How A Love Of Languages Keeps Me In Touch With The World

I love language, because I love to talk. I like to know what's going on around me, and I love meeting new people. I'm an adventerous person, and I love to travel. So everytime I'm meeting foreign visitors or going abroad, I try to pick up some simple words and phrases that will help break the ice, or at least get a good laugh!

At present, I speak French and German, with smatterings of Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Swedish, Swahili, and Luganda (one of the many languages of Uganda)!

Most of these languages I picked up were introduced to me by my exchange students when I taught Intensive English courses, and during my knitting travels in Africa. I am learning Swedish because my nephew married a lovely young Swedish lady, and moved to Sweden. Now, I'm a GREAT aunt, so I can't afford to miss any of the big firsts because of a language barrier. I'm just too nosey!

I got the idea from my dad, who taught aeronautics classes to groups of foreign exchange students in the 1970's. Every term, he'd come home with a new dictionary and learn a few phrases to help him communicate with his students, since some of them had rough English skills. He never failed to win their respect, because he reached out to them in their own language. When he passed away, many of his former students and his last group of students from Malaysia filled the church to pay their respects.

Look at it this way, with the entire planet communicating through the Internet and the world economy growing at a lightning fast pace, you can't afford NOT to learn another language! Most people are very understanding of others just learning their language, so smile, and keep talking! Whether it's business or pleasure, you'll learn and have fun. I have discovered some great resources, so check it out!