Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One: Online Version
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Introduction: English-speakers lost in translation
Notice that I used the term “native English-speakers” rather than “Americans.” Americans have traditionally taken a lot of heat for our linguistic provincialism. Nonetheless, our British cousins are just as insular. The same goes for Anglophones in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Wherever people speak English as a primary, native language, most of the population can speak nothing else. The English-speaking world is almost universally hobbled by monolingualism.
No one imposed this condition on us. We have chosen to restrict our own options. In a competitive world where gaining insights about other markets and cultures is of increasing importance, we have voluntarily limited our mode of intelligence gathering and influence to a single language. As Shakespeare wrote in Love’s Labor Lost, “They have been at a great feast of languages, and stolen [only] the scraps.”
Objectives of this book
This book consists of two parts. Part I, Why You Need a Foreign Language, discusses the relevance of foreign languages for English-speakers. The chapters in this part of the book explore the concept of the lingua franca, the current status of various languages in the world, and probable trends for the future. In Part I you will find answers to questions like: Why did the language of tiny Britain become such a powerful linguistic force in the world? Why did Roman soldiers learn to speak Greek, when the language of Rome was Latin? How is the process of globalization likely to affect the worldwide usage of Chinese, Spanish, English, and Arabic?
Part II, How to Learn a Foreign Language, delves into the nuts and bolts of languages: What are language families? Which languages are relatively easy for native English-speakers to learn, and which present more of a challenge? How many tongues can you realistically learn? What are the basic characteristics of Spanish, French, Chinese, etc.? Part II also includes information about applying languages to your career and professional development.
Languages do not exist in a vacuum. They are influenced by geopolitics, social and demographic trends, and economics. This book therefore contains some necessary detours into topics like history, business, and current events. These subjects are not mere diversions. The rise of manufacturing in China, the backlash against globalization, and the history of Japan’s ambivalent relationship with the West are just a few of the items that have shaped contemporary attitudes about languages.
The first edition of Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One was published in 2003. This edition has been significantly revised and expanded. While there are still several chapters that focus on the role of languages in the business world, the second edition takes a much wider look at the historical, cultural, and political factors that determine linguistic trends. The “how-to” chapters that deal specifically with language study are basically the same ones that appeared in the first edition, with a few minor updates and revisions.
Copyright 2005 Beechmont Crest Publishing
