There is a commonly told joke around the world:
What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual.
What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual.
What do you call someone who only speaks one language? American.
While it is true that America is not the only region on Earth where many people are monolingual (the real word for someone who only speaks one language, in case that one got you thinking), we Americans are the ones who really get a lot of bad attention as such. Much of this may be due to the fact that we as a nation and people are generally more visible to others, due to America being the largest economic, political, military, and cultural influence in the world, and also due to the fact that so many of our citizens have been seen so many places trying to find a bathroom, shouting slowly at “foreigners” in English and gesticulating wildly.
But whether you are American or not, the fact remains that many of the people you know – and maybe even you – only speak one language, and may in fact consider themselves “bad” at learning languages. This is a sad conclusion, and there is a decent chance that it is incorrect. Practically every person in the world learns at least one language to a high enough proficiency as to be extremely useful on a day-to-day basis. Why, then, do people so naturally pick up a first language, but find learning a second to be so difficult?
Part of the reason is because of the way we go about learning a new language. As small children, we learn our first language very gradually. At first, we begin to mimic the sounds we hear our parents make. Eventually we learn more and more sounds, and start learning small words, then bigger ones and small sentences. Before we ever have our first grammar lesson in school we can already communicate quite fluently in our native language. We don’t start trying to memorize vocabulary lists until we are learning to spell and write. All of our formative learning comes from listening and speaking. Also, we have to learn a first language in order to communicate. Pointing, grunting, and crying only get you so far.
In contrast, most of us take a foreign language in high school because we have to in order to graduate. We never intend to actually remember or use it. We just need the credits. Therefore the motivation will only take us as far as the end of the semester. Additionally, while trying to learn our second language in class, we normally learn from textbooks, and try to memorize complex verbal paradigms and long vocabulary lists. We try to learn a language the way we try to learn biology: by cramming the night before a test, and then not using the material ever again. Sure, it helps us to pass the class, but how many of us actually remember much from our high school biology classes? We tend to treat language learning the same way.
Language is best learned the way a musical instrument is learned: by practicing every day. If I only study chord charts and music theory, I will never become a great guitarist. On the other hand, many great guitarists don’t have a strong theoretical grasp of music theory as I might. They are great because they have spent countless hours practicing playing their instrument. The only way to become good at it is to do it.
As children we were not nearly as averse to making mistakes as we are now. Children make mistakes all the time in speaking, and when corrected, they confidently continue speaking, unfazed by criticism. As adults, we somehow have instilled in us the notion that mistakes equal failure and are, therefore, the opposite of progress and success, and this assumption is particularly ingrained in the area of language learning. While living in South America for two years, I taught public English classes in several different cities, and in each city I met people who knew English grammar better than most American college students, but who could barely utter a coherent sentence spontaneously. Each phrase required painstaking concentration, because they had spent their time in class memorizing charts and lists, but never venturing to actually use the language. When learning something as organic as a language, we must initially focus more on speaking than on speaking correctly. Of course grammar is important, and if we don’t speak correctly we won’t be understood well, but we will be better understood than if we don’t speak at all.
The importance of learning a second language cannot be overstated. As Americans, we have become spoiled by the fact that the language we effortlessly learned as children is the language that billions of people expend a great deal of effort to learn in order to participate in the global marketplace. However, times they are a-changing. Countries such as China are becoming the new economic powerhouses in the global arena. The Chinese upper and middle classes are growing at astounding rates. Indeed, the Chinese middle class alone is as populous as the whole of the United States. These people are suddenly finding themselves with new money and are looking for things to spend it on, and they, as well as the rest of the world, have developed a taste for things American during the twentieth century. Also, minority populations are growing at a faster rate in the United States than are “Anglo” populations. At the beginning of the last decade, a headline appeared in the New York Times, saying in Spanish, “If you cannot read this, you will be left behind in the future.” Those who have the ability to communicate with these fast-growing groups will be at a huge advantage over those who can’t or refuse to.
Furthermore, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that the way a person perceives and interprets the world around him is conditioned to a large degree by his language. A corollary to this would be that in learning a new language, a person can learn new ways to perceive and interpret the world. It has been said before that to learn a new language is to gain another soul.
To those who are struggling with learning a language, or who think they aren’t good at it, I say, keep up the good work! Do what you have to in order to pass your classes, but use the new tool you are developing! It will open new doors to you that you never knew could be opened! Even if the language is one that you will seldom use in day-to-day contexts, the insights it will bring you will in themselves prove to be worth the effort you put in.
To those who think learning a language is not worth it, I say, you will be left behind in the future. The twentieth century paradigm of superpower nation and satellite states is being replaced by the twenty-first century model of a community of nations and unions that compete and cooperate in a global arena. In order to market to and succeed in such a world, you must be willing to understand the people with whom you mean to do business.
Contact me for more information about learning another language.
