hauptmann could hardly be called illiterate. He had read some of Goethe's works in a German literature class before transferring to the vocational school. No, Hauptmann was not illiterate, but he had difficulty in translating from the German to English language. I have to believe his learning disability and speech disfunction at an early age, contributed to his later abilities to readily adapt from one to the other.
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