I was impressed when I went to Sweden how many people knew languages other than their own—sometimes more than a half dozen languages.  But English is the linguistic standard for the world, and the Department of Labor has less than rosy projections for linguists, teachers and translators. I don’t think it is always true that people that only know English are less cosmopolitan or more xenophobic than people that are multi-lingual.    While it is true that studying Latin can open you up to the writings of Livy, Tacitus, and Cicero or that studying Classical Greek will open you to the Homer’s Odyssey, there is no need to master a foreign language to appreciate non-English translations.   I think it is possible that Hispanic demographics will eventually make the United States a bilingual country.  However, the dominance of English in world business and in the United States will most likely continue.   So let’s be honest.  Learning a foreign language for most us who will never study or work abroad is of little practical use.  So why get excited about learning a foreign language? 

       There are three good reasons.  The first reason is that a foreign language is generally a college prep requirement. But why is it a requirement, besides keeping language teachers employed?  That gets us to our second reason.  It expands our knowledge of our own language, giving us a deeper understanding of the architecture and fluidity of English. “In learning any foreign language,” writes the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, "you form new concepts, and you discover relationships you didn’t realize before.  Innumerable nuances, similarities, and differences enter the mind.  You get a rounded view of everything.  Learning a language modifies and colors your thinking, corrects and improves your views, and increases you thinking skill, since it will more and more detach your ideas you’re your words.”   It may help us get in touch with our roots, expand our knowledge of culture and cuisine, and help us in study and research.

        The final reason is that learning a foreign language is a microcosm of life.  Much of life beyond school is skull-numbing tedium.  Venio, venis, venit.  Some of life is boring and difficult, and so also is learning a foreign language.  Venimus, venitis, veniunt.   We do it because we have to do it, and your ability to tolerate and excel in tasks that seem utterly irrelevant and meaningless is a test of character and intelligence.   It is always good to meet such challenges with the right attitude—enthusiasm and alacrity.    

       I took four years of German in high school and college.  I struggled to learn German, and it wasn’t until years later that I discovered that there is a knack to mastering a language.  This approach can save you countless hours of effort and can also give you the confidence you need in mastering a new language:

1.      Choose the right language.  If it was just a matter of learning to discipline your mind, you could learn Latin or Classical Greek, dead languages, or Esperanto, the verbal experiment by Ludovic Zamenhof that was supposed to bring world peace through a world tongue.  But you would be wise to choose a language in which you can immerse yourself.  A language that has a living culture will help you learn that language.  If you live in the south west United States, for example, it makes sense to learn Spanish, since you are already study and play in a Spanish culture.  If you live in Toronto, you should learn French, or if your parents are German, Chinese, or Italian, then you should study those languages.   

2.      Choose the right teacher.  She can be especially helpful in preventing bad habits of enunciation and also in encouraging you.  Many languages contain new sounds, and it’s always a good idea to try to drill these until you know them.  In my first day of German, Herr Frietag tried to teach me how to say “I” in German. 

                         “Ich” he said.

                         “Ick” I said.

                          “(sigh) Nein!  Ich!”

                         “EEK!” said I.

                          Needless to say, I got a better grade in English.

3.      Saturate yourself in the culture of the language.  If you’re learning Spanish, for example, buy Spanish children’s books and a Spanish Bible, read Spanish newspapers and magazines, watch Spanish television, with their news broadcasts, children’s shows, movies, and sports, and eat at Spanish restaurants.  It isn’t important that you understand what you are reading or hearing, but that you are now swimming in a cultural sea that will help you learn Spanish. When walking down the street or waiting in line, simulate dialogues in your mind.  Carry a pocket dictionary at all times.  Get the melody of the language by listening to songs you like.  When you were babies, I would sing one of the few German songs I know, Johannes Brahms’s lullaby.  Here is the German version and its literal translation:

Guten Abend, gut Nacht,
Mit Rosen bedacht,
Mit Näglein besteckt,
Schlupf unter die Deck':
Morgen früh, wenn Gott will,
Wirst du wieder geweckt

Good evening, good night,
Bedecked with roses,
Covered with carnations,
Slip under the blanket
Early tomorrow, God willing,
Will you be woken again.

