June 20, 1997
2:10PM EST

Some of my friends from TooMush and I were just discussing being multi-lingual and the relative value of knowing how to speak more than one language.

We were also discussing the relative lack of second-language acquistion in America versus Europe. We were disagreeing about the degree to which Europeans learn multiple languages and that to which Americans do.

I speak four languages. (English, French, Spanish and Japanese) I grew up in Europe, where I acquired French in school and some Dutch which I have almost completely forgotten. I took Latin in Jr. High and High School but never went very far with it. I learned Spanish to a fairly good degree in High School, it was very close to French grammar so was very easy to pick up. I started Japanese in High School as well and continued in college, but have lost a great deal of vocabulary through lack of usage. I'd like to get back into classes or conversation in Japanese, or travel to Japan to reaffirm my grasp of the language.

I love languages. I took Beowulf and read it in Old English, piecing the whole thing together from root words and the glossary and a translation when I got stuck. I took Chaucer because I loved how clearly you could see the blend of Old French, Anglo-Saxon, Latin and a smattering of other languages in the prose and poetry. I studied medieval French as well, which so closely resembles Latin and Spanish, and I kept wondering how you'd REALLY pronounce it.

And I hunger for more, but the cost and other mundane things like ... work are standing in the way for now, other than my own reading. But languages are oral and auditory in nature. It must be much more difficult to learn a language without hearing it, without being able to grasp how it all fits together with the culture behind it.

Learning a language can bring you closer to the culture that spawned it, but the culture can also teach you its language.

Have you ever learned a language from a culture?

I'm looking forward to a busy weekend with tons of company coming from out of town. Hopefully I'll be able to hold onto my sanity in this mess!