Learn Another Language

Once upon a time, there was no need to learn another language. If you have the means to solve your problems already at your disposal then there is no need to learn another language. After school, you're too busy at your job to learn another language, and quite frankly, this skill would 99% of the time be irrelevant to your field.

The government wants all primary pupils in England to learn another language by the end of the decade, yet language lessons are no longer compulsory after the age of 14. When you want to learn another language also, we generally tend to emphasize speaking over reading or writing. Each subsequent language you study will be, in some respects, a little easier, because you've already learned how to learn another language.

Most Languages Are Very Different

Languages differ from each other in terms of surface sentence structure patterns. That doesn't however, let us off the hook when it comes to learning other languages. Where languages are being taught, they tend to be the traditional French and German rather than the Chinese, Hindi, Urdu or Punjabi that will help our children in their playgrounds and, eventually, workplaces.

Other languages are not just a word for word translation of English, but an interpretation of events and opinions from a different point of view. All languages have intricate grammatical rules, and all have exceptions to those rules. In some languages the speech used by men and women may differ so drastically that there may special womens dialects.

Advantages Of English As A First Language

One of the strengths of English is its ability to absorb elements from other languages. But for the time being, most pupils have the chance to learn Spanish only after they have tried French, and the so-called "hard languages" remain the preserve of the public schools.

The theory that the more languages you know, the easier it is to pick up another has some truth in it. Anthropologically speaking, the human race can be said to have evolved from primitive to civilized states, but there is no sign of language having gone through the same kind of evolution All languages have a complex grammar: there may be relative simplicity in one respect (e. It is important for us to recognize that all languages have developed to express the needs of their users, and that in a sense all languages are equal.