Why Learn a Language?

What do you call someone who knows 3 languages? A trilingual.

What do you call someone who knows 2 languages? A bilingual.

What do you call someone who knows only 1 language? An American.

My co-teacher in Korea once told me this joke, and I gotta admit, it’s pretty good. While it is of course quite funny, there is also a very sad truth to it.  Indeed, as native English speakers we don’t “need” to learn any other language since ours is the lingua France (for now), but how much are we missing out on in not knowing another language?

A lot.

Despite all the quantifiable benefits such as better career prospects, smoother international travel, etc., there is one major perk to learning a foreign language; it is a major lesson in empathy.

In learning a foreign language, you are able to understand another’s way of thinking.  A language’s grammar and vocabulary often significantly influence the way we can think.  You might learn that the different honorifics in Korean force you to be aware of who you are speaking to, or who you are speaking about and give that person the respect they deserve.  Or you might learn that various verb prefixes or the ability to mash two or more nouns together in German allow you to express seemingly every conceivable concept in exact terms.  English learners might notice the fact that we have to capitalize the word “I”, and that it can almost never be omitted as the subject of a sentence, showing how our individuality seems to stand in the foreground as native English speakers.

Then, once you start really conversing in the new language, you inevitably run into frustrating situations in which you can’t seem to express certain things the way you want to.  You feel constricted by your foreign language, because in a way you are.  In addition to understanding the other’s point of view, speaking in a foreign language means giving up certain jokes, idioms, and cultural references that make up part of who you are, but can only be expressed in your native tongue.

However, after mastering a foreign language you’ll have conversely picked up many new jokes, idioms, and cultural references that can only truly be expressed in that language.  In doing so, you’ll gain a much deeper cultural understanding of speakers of that language.  You’ll also probably notice that these things are quite hard to describe to your Amer-, er, uh… monolingual friends.  For example, the concept of 정, or being able to watch/read the 눈치 of others are both things that can only be fully understood in the context of the Korean language.  In translating these concepts into English, their meaning is diminished because of their heavy cultural significance, which cannot be translated into English.  Thus, part of truly understanding a Korean is comprehending and having the ability to explain these concepts… in Korean.

Language is indeed a huge part of culture, and globally forcing everything to be done in English, while perhaps efficient, hides a significant part of people’s identities.  Thus, when conversing with non-native speakers in English, we often miss out on everything about them that couldn’t be fit into the English grammar and vocabulary.

So, learn a foreign language!  However, “economically useful” a language may appear, the deep understanding for the cultural other is something that cannot be overstated.  All it takes is a little bit of practice, every day.