Why study foreign languages? In the context of the Languages Week 2023, whose subject is « The important is to communicate », pupils of the class of year 10 Spanish Euro Caribbean Languages and Cultures studied the question for you, building on their personal experiences and then drew conclusions.
Who has never dreamed of being understood easily into another language while in a foreign country? Learning foreign languages is very important to travel. Edmund de Waal, a British artist, put it this way: « Thanks to languages, we are at home wherever we are ». E., a pupil of the class, tells us that she « saved » her parents during a trip to Sint Maarten thanks to her mastering English: « in August 2022 with my parents, we went to Sint Maarten. As we arrived at the hotel, they signed the important documents then the staff at the reception desk asked them a question which they did not understand. I translated it to them then I answered in English for them ». We can imagine how much E.’s parents appreciated their daughter’s skills in English.
Nowadays we are over 8 billion people on Earth, speaking over 7,000 languages. It then becomes essential to learn how to speak other people’s languages in order to create bonds. As L. and N. remind us, we are all meant to meet people from different languages and cultures. « One day, I remember, I was able to bond with a Spanish speaking guy during a trip to Spain. I was able to do that because I have had basic knowledge in Spanish» said T. Moreover, with the Internet, our world is expanding and we can meet people from everywhere on the planet thanks to blogs, forums, chats and online videogames. L. tells that she was playing a videogame as she received a friend request, which she accepted. She started playing with her new « friend » who sent her a message in Spanish, that she answered. So was born a new friendship with a young Mexican.
J., dreams to go to another country to study as part of a university exchange program: « I want to be an exchange student and to achieve this, you need to have a good level of language. To go study abroad, we must pass oral and written tests. » Later, in the workplace, speaking another language can prove very useful as N. says « I had the occasion to find myself in a quite embarrassing situation during my training period because I do not really understand English. I was in a bakery and I ended up at the cash desk. One customer arrived and asked me « how is boit », at least that was what I understood…I just stayed petrified and I had to call my supervisor who explained to me that she was actually asking if there were any bokits left… » S. has a cousin who is a professional soccer player in Rennes and who has been recruited by the Bayern club in Germany. In order to better adapt, this one told her that he had to get to learn German. Top sports people are affected, too.
Speaking the language of the other also allows to open to his culture, to discover the other’s world, his life, often different, his traditions, his way of seeing things. In class we saw that the Spaniards are used to eating twelve grapes on December, 31rd at midnight for the New Year, which does not exist in our culture. They celebrate the equivalent of April Fool’s Day on December 28th, and there, the Three Wise Men carry the presents, not Santa Claus. Spanish kids must wait until January 6th, to open their presents. Also, we spoke about Carnival in the Spanish speaking countries and of the differences with the one of Guadeloupe.
- discovered that according to studies carried on a scientific base, people who speak various languages tend to obtain better results in the following categories: general intelligence, memory, decision making, focusing and attention, mental flexibility, multitasking. This is even more interesting since we come from an island where most of the people are bilingual into French and Creole. M. reminds us too, that the more languages we speak, the easiest it will be to learn more. Indeed, our brain being used to switch from a language to another will tend to record more easily new linguistic knowledge.
In brief, we realized that learning foreign languages is useful:
- to travel
- to communicate with more people
- to gain opportunities in the workplace
- to open to new cultures
- to improve cognitive abilities (= concerning higher psychological activities such as memory, language, attention, etc.)
So many reasons to become a polyglot!
The class of year 10 Spanish Euro Caribbean Languages and Cultures