4.      Be bold in engaging with the teacher and your classmates and in making mistakes.  Don’t be paralyzed by perfectionism.   The Army Language School (Defense Language Institute) at Monterey, California tells students that they are allowed 10,000 mistakes—and the staff hopes they will make all of them in the first two weeks.  Don’t just parrot words.  Try to understand why those words are in the sentence in the way that they are.         

5.      Memorize the connectives and cases that hold the language together, especially the verb to be.

Use this chart for declining the definite (the) or indefinite (a) article, and pronouns (such as I, you, and me) or for word endings. 

(Some languages, such as Finnish, have these additional cases: essive, partitive, translative, inessive, elative, illative, adessive, ablative, allative, abessive, comitative,  instructive.)

6.      Memorize the 200 or so simplest nouns and verbs that are most similar to English.  For example, begin is beginnen and eat is essen in German.  Write these down on flash cards that you can carry in your pocket and practice them at odd moments.  A computer dictionary can also help you look up words quickly.   

7.      Use these words in simple cat-in-the-hat sentences, and amplify on those sentences with different verbs or nouns.   

8.      Make sure you understand in English the following grammatical terms, as they will open for you how the language is used.  Get a definition for each of the following words and write English examples of these words until you thoroughly master them:  Infinitive, Past Tense, Past Participle, Present Perfect, Irregular (Weak) Verb, Regular (Strong) Verb, Narrative Past, Subjunctive, Imperative, Articles, Preposition, Accusative, Dative, Direct Object, Indirect Object, Genitive, Pronoun, Singular, Plural, Noun, Adjective, Adverb, Conjunction, Interjection.  Many kids by the age of three can speak in their tongue well without knowing these terms.  But the point of knowing this is that it helps you analogize between what you do know in English to what you don’t know in Spanish, so that you can put into your mind a template that allows you to learn the language.  This is the most difficult step, but I think it’s also among the most important.   However, grammar should always follow practice.  The purpose of grammar is to help you look for generalizations or models that help your master the language.  You may want to start keeping notes of all new words that you encounter, by following this format for verbs:

And for nouns:

9.      Never learn from a rule without illustrating it by ear, tongue, and writing. Read in sympathy to your interests.  Make note of a native writer’s idiomatic use of his language.  Steal his phrases and make them yours in composition and conversation.  Build on the architecture of the language but also note exceptions to those rules. 

10.   Practice, practice, practice through constant reading and constant conversation.  Read and reread narratives until they become part of you.  Develop your ear by declaiming to others and by carefully listening to native speakers.        

         I posted this essay on a German forum for reaction.  “Short German comment on your essay: Geil!” Stephen responded.  “Long comment: Most important are #4 and #5. Your comment on the grammatics is very helpful too and practice, practice, practice cannot be repeated enough. It reminds me of myself learning English. What helped me to learn English: have fun with it. I like heavy metal music and punk rock, so I read a lot of those lyrics and listened how they where sung. I tried from the start to understand English texts. In most cases I failed miserably. But I kept on, used good dictionaries and burned English words and phrases into my mind this way. And now I try to practice English each day. I try to talk with native speakers. I know, I am a fluently speaker, but my English language skills have much 'potential for improvement', to say the least.  To say it the German way: I fluently speak the language, I just don't always know, what I am really saying. ;-) However I'm just doing it. And sometimes somebody corrects me and shows me better ways to express my thoughts and feelings in English. Sometimes my English makes me look like an idiot. So what?  I'm learning. That's the way one learns a language. First, one is a complete idiot. Second, one gets a grasp but doesn't know how to use it. Then, all in a sudden, one realizes, that this language is actually something for daily usage. And then one stops to shy away from making errors and looking like an idiot. Everybody makes mistakes. Making mistakes and learning from it is the way to go. To cut it short: Your article is great! We Germans do not expect foreigners to be perfect in the German language. But we love it if somebody really tries to understand our language and our culture. The most important rule that should be printed on top of every language learning text should read like this: "Do not hesitate to look as if you where an idiot. You are still learning and every intelligent human being will understand that you aren’t perfect yet!"

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