Being with Language
We are on a
mission here. Let us help protect the art of learning foreign languages
from two contagious diseases. One of them is called “achieving” and the other “evaluating”.
They usually team up against us, as a couple.
Most of the
time we are trying to milk our languages. We choose or are made to choose the
language that promises to be most useful for our career or our general “success”
in life, meaning income, popularity etc. Once we have chosen a language that is
hopeful in terms of generating income, we proceed to looking for the right
method or the right habit or the right teacher who will ensure our learning has
an outcome (which we think we need for our income). This outcome-income charade
then lends itself perfectly to the part of us that is hooked on evaluating
everything around us. Is our English good? Have we made a breakthrough into a higher level? Have we hit our “target language” right into the bull’s
eye? (I am wondering – is a language still alive if so many people treat it as
their prey and keep firing their arrows at it?)
Yes, language
is communication, so for instance choosing communicative methods of learning or
methods featuring meaningful context makes sense. But it is also true that when
you are reading a textbook article or listening to the radio or even doing a
mundane grammar exercise, then any one of these activities is communication,
too, albeit a special kind. Nobody except yourself can stop you from diving
into it wholeheartedly. Apart from being communication, a language is also a set of sounds that you can treat as a song or a picture if it is written down or a
dance if we are talking about sign languages.
You can
play the goal game if you wish and it may be a lot of fun sometimes, but it may also be relaxing to know that it is not the only option of how to approach languages
in a meaningful way. Another possible ground for our language learning is simply
enjoying every word we meet and every little idea conveyed in a language
foreign to us. Every encounter with our (target) language can be perceived as
a success, because just like nature or music, language is a miracle. As for
career, being there and doing meaningful things sounds like a great career
choice and if we really go for it, I bet it will never disappoint us.
