Speaking the Lingo

One of the most important skills you can have as a modern citizen is the ability to communicate with a wide variety of people. One way to achieve this is to speak more than one language.

The one thing that has become even more apparent when I go on my travels is how bad, the English are as a country for learning a second language. Now I know that English is a universal language, but that’s not really an excuse. Also consider that Chinese Mandarin is spoken the most followed by Spanish, well that’s a surprise! Although French and German are taught in schools, certainly when I was at school, languages were never seen as important as other subjects and certainly were not taught in the same way as other countries. As a teenager, I went on a French exchange trip, and in France, languages were much more popular with pupils, with the option to learn several languages. Now as an adult, I have tried to keep up my skills by listening to language tapes, discs and books and attending a few courses. I am currently using the Duolingo app on my phone which is very user- friendly and I would highly recommend.

When I visit overseas, I do try to converse as much as I can and even learning the basics like: hello, goodbye and thank you, I always find are much appreciated. My Spanish friends have taught me bits and pieces and this is very different from what is taught on language discs. Paul Noble, a very talented linguist, has been working with the publisher Collins, and his no- nonsense guide to learning a new language is a breath of fresh air.

The world has become smaller, we can have friends, family and even work colleagues who live in different countries, so all the more reason to learn a different language. Learning commonly spoken languages opens up a world of opportunities to be able to communicate with a bunch of new people. Another good reason to learn a language is that you’re travelling to a place where the language is spoken. If this is your reason, you probably don’t need to achieve fluency (unless you want to!) and instead should focus on useful phrases for getting around town, ordering food, and other practical activities.

I had an Italian boss, who taught her children to speak both Italian and English from birth, so now both her children are bi-lingual and she is now doing the same with her grand-children. Paul Noble, speaks about the ability to speak languages has been seen as a gift, and despite his skill, at first, he didn’t find it easy, which is good news for us all. Paul states that to practise regularly and just having a go and keeping going is all that you need.

I find I don’t always keep up with my languages but I am going to try to, moving forward. My friend told me about Duolingo and you can learn for as little as 5 or 10 minutes a day. So, on your lunch time break or on the bus or train on the way to work would be ideal. Duolingo makes language-learning fun and its easy to use. There are different types of exercises, from simply translating words to listening to excerpts and being asked to type what you heard. There are also interesting and interactive stories that put the language to use for Spanish, French, German, Italian even Chinese. The game-like setting ensures that you’re never bored and challenges you to complete goals and learn more. There are other services out there as well, like Babbel which is also a free app, I think.

Another entertaining way to monitor your progress and learn some new words or phrases is to explore the media in your target language. This could be the news, podcasts, radio, movies, TV shows, music, literature, or even children’s books. Basically, anything that is uses the language in context. it can help your comprehension (reading or listening, depending on the type of media). This forces you to exercise the parts of your brain that are used for language comprehension. It can also teach you popular words or phrases that might be helpful to know. Watching the news or a movie or listening to music will show which words and phrases are most common in the everyday usage of the language.

Learning a new language is no small feat. It requires time, energy and patience. The rewards, however, are incredible, so I encourage you to put in the time and effort required. Speaking another language is a great cognitive skill too, giving your brain a workout, Duolingo also has a resource on its website, for finding language gatherings and events for the languages it offers which has to be a further reason to try it out.

So what are you waiting for?