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NY Times debate about learning languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5729 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto | Message 1 of 20 30 January 2012 at 11:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's in response to economist and former Harvard president Lawrence Summers saying that English is the global language and that anyone who needs to know something in another language could just use a machine translation. Note: See zenmonkey's post for the actual quote. I wrote the past sentence without actually looking at the quote and thought that's what he said.
I'm sure no one on this forum is surprised that the 6 debaters all reject this notion. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/01/29/is-learning- a-language-other-than-english-worthwhile/being-monolingual-i s-no-longer-an-option This is the first post, with the others linked on the left side. Edited by Michael K. on 31 January 2012 at 1:42pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5262 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 2 of 20 31 January 2012 at 12:46am | IP Logged | ||
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The link provided does not take you directly to the debate unless you remove the space between the "i" and the "s". Here is the direct link:
Is Learning a Language Other Than English Worthwhile- Room For Debate Edited by iguanamon on 31 January 2012 at 1:07am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6552 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 3 of 20 31 January 2012 at 12:58am | IP Logged | ||
What he wrote is
It is today less clear that it is as universally worthwhile as before. I know people living in Germany for short stints that thrive without the local language. It is sad but his statement seems accurate when it is considered as a tradeoff on the investment of time. For me, it is obviously a worthy investment. Edited by zenmonkey on 31 January 2012 at 1:01am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ellsworth Senior Member United States Joined 4957 days ago 345 posts - 528 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Irish | Message 4 of 20 31 January 2012 at 1:12am | IP Logged | ||
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Languages aren't necessary to learn if you know English IMO, but that doesn't mean
that languages don't improve your ability to connect with and understand the world. I have lots of friends in Germany, and I COULD just talk to them in English, as they mostly speak English pretty well, or I could take the time to learn their native language, and achieve a closer relationship that couldn't otherwise occur. 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5262 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 5 of 20 31 January 2012 at 1:33am | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, many people survive in countries where English is not a native language speaking only English. In fact, they survive so well that they may spend their entire lives in a country never having learned the native language. I don't want to meet just the people who speak English. I don't want to live in an English-speaking bubble. I want to use a language to gain insight to another people, another culture and another way of seeing the world. I don't want to merely survive. I want to thrive.
My life would be much the poorer if I didn't speak and understand Spanish and, after a lot of work, now at an advanced level in Portuguese. What I have gained by devoting time to learning languages is an entree into cultures I would know nothing about if it were not for having learned their language. I've read books not translated into English. I have seen films with no English subtitles. I have met people who do not speak English but are perfectly fluent in their own Spanish or Portuguese. You may be able to get by with an iPhone/Android app or reliance on English only, but you won't win non-English-speaking friends or come away with a greater appreciation for the wonderful human diversity that is still, thankfully, abundant on this planet. Edited by iguanamon on 31 January 2012 at 1:50am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| NickJS Senior Member United Kingdom flickr.com/photos/sg Joined 4959 days ago 264 posts - 334 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 6 of 20 31 January 2012 at 1:43am | IP Logged | ||
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English is the language of money, thats why I stopped reading at the word "investement" - today education isnt about knowledge, its about who can earn the most out of how little they know.
Getting along just knowing English might be fine, but I would get rid of anyone who says learning another language isn't worthwhile. As learning a languages leads to learning about other cultures, history and a range of other things. I know one thing for sure though, if everywhere only spoke English - I wouldn't travel again. 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5009 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 7 of 20 31 January 2012 at 1:59am | IP Logged | ||
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The translation machines are getting better but they are still quite horrible for some
languages. Google translator and Czech is a nice exemple and I am sure it is not the only language. Of course you don't have to learn any other language as soon as you learn English. If you only trade with other countries, they will speak English as well so why bother. But I never understood the people going to other countries, living there and not learning the language. Not just the half a year in English speaking "Erasmus bubble" or something. They stay without the language for years. Don't they feel a bit alone? Even if the language learning may not be an investment in the sense of bringing you money, it is always an investment in yourself. Much better than watching TV and some other ways you would spend the time if you weren't learning languages. I'm not saying it is the only worthy investment in one's developement, of course, but it is one of the good ones. And it postpones Alzheimer :-) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5729 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto | Message 8 of 20 31 January 2012 at 2:08am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for providing the link, iguanamon.
Thanks for tracking down that quote, zenmonkey. I'm taking an Interpersonal Communications class this semester with an Italian-born instructor who came to the US when he was 8. He bluntly stated today in class that he thinks it's crap that people live for an extended period of time in other countries and don't make an effort to learn the local language. He also said he understands why people who are older and need to work for a living wouldn't learn the language that well and said his parents still speak broken English. He, of course, speaks perfect English without an accent. This was in the context of trying to assimilate to the culture when you move abroad. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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