Bill Gates Regrets Not Being Able to Master Any Foreign Language

Bill Gates might be the richest man in the world but he said that he still regrets the fact that he failed to learn a foreign language. He mentioned this during the question-and-answer portion of Reddit’s Ask Me Anything. He said he wished he could have reserved some time to at least learn French, which he thought was the easiest, and probably Chinese or Arabic.

Gates received top marks in Greek and Latin in high school and he believed these languages helped him with his vocabulary. The 79.3 billion-dollar man praised Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, for learning to speak Mandarin Chinese. Zuckerberg surprised his audience during a visit in Beijing for speaking Mandarin fluently.

A peek into Bill Gate’s life

Despite being a billionaire and living in a $120 million mansion in Medina, Washington, he and his wife still manage to live a simple life. Gates had already mentioned that he likes doing the dishes in the evenings. He shocked many people when he revealed that if ever a biopic were made of his life, Melinda, his wife, would likely choose Samuel L. Jackson to play his part.

He had also said the he is not beyond picking up a $100 bill if he sees one on the ground. In the Reddit session Thursday, Bill Gates revealed that BBQ sauce is one of his favorite sauces. He made the audience chuckle when he said that he tries to avoid having it before he goes on TV because he has the tendency to spill it on his clothes.

According to him, the biggest splurge he did was in buying a private jet. He is a fan of the Seattle Seahawks, not only because he lives in Seattle but also because Paul Allen, the owner of Seahawks is his friend. Forty years ago, Allen was the co-founder of Microsoft.

Gates might have splurged on a private jet, but he could be excused for it because he uses that plane for his philanthropic work. Early in the week he went to Germany to raise $7.5 billion for vaccinations that will be used in developing countries around the world. This is very important to Bill Gates because he believes that it is the basic right of every person on the planet to grow up healthy.

Artificial Intelligence and HoloLens

Part of the discussion during the Reddit session was HoloLens. Microsoft has unveiled their virtual-reality goggles last week. Gates revealed that they have invested a lot into the software and chips for the device to prevent users from getting nauseous or dizzy through its super-fast alignment. But he said it needs a few more years of continued software development to realize the full potential of the virtual reality device.

Bill Gates said he agrees with Elon Musk in believing that artificial intelligence presents potential threats when it gets stronger. He also revealed that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is going to develop a virtual currency that would help people living in countries with poor economies.

When asked what life lesson did he learn the hard way, he quipped that it is to avoid staying up late well into the night. He revealed that he is still struggling to break this habit.

Image credit: Bill Gates during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in 2012, Flickr photo by World Economic Forum under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.