learning a language
Why learn a foreign language?
If you are reading this you probably know the answer already. But if you don’t, let me tell you how learning a foreign language can enrich your life and even that of those you come into contact with.
We all have learnt at least one language, our first when we were very small. Without it we would not be able to function.
Being surrounded by a language that you don’t understand is probably the first thing that strikes us when we arrive in a foreign land. The billboards, signs above shops, posters, packaging, newspaper and magazine front covers are all in… “foreign”. Public announcements on train and tube stations. We see the local people going about their daily lives and talking to each other making sounds that we don’t understand but they do. Even small children!
We realize that we are outsiders, we don’t belong in that place. We feel “foreign”. We can’t even ask for the simplest things. It can be overwhelming for some people. If you are an English speaker, you will say “Ah, but everyone in the world understands English”. And this is true of most tourist destinations and capital cities where restaurant and hotel staff will be able to speak to you in English. But here’s a thought. That waiter, that hotel receptionist, that taxi driver…before they had the privilege of making your acquaintance, they had all gone to some lengths to learn a foreign language. English in their case.
At some point in their lives, each one of them had either picked up a book, or gone to school and taken exams or had spent time in an English speaking country. Because they realized that learning a foreign language was going to be of benefit to themselves, to their families and employers, to their country and…to you.
It’s never too early or too late to learn to say “Te quiero”.
When you learn a foreign language you can feel that even in a small way, you belong to that land, that you are able to function and communicate with the people who live there. You can understand what they are saying to you and to each other.
You find that you can ask for directions, hire a car, order a meal. You can understand the headlines on the newspaper the lady is reading on the underground. You can read the sign that points towards the beach. Or the notice stuck on the window of the only bar in the village saying the owners will be away on holiday for the duration of yours. Or you can read a book, watch a movie, sing a song in that language.
Basically, by speaking the language of another country, you can interact with its people, make friends for life, marry one of them, have bilingual children. You can access their culture, their history, their sense of humour. And you can do that at any stage of your life, at any age.
When you learn a foreign language you can feel that even in a small way, you belong to that land, that you are able to function and communicate with the people who live there. You can understand what they are saying to you and to each other.
You find that you can ask for directions, hire a car, order a meal. You can understand the headlines on the newspaper the lady is reading on the underground. You can read the sign that points towards the beach. Or the notice stuck on the window of the only bar in the village saying the owners will be away on holiday for the duration of yours. Or you can read a book, watch a movie, sing a song in that language.
Basically, by speaking the language of another country, you can interact with its people, make friends for life, marry one of them, have bilingual children. You can access their culture, their history, their sense of humour. And you can do that at any stage of your life, at any age.
