Problem
Can you speak another language if you cannot pronounce it? Can you understand and identify better with people if you speak their language?
Answer
Many language courses start by saying that if you speak even just a few words of another language the people you meet will warm to you.
Learning languages helps you in other ways. Latin is the language for science and plant names, precise. French is the language of love. Italian is the language of opera.
German is a good language for feeling precise and authoritative and efficient. Yiddish, like it sounds, German with a soft shushing accent, is a great language for jokes.
It is well known that comedians can get laughter by using a different accent. A different accent can convey character. It's easier to act if you speak with a different accent.
Teaching another language is easier if you know the grammatical or pronunciation mistakes your learners are likely to make, what they need to learn.
Stories
Misunderstandings in German and English
You could easily turn up the wrong time if you didn't know that in one country (England and the USA) half eight means half past eight, whilst in another country (Germany) it means half to eight.
Misunderstandings in Chinese and English
For years I had nonsense conversations with taxi drivers who took me from Changi airport into the city. I would say that I left London yesterday (the time zone meant a flight going East leaves London one day and arrives in Singapore the next day).
My taxi driver would reply that he had been to London yesterday. I would ask him which flight, not raising that yesterday simply meant the past. I would be puzzled when it later transpired that the last time he saw London was ten or twenty years ago. I assumed that his first comment was simply politeness. How wrong can you be.
Grammar
For example, Chinese speakers often do not use 'a' and the correctly or at all. When I started learning Russian I discovered that some languages such as Russian and Chinese (Mandarin) have no use of a and the.
Intonation
In South Korea I made an effort to say goodbye and thank you when leaving restaurants. The Koreans burst out laughing. Had I said something rude? I asked a Japanese friend, Yumi. She said she did not speak Korean well. But when I described what happened, she immediately understood the problem. The same apparently occurs when a person who speaks English attempts to speak Japanese. Japanese and Korean are staccato, monotone languages. If you speak with inflexions, like in English, the effect is comical.
I knew exactly what she meant. I have no problems listening to Welsh speakers in real life in Wales. I love the accent. But I once had a conversation with a stranger who had a heavy Welsh accent. When he tried to take about serious subjects, or to chat me up and pay me compliments, I could not take him seriously and burst out laughing.
Tip
Use Duolingo to learn other languages. You can use it on your laptop and on your phone. I don't mind delays on public transport. I can sit doing my next D u o l i n g o lesson.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Teacher of English (personal tutor, on Skype, and workshops).
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