"Because it's there"?
Because I enjoy it. Because I find it fascinating. Because I don't particularly like crossword puzzles. Because achieving some level of competence in another language would be one of the greatest intellectual accomplishments of my life (the other being long division.)
Perhaps the most important reason, though, is that it's the best way for me to act out against the jingoist notion that English is the official language of the United States, or that the English-only movement will somehow make our culture more pure. This is not only racist at its core, it's just sloppy thinking. We could pass a law banning English, and it would have exactly the same effect on languages in our country: none.
So I was pleased to read this morning in Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac that much of Europe actually celebrates the diversity of language. Here's the full excerpt:
"Today is the official European Day of
Languages, which is a yearly event begun in 2001 to celebrate human
language, encourage language learning, and bring attention to the importance of
being multilingual in a polyglot world. On this day, everyone, young or old, is
encouraged to take up a language or take special pride in his or her existing
language skills.
"There are about 225 indigenous languages in Europe, which may sound like a lot but is only 3 percent of the world's total. Children's events, television and radio programs, languages classes and conferences are organized across Europe. In past years, schoolchildren in Croatia created European flags and wrote "Hello" and "I love you" in dozens of tongues while older students sang "Brother John" in German, English, and French. At a German university, a diverse group of volunteer tutors held a 90-minute crash course in half a dozen languages, like a kind of native-tongue speed-dating, groups of participants spending just 15 minutes immersed in each dialect until the room was filled with Hungarian introductions, French Christmas songs, and discussions of Italian football scores."
So today I take pride in my existing language skills, which are above average in English and a low-intermediate in Spanish.
How French is that?
"There are about 225 indigenous languages in Europe, which may sound like a lot but is only 3 percent of the world's total. Children's events, television and radio programs, languages classes and conferences are organized across Europe. In past years, schoolchildren in Croatia created European flags and wrote "Hello" and "I love you" in dozens of tongues while older students sang "Brother John" in German, English, and French. At a German university, a diverse group of volunteer tutors held a 90-minute crash course in half a dozen languages, like a kind of native-tongue speed-dating, groups of participants spending just 15 minutes immersed in each dialect until the room was filled with Hungarian introductions, French Christmas songs, and discussions of Italian football scores."
So today I take pride in my existing language skills, which are above average in English and a low-intermediate in Spanish.
How French is that?
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