Are you dreading your upcoming french vocab test? Yes. Isn’t everyone? Frantically trying to learn the terribly long list of french words that you know you will never use in France- who wants to talk about: la pollution and le bénévolat anyway? The answer to every question thrown at you in class always being “Le week-end dernier, je suis allée au ciné avec mes amis. C’était amusant”. A classic that works every time.
The hatred of studying a language at school is common, even I hated it when I was in the younger years, watching the clock tick slowly as I waited for the dreadfully boring lesson to finally be over. Studying all those verbs, learning how to conjugate them- what a waste of my time right? Well I'm here to tell you why I was wrong.
During all these lessons, which I found tedious, I never would have thought that in Year 12 I would be studying French and Spanish A level, doing German and Mandarin on the side, AND wanting to study Latin and Jerriais next term. No, I’m not crazy. If you have come this far, you probably want to know, why do languages? I’m glad you’ve asked!
Firstly, the typical answer, you will be able to communicate with lots of other people as no, not everyone speaks English. British people on the whole have have become lazy when it comes to languages, with the United Kingdom ranking as the least likely to speak another language (study carried out by European Commission).
Many Brits think ‘everyone speaks English' or 'we have google translate for a reason’- but 29 countries in the world speak French, 450 million people speak Spanish, and other languages, such as Italian, are simply beautiful and open your eyes to different cultures.
We all know that feeling, picture it: you’re in a french restaurant with your family, you want to show off your French- you see the waiter coming and you start practicing your line in your head “Umm je voudrais des frites, s’il vous plaît.” You say it with pride, and the French waiter simply responds- “So you want chips, yeh?" A feeling of embarrassment pours over you. But, do not let this put you off! I started to love languages when I could read the language without much trouble, and when I could speak some of the language, and native speakers could understand and reply to me in their own language. This is when my confidence grew. Most native speakers are very patient and actually very encouraging if you try to speak their language as it makes a difference to most English tourists!
Let me clear up another misconception for you- no, studying languages isn’t all about long lists of vocab, impossible grammar, and listening activities where you only understand one word (if you’re lucky). Studying languages is about indulging yourself in new cultures and discovering their customs and traditions.
France isn’t all about croissants, Italy isn’t all about pizza and pasta, and Spain isn’t all about sunbathing and bullfights… surprisingly. There is so much to learn and understand about the unique cultures around the world. France, the most romantic, elegant, and classy country is stuns people with its rich imperial history and perhaps the best quality food in Europe. Italy is a melting pot for history, vast museums filled with the most prepossessing Renaissance artwork, and the rebirth of new ideas that still influence our world today. Spain is a country known for its long history, unique culture and being the healthiest country in the world due to its delicious local and fresh produce.
Of course, there are also other amazing benefits, if you are able to communicate in a second language, you have a huge advantage in the world of work. Foreign language study enhances listening skills and memory. You learn bit by bit how to express yourself more accurately in both written and spoken form. The feeling of achievement from being able to hold a conversation with a native speaker is something that, ironically, cannot be put into words.
Also, it is fascinating how other people communicate, how their language works, and how these languages have developed over time. For example, why do the Germans say “ich habe Fußball gespielt” (literally- ‘I have football played’ rather than I have played football), and the Chinese say “Nǐ hǎo” (literally - ‘you good’)? Knowing that the word for ‘parliament’ stems from the french verb ‘parler’, hence meaning a speaking chamber, or the other day learning the word ‘diet’ stems from the Greek word ‘diaita’, meaning a balanced life style- increased my knowledge and awareness of my own native language. Studying another language can actually improve you mother tongue, learning better how to use the correct form of grammar and use words which describe exactly what you want to convey.
Of course, languages definitely aren’t for everyone- my family just want to know how to be able to read a menu and order wine! But I would say learning all the vocab for the weekly vocab tests is worth it, learning how to conjugate verbs is worth it, and sitting through all those tediously boring language lessons- you guessed it, is worth it!
By Josephine Peel Yr12
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