Sunday, 26 February 2012

Foreign languages


Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.’ 
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
‘The limits of my language are the limits of my world.’
 - Ludwig Wittgenstein
'To have another language is to possess a second soul.'
- Charlemagne

The process of learning a foreign language is boring, tiresome and ‘painful’.  Don’t try to deny it.  Thousands of words and phrases to learn by heart, and millions of grammar structures to understand.  It takes time and effort. So why should we learn a second language? 
  • To challenge yourself and develop your personality
  • To expand your horizons
  • To travel and communicate abroad
  • To discover new culture
  • To encourage tolerance and respect for different ethnic groups
  • To increase your work opportunity
  • To appreciate international art, literature and movies
You are never too young or too old to pick up a new language. Although It requires tremendous amount of self-discipline and consistency, knowing other languages brings opportunities. 


2 comments:

  1. I remember when I started to learn English. It was very hard for me, I had to learn many things in a very short time, because of my quite advanced class; and I do not regret it. At that time I even started to like it and it became my passion, that's why I'm at KJO! And you're right, no matter how old you are, you can still learn a lg! Take my 55-year-old uncle- he is still willing to learn, and not only English!

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  2. Thanks, it's all true and right, but could you relate to the article I cited in the task? Do you have any personal experience that could be relevant to the issues raised there?

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