had 11 years of Gaelic and five years of German

[brian&me]

Benny had 11 years of Irish Gaelic and five years of German at school. He couldn’t speak them at all when graduating.
Source: Lýdia Machová – Language Learning Secrets (TED) - Language mentoring

I take the first sentence to mean this:
Benny learned Irish Gaelic for 11 years and German for 5 years at school.

My question is: Is the original sentence standard English?

 

[PaulQ]

Yes.

 

[cidertree]

Well, apart from the fact that we don't 'graduate' from school in Ireland - and the subject is simply 'Irish' - there's nothing wrong with it that I can see.

 

[The Newt]

Benny had 11 years of Irish Gaelic and five years of German at school. He couldn’t speak them at all when graduating.
[...]

I would have ended the sentence "when he graduated."

 

[Wordy McWordface]

I take the first sentence to mean this:
Benny learned Irish Gaelic for 11 years and German for 5 years at school.

Yes, that's what it means.

My question is: Is the original sentence standard English?

Yes, the sentence "Benny had 11 years of Irish Gaelic and five years of German at school" is perfectly standard English.

It's the second sentence which is strange. The writer has made poor choices in both grammar and geographically appropriate vocabulary. As Cidertree says, 'graduate' is the wrong term to use for Ireland. And even if it were the correct word, it would still be an odd statement in terms of grammar. As The Newt says, it should be "when he graduated", not "when graduating".

 

[dojibear]

Benny had 11 years of Irish Gaelic and five years of German at school.

"Had" is fine. Benny had classes in Irish Gaelic for 11 years.
He took Irish Gaelic classes for 11 years.

Benny learned Irish Gaelic for 11 years and German for 5 years at school.

I would say "studied", not "learned".

In English, "study" is the intentional action, and "learn" is the hoped-for goal of that action. If "studying" is successful, it results in "learning". But if studying fails, it does not result in learning.

Benny did not learn Irish Gaelic. Benny did not learn German. He couldn't speak them.

 

[Enquiring Mind]

Note that the speaker, whose English is excellent, is nonetheless not an English native speaker. “When graduating” is the slight oddity here. The rest is fine.

 

[Myridon]

Initially reading the speech, I assumed that she was telling us things that she had learned about him through personal interaction. After reading the About Me page on Benny's website, it seems pretty likely that she was paraphrasing that. She possibly introduced some mistakes due to not wanting to repeat it to closely.
About

I don't have the “language gene” (if such a thing exists).

At school, I spent 11 years studying Irish (Gaeilge) and 5 years studying German. Even after all this study, I still couldn't speak either of them.

By the time I reached my 20's I could still only speak English.

 

[dojibear]

She might not have been paraphrasing the website. Benny is a famous polyglot, and has given his own talks to language learners and polyglots. Benny probably said these things in multiple talks. It is also possible that Lydia interviewed Benny (she says she talked to many polyglots) and he said them to her.

 

[Myridon]

She might not have been paraphrasing the website.

I said that it seems pretty likely to me that she paraphrased the website. I could paraphrase that as "She might not have been paraphrasing the website."