Mind your Language (Perceptions)

In today's post I want to challenge some perceptions I’ve known people to have on learning a language. As you may know already, I'm currently studying German and Spanish at university, so I also felt it important to share some thoughts on a subject that makes up such a big part of my life. I’m going to try and tackle four different perceptions, hopefully without rambling (or ranting) too much!




1) “It’s too hard”

When I tell people I study languages, the responses normally go something like: “How?”, “I could never do that”, or "I dropped them as soon as I could." Yes, learning a new language is going to be difficult, but in my opinion this is true for any new skill or knowledge. The thought of doing a medical or law degree, for example, fills me with terror!


I will say, however, that people seem to be scared off doing languages. I think a big part of this is a lot of the assessment for languages is really daunting: I'm sure many students' memories of GCSE languages revolve around the dreaded speaking exams! At university, this was not something I was particularly scared of, as my confidence had grown a lot by then and it was a lot more of a casual environment. So it's just one of those things you just have to suffer through to reap the benefits.

However, I also read a Guardian article a few months ago explaining that one of the main reasons for the big decrease in people studying languages is that the marking is unreasonably harsh, putting students off taking them further. This is saddening, as learning a new language and culture is such an important skill, and something that the UK seem to be increasingly unenthusiastic about *tries not to rant*.

What I have found very hard is realising the spectrum of ability that comes with being at university, especially one that attracts language students. At the beginning of the year, and at times throughout, I felt I was at the bottom of the class, as there were people who were fluent or close, and this was really frustrating, even demoralising. 

What I tried to remember is that, by not being fluent, I was learning so much every day and really getting the most out of my classes. The teachers' goal, and job, is to get you to the high standard it seems many start at. Also (and I'm bad at this), always ask for help when you need it; this may also encourage the teacher to slow down and go over things in classes.

2) “The only skill you learn is the language”

For ages I was convinced I was going to study English at university, but after being put off by the sheer amount of reading, and with my language studies flourishing, I decided I'd stick to the latter. But what I realised was, by doing a languages degree, it also meant that I'd get to study literature. And film. And art. And politics, and history... 

Because languages at higher education is not about vocabulary and verb conjugation anymore. You learn how the people think, and the language is simply one element of that. Cultural studies becomes a massive part of your learning: it forms 50% of my degree, though this will vary between universities.


3) “You may as well just go and live in the country”

The other week, I told someone I was doing an MFL degree, and they jokingly asked why I’m not just spending time abroad and learning the language there instead of wasting money. This seems to be a common thought, that you can learn a language well by immersion alone. Yes I do believe that, for dedicated and capable people, it’s possible to learn a language by immersion. It’s also a vital part of a language degree, the big step towards becoming a near-native speaker. But I think people underestimate the hard work, and often come out with language skills that may be lacking in some areas. I have definitely heard of cases where people move to foreign countries and do not pick up the language.


4) "You don't need to know all the technical stuff"

Similarly to the above, people say they would rather just learn the language by speaking it, rather than mess around with silly rules about tenses and mood. Even if you do agree with either of these perceptions - that you can learn by speaking or immersion - I do not think anyone should disregard or criticise the system in place now, and methods that have, for a reason, gone unchanged throughout the years. 

So many times have I heard people say things like "I don’t even know what the subjunctive is in English and I haven’t needed to know." Well, no, of course you haven’t, because it’s your mother tongue. But the process of learning a language later in life needs these steps: you need a basis for forming sentences otherwise your skills will be very limited. Besides, I’ve found it has enriched my English grammar, and as a grammar nerd, I love that!



So there we go, a (let's face it) slight rant about different perceptions I have encountered over my time studying languages. I hope you learnt something new from this post, found it a bit interesting or worth thinking about, and don't think I've been too harsh in my defence of language learning!



Hasta luego, und vielen dank!

Evie x