Why learn a language?

After spending 5 years at university studying French and German and now embarking on a career in journalism, I am beginning to consider the merits of learning a foreign language.

It is compulsory in England to learn a foreign language up to the age of 14, but there is often little done to encourage pupils to carry this on and frequently little desire. Perhaps it is the languages on offer which is the problem. French and German are usually the only options and some children find it difficult to see the relevance of these languages to their lives. English (American) on the other hand is much more attractive as many youngsters watch American television and movies, or listen to music with English lyrics. Basically, it has the "cool" factor. This may explain the vast gap between the abilities of many English students and their counterparts overseas.

Learning a foreign language such as French or German can help with English grammar and syntax. Grammar is often sidelined in the English language curriculum, but by learning a foreign language, you are forced to learn the names of tenses, and general basic grammar. It has been shown that young children are much more capable of learning languages and the promotion of this can help to develop creativity, problem solving and memory.

Unfortunately, a passion for languages is normally a result of excellent teaching and when this is not the case, pupils' enthusiasm wanes. Learning a language is not just being able to speak it. It is also a lesson in culture. Language exchanges are extremely useful and allow students to live the life of a foreign peer. This is obviously dependent on money and so many pupils lose out. Perhaps the way forward would be to involve language assistants or highlight the significance of non-English pupils' languages and cultures in school.

Foreign language teaching is too often seen as a luxury rather than a necessity. The fear of the immensity of the subject can also be a turn off, but language learning, like anything else, comes in different levels. You don't have to be fluent but making the effort to speak the language in a foreign country shows goodwill and manners.

Speaking another language opens many doors, and it doesn't have to be the languages you were taught at school. The School of Oriental and African Studies, London, is one of the few universities in the UK to offer languages such as Kurdish and Swahili and many students realise the benefits of this. Having an extra language demonstrates an interest in others and you can have some fun doing it.

"Those who know nothing of foreign languages,
know nothing of their own."

- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Shopgirl

I hate shopping for make up. I ventured into Mac today feeling very pale and uninteresting hoping to remedy this and was greeted by the most immaculate and stunning salesgirl. Hardly a crime, but given my fragile, hungover state, I wanted to run away and get involved with the bronzer. Why I should feel the need to put make up on to go to a shop selling..well..make up, I don't know, but I will be doing it in future.

The hardest of dilemmas

What would you do if you were in a happy relationship with someone who you knew had to leave the country in a few months? Two friends are in this very position and finding themselves forced to deal with the hardest of dilemmas. Marry...or split up.
Now this is not the kind of dilemma that many 20-something year olds have to face. But as the cliche goes - you can't chose who you fall in love with. When it is someone close to you, it's easy to judge. "That Green Card-watching foreigner's trying to brainwash my friend." But things are rarely black and white. I in fact found myself sympathising (even after the hangover had worn off) with my friend's girlfriend. I am not being flippant about marriage, just trying to see the other side of the picture.

What I learnt today

I am not perfect. I know I have a lot to learn. I think the way to keep learning is to listen to those around you. One of my lecturers, David Dunkley-Gymiah, often refers to "the smartest person in the room syndrome". Basically, everyone knows something you need to know. Without meaning to sound trite, we all need to help each other. This is especially true of journalism. Yes, you have to be ambitious to get ahead, but if you try to do it all alone, you will not go far. After a short time on a new course, I think that I am beginning to see the point....

Let me start from the beginning. I finished my degree 6 months ago. In five years I was encouraged to ponder, pontificate and generally be a smug student. I studied language, film, philosophy and literature and thoroughly enjoyed it. Going straight from the comfort of school to the big-wide-world was a shock, but I still had a routine. I enjoyed learning, but sometimes got the feeling that I was storing up information for an exam rather than learning for the joy of learning.

University is a privilege. It wasn't so long ago that only the privileged few were able to go to university. Now it seems that the opposite is true. In many areas in Britain, those that finish their A Levels and do not go on to university are in the minority. I wonder what this means.

Just going to university for the sake of it seems pointless to me. Why waste 3 years and huge amounts of money if it isn't going to be useful? More and more degrees are becoming available. Perhaps I am being cynical in wondering whether a football studies BA will actually lead to a career, or more importantly, be useful at all. All I want to say is that it is important to learn. The more information a person can take in, the better and then we can learn from each other. People are nosey. We are all interested in people which is why blogging is so exciting. If this 'noseiness' can be used as a catalyst to learn, it can only be a good thing.

I want to learn as much as possible and I'm glad that I am now studying to become a journalist which means that I am acquiring knowledge which will actually be useful in my life rather than collecting information for an exam.

After a conversation with friends today, I have discovered a new mantra. A good journalist has to depend on others. What attracts me to journalism is the fact that I will always be learning - learning about and from others as well as professionally.

Definitely not Diaz

Just to say sorry in advance to anyone that clicks onto my bog in the hope that it might in any way have something to do with Cameron Diaz (as I suspect one fellow blogger did). Definitely not. Anyone is very welcome post messages intended for little old me though.

Let me just say...

This will officially be my first (hopefully of many) blogs. It's also generally a chance for me to practice writing - something that is gradually getting more and more sidelined as dreamweaver takes over my life.

A bit about me....I'm studying journalism at Westminster and hope to use this blog to join the ever-growing online community on the PG Dip course. I'm gradually beginning to realise just how useful (thanks to David Dunkley...ahem) this internet buisness is. Studying print journalsim, I am constantly living in fear that my future profession may not be around too much longer. I think the trick is not to see print and online journalism in such black and white terms. The grey area is in fact an exciting one. I have absorbed more information in the last month than in any other month in my 23 years - and most of it is because of the web.

Ok, first rant over. I'm starting to feel as if I'm trying too hard to convince myself!

I will be posting from this evening

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