Dear LPG

Here is something that Google opened my eyes to and which I found quite surprising.  I asked for a list of the most spoken languages in the world expecting to find English to be the second after Chinese, but I was genuinely surprised to find that it is only rated third with Spanish being significantly more popular.  The languages that followed in the list were also quite a surprise to me.

This all got me thinking about the article that was posted on November 15^th and entitled  New friends, new learning  (►►►). 

In that post PA, introduced us to the wonders of ‘Google translate’ but, for me, the fact that the enquiries were first made in French, (whatever the cost) showed a very brave side of the writer.  It is known that the English expect everyone to speak English when they go abroad although I wonder if this is changing a little now. 

PA also mentioned the advantage of visiting a country where the language you are trying to learn is spoken to improve your skills, or as a kick-start to giving your communication skills a serious challenge.  I have travelled quite a bit, although I don’t think that I would be brave enough to go alone and I think that PA is right.  Trying to communicate in the indigenous language definitely helps the people who you are visiting to take the time to accommodate you, even if your accent is as bad as mine. 

I once became ‘learning representative’ in addition to the last job I worked at and as part of that role I did a survey of the 600 strong workforce which included the question.  ‘How many languages do you speak’?  The result was an eye opener to me. 

Of the workers of Asian and African origin most spoke three languages; their own, another European language (Spanish, French or Italian) , and English.  While nearly all the Europeans spoke two on average; theirs and English.  Sadly the only workers that gave one language as their answer were the workers who were of English origin.

I suppose the message I am trying to pass on is twofold:

Firstly, they say that learning something new is a really good way to make sure that the grey matter continues to function adequately, and if you are not sure what subject to choose, a language with a view to using it while visiting could be a viable challenge.

Secondly, if we expect other people of the world to show patients with us we need to do the same when we encounter people with English accents that are a challenge to us.  If that survey I did all those years ago is anything to go by, they are likely to be speaking to you in their third language or at least their second. 

EB, Catford  

LPG offers observations from the web…

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