“I’ll never use this after I graduate.”
It’s a common sentiment you hear from elementary school to college out of the mouths of students agonizing about history, chemistry, calculus, or any other subjects they find despicable (pretty much all of them). Of course, world language is no different. New languages require lots of time and concentration to master, and it can seem like they aren’t worth the effort. After taking a few classes, however, you’ll learn that studying a foreign language offers you new insights and perspectives into yourself, your peers and the world around you that you couldn’t access in any other way.
Learning a language offers a unique perspective into its cultures and its people. Even learning a few phrases in a foreign language can introduce you to the values, principles and collective consciousnesses of societies outside of your own. In an increasingly globalized society, it can be beneficial to know different languages and cultures exist because it can make you more open-minded. One of the first things one notices when starting to learn a new language is that most of the adages and idioms from English don’t carry over into other languages. Each language has its own common phrases that reflect its individual cultural values. 尊老爱幼 (Zūn lǎo ài yòu), which directly translates to “respect the elderly and cherish the young,” for example, is a core principle in Chinese culture. Chinese society’s heavy emphasis on caring for those older than oneself while also deeply loving the youth is clearly showcased by this common, well-known phrase. In a beginning Chinese class, a student who is introduced to this phrase would simultaneously be introduced to a core part of the mindset of the language’s speakers, increasing cross-cultural understanding.
Learning a new language can even offer new insight into your own. When you pick up a language like French or Spanish, you start to notice cognates—words that are mostly the same as they are in English. This clues you in to the etymology of the words you use every day. It’s easy to memorize the meaning of vocabulary words like “dormant” if you know that they come from the French “dormir,” meaning to sleep. Even outside of languages that are so obviously related to English, you can find new ways to understand your own vernacular by studying the words of a foreign language. English is built out of borrowed words. “Entrepreneur” is loaned from French, “algebra” comes from Arabic, and “kindergarten” is German. Learning about these words in their native contexts helps a student to understand the breadth or precision of their meaning when they are pulled into English. Doesn’t it lend new meaning to the word “graffiti,” for example, if you know that it is adapted from the Italian verb for “to scratch” and was originally used to describe Roman art on the walls of archeological sites like Pompeii? A core skill of communication lies in the recognition of the significance of each of the words you use, allowing you to both better comprehend what is said to you and to convey your thoughts and opinions to the fullest and most correct extent.
Language learning also immerses you in understanding grammar by helping you to hone concepts of verb tenses, pluralization rules, negation rules and sentence structure. Many students are not familiar with these concepts in-depth in their native languages, as it comes naturally to conjugate and adjust for subject-verb agreement. Spending time with a magnifying glass on the structural rules of another language allows you to more thoroughly analyze and understand your own. You might not notice if you are writing or speaking in the imperfect past or the imperative form in English, but once you’ve spent time memorizing the conjugation rules in your second language, those terms jump out at you as you read your first. If it has been a long time since you have reviewed basic grammar rules, or if you were never formally taught them, learning a new language can be an essential part of fortifying your skills on your own so you can continue to communicate clearly and with sophistication.
Language classes always involve more than just learning a new way to communicate—they are many students’ ways of realizing it’s okay to be bad as a beginner. At first, many students find it difficult and frustrating to learn introductions and simple sentences, but this exposure is exactly what makes learning a foreign language valuable. Trying to utilize an almost completely new way of thinking is always difficult, but the mindset used to approach it is always the key to overcoming it. Because every language is unique, students are forced to adapt their mindset to be willing to face difficulty step by step. Language can also allow students to learn crucial soft skills that can be applied to other classes or daily life. Memorization of vocabulary, public speaking, writing and using context clues are critical skills taught in all language classes. As learners increase in rigor, these skills are further built upon, making them stronger for both the class and life. For example, in beginning levels, students may first answer questions asked by the teacher with one or a few sentences. As they continue learning, they start to hold conversations in their new language. Later, they can eventually elevate their language to higher levels by partaking in activities like debates. These incremental increases in difficulty actively improve their soft skills, while also teaching the language. Public speaking can be much easier in English after experiencing the awkwardness of attempting it in a foreign language.
Exposure to awkwardness is yet another valuable experience in every language class. Compared to other classes such as an AP STEM course, the power of collective learning is stronger in a language class, especially in beginning levels. When starting to learn a new language, almost everyone will struggle. While some may pick up on the language faster than others, students in general all start at the same place and progress at a similar pace. This makes it easier to embrace the awkwardness of being clumsy or wrong in your language because everyone else will be the same. This is a stark contrast to other courses where a portion of students have prior knowledge of the topic, making it feel like less experienced students are being left behind. These courses can move fast because some students instantly understand, and other students aren’t willing to speak up to ask to slow down or are embarrassed to ask a question. Being in a language class where there are “no stupid questions” can make it easier to be confident in asking for help in other classes.
In addition to the more in-depth reasons that a student can benefit from learning a new language, there are plenty of small ways that knowing a little bit of a foreign language can ease your daily life. If you are traveling, knowing common phrases that will be on street signs or store windows will help you to orient yourself in unfamiliar places. Knowing how to say hello, thank you or simple question formats will help you find what you need while being kind and respectful to the people around you. Exploring a foreign cuisine in a new restaurant is more fun if you can order in the language or even just understand the translations for the names of the dishes. If you’re online, it is great to be able to read articles, comments, or posts that come across your feed in foreign languages to understand how people all over the world react to the same major news or pop culture phenomena that affect you. It makes messages from your fellow citizens of the world that much more powerful when you can read them in their native tongue without the interference and possible meaning changes of a “translate” button. And, of course, employers in many fields are consistently looking for multilingual workers, so having another set of language skills (even if you aren’t a truly fluent speaker) to add to your resume helps you prepare to enter a workforce that is becoming more globally interdependent.
As class registration approaches, there’s no better time to start a language than now. It is crucial that Enloe’s diverse student body takes advantage of the school’s strong language department. With seven different world languages taught, all of which reach the AP level, and four different Spanish teachers alone, Enloe’s commitment to world language quality is undeniable. Every student should experience language classes not only to put the language on a resume or use it once on a summer trip, but to discover how to be a human learner.
