{"id":8005,"date":"2020-08-06T13:12:32","date_gmt":"2020-08-06T17:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/?p=8005"},"modified":"2020-10-01T10:13:11","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T14:13:11","slug":"what-learning-foreign-languages-teaches-you-about-your-own-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/2020\/08\/06\/what-learning-foreign-languages-teaches-you-about-your-own-language\/","title":{"rendered":"What Learning Foreign Languages Teaches You About Your Own Language"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange SCXW14764898 BCX9\"><span class=\"TextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW14764898 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\" data-ccp-parastyle-defn=\"{&quot;ObjectId&quot;:&quot;254d899e-fe61-4b4f-89dc-31c9b87490de|20&quot;,&quot;Properties&quot;:[134233614,&quot;true&quot;,201340122,&quot;2&quot;,268442635,&quot;22&quot;,335551500,&quot;0&quot;,469769226,&quot;Helvetica Neue,Arial Unicode MS&quot;,469775450,&quot;Body&quot;,469777841,&quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,469777842,&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;,469777843,&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;,469777844,&quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,469778129,&quot;Body&quot;],&quot;ClassId&quot;:1179649}\">Hyperpolylgot<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">\u00a0Richard\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW14764898 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">Simcott<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">\u00a0recently posed\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange SCXW14764898 BCX9\"><span class=\"TextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">an interesting question to his Twitter followers<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange SCXW14764898 BCX9\"><span class=\"TextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">:\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange SCXW14764898 BCX9\"><span class=\"TextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">what<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange SCXW14764898 BCX9\"><span class=\"TextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">\u00a0have you discovered about your own language through language learning? (And yes,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange SCXW14764898 BCX9\"><span class=\"TextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">he speaks so many languages that even autocorrect was\u00a0 dumbfounded, suggesting <\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange SCXW14764898 BCX9\"><span class=\"TextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">hyper<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange SCXW14764898 BCX9\"><span class=\"TextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW14764898 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">polyglot wasn\u2019t even a real word.)<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP TrackedChange SCXW14764898 BCX9\" data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">What have you discovered about your own language through language learning? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vdsGxh8ApZ\">pic.twitter.com\/vdsGxh8ApZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Richard Simcott (@SpeakinFluently) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SpeakinFluently\/status\/1284965676311085060?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 19, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange SCXW18818055 BCX9\"><span class=\"TextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\" data-ccp-parastyle-defn=\"{&quot;ObjectId&quot;:&quot;254d899e-fe61-4b4f-89dc-31c9b87490de|20&quot;,&quot;Properties&quot;:[134233614,&quot;true&quot;,201340122,&quot;2&quot;,268442635,&quot;22&quot;,335551500,&quot;0&quot;,469769226,&quot;Helvetica Neue,Arial Unicode MS&quot;,469775450,&quot;Body&quot;,469777841,&quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,469777842,&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;,469777843,&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;,469777844,&quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,469778129,&quot;Body&quot;],&quot;ClassId&quot;:1179649}\">The thread is a trove of interesting reflections on\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange SCXW18818055 BCX9\"><span class=\"TextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">how languages<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange SCXW18818055 BCX9\"><span class=\"TextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">\u2014and the experience of learning\/using them<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange SCXW18818055 BCX9\"><span class=\"TextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">. <\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">Pauline\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">Itred<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\"> noted how Chinese characters \u2018build\u2019 a word in a way we sometimes do in English, as in \u2018telephone\u2019 or \u2018television\u2019. <\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" lang=\"IT-IT\" xml:lang=\"IT-IT\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">Ayxan<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">Rassulsson<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">Mamedoff<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">, who lists \u2018<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange SCXW18818055 BCX9\"><span class=\"TextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">Interpreter<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">Heiroglyphics<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">\u2019 on his twitter profile (seriously, we follow a lot of really cool people on twitter), mentions compound words: \u201cI was surprised at how could I easily make those long words by adding endless suffixes to the root in my language and say it instantaneously. \u0130<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" lang=\"FR-FR\" xml:lang=\"FR-FR\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">stiqam<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">\u0259tl\u0259\u015fdirilmi\u015fl\u0259rd\u0259nsiniz<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">?\u00a0 (Are you one of those who have been guided).\u201d<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP SCXW18818055 BCX9\" data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">I am by no means a polyglot, but I am certainly a hyper-dabbler (maybe Ayxan can help me out with a word meaning \u2018one of those who knows enough of a language to express not knowing enough of a language\u2019). Even in my Jack-of-All-Trades approach, I have found there is much to learn about English from the languages I have tried out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Spanish is much more straightforward in pronunciation than English. Take it from Lucy and Desi:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"I love Lucy  english Pronunciation\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uZV40f0cXF4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Despite how difficult English grammar can be, I am extremely thankful I don\u2019t have to worry about noun declensions. Right now, I only know how to talk about water and it seems that&#8217;s how it\u2019s going to be for a while.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">English uses the Latin alphabet, so it\u2019s easier to dig into similarly alphabetted (totally a real word) languages, but less so for Eastern languages like Japanese or Urdu.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">But my absolute favorite thing about English is how much we\u2019ve borrowed from other languages. Even in something with a different alphabet, all the way across the world, can have influenced our ability to communicate what we mean to the best of our ability. Look no further than the Sanskrit word \u2018guru\u2019, the Arabic \u2018lemon\u2019, and of course the Japanese \u2018karaoke\u2019. Check out this chart of English word origins:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8008 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-11.52.23-AM-154x350.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"189\" height=\"430\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-11.52.23-AM-154x350.png 154w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-11.52.23-AM.png 440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 189px) 100vw, 189px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">So even though I have about eight or nine paths <span class=\"TextRun BCX9 SCXW58985069\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX9 SCXW58985069\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">open at once<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange BCX9 SCXW58985069\"><span class=\"TextRun BCX9 SCXW58985069\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX9 SCXW58985069\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\">\u00a0in my\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/transparent.com\"><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange BCX9 SCXW58985069\"><span class=\"FieldRange BCX9 SCXW58985069\"><span class=\"TextRun Underlined BCX9 SCXW58985069\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX9 SCXW58985069\" data-ccp-charstyle=\"Hyperlink\">Transparent Language Online<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span class=\"TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange BCX9 SCXW58985069\"><span class=\"TextRun BCX9 SCXW58985069\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX9 SCXW58985069\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"Body\"> account<\/span><\/span><\/span>, I\u2019m glad that even if I\u2019m not quite a polyglot, I can find and appreciate similarities and differences in our languages that make the world a smaller, friendlier place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">How has<em> your<\/em> language learning made you think about your Native language? Let me know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/pexels-porapak-apichodilok-346885-350x233.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/pexels-porapak-apichodilok-346885-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/pexels-porapak-apichodilok-346885-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/pexels-porapak-apichodilok-346885-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/pexels-porapak-apichodilok-346885-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/pexels-porapak-apichodilok-346885-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>Hyperpolylgot\u00a0Richard\u00a0Simcott\u00a0recently posed\u00a0an interesting question to his Twitter followers:\u00a0what\u00a0have you discovered about your own language through language learning? (And yes,\u00a0he speaks so many languages that even autocorrect was\u00a0 dumbfounded, suggesting hyperpolyglot wasn\u2019t even a real word.)\u00a0 What have you discovered about your own language through language learning? pic.twitter.com\/vdsGxh8ApZ &mdash; Richard Simcott (@SpeakinFluently) July 19, 2020 The&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/2020\/08\/06\/what-learning-foreign-languages-teaches-you-about-your-own-language\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":8010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[542801],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8005","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archived-posts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8005"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8016,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8005\/revisions