Language is one of the most complex, confusing, and interesting things man has invented. It is never given much thought and is used every second of every day. Language is the key to understanding culture, as there are approximately 7,000 languages in existence, meaning that there are 7,000 ways of communicating things such as “I love you” or “Please bring home pizza.” Visiting another country can be intimidating when you do not know the native language, how will you ever tell the waiter what you want to order? However, through pointing and broken phrases in a foreign language, you will survive.
If you ever visit another country, when you are walking down the street, take a few seconds to stop and listen to the mix of languages around you. Better yet, when you are in the airport, give a listen to how many different languages you hear. It is utterly mind-blowing when you imagine how people can understand each other when they are speaking so fast in a different language – that is, until you realize people would think the same thing about how you speak.
Have you ever tried to learn a language? Probably, chances are you took some language class in high school, but did you really study it? Have you ever tried to learn a new language on your own? In high school, I studied French for four years, but upon entering college I just never took the time to continue my studies. This past semester, I spent time in Costa Rica, and I knew no Spanish. As a part of my abroad experience, we spent time at the Costa Rican Language Academy studying Spanish for five hours a day over the course of 12 days. Even with no knowledge of Spanish, I found basic Spanish grammar to be easy, as it soon became very clear that the basic grammar was almost exactly the same as basic French grammar.
Now, this should not have come as a surprise to me, as the two are both Romance Languages – but it still confounds me how languages can be so different yet so similar. Spanish and French are quite obviously not the same language – yet upon breaking them down, they are both strikingly similar. To quote my Belgium host brother (who is a natural-born French speaker): “If I don’t know a word in Spanish I just say it in French and usually they know what I mean.” Crazy right? Crazy that when you listen to things such as K-pop you can still comprehend what they mean, even though you do not understand Korean.
Language is a crazy thing, but it is essential to understanding our world. Recently, I decided to start studying French again, while also trying to keep up on my Spanish. Sure, it means committing time every day, or at least trying to commit every day, but I feel it is worth it. How can I not want to learn more about my fellow humans? How can I not want to be able to communicate with them and have a deeper understanding of them? In a world that often times criticize cultures, I feel it is time to start understanding them and stop stigmatizing them for being different. For me, my first step in understanding others is by learning to speak their language, and then maybe the next time I’m in an airport, I can at least say “Hello.”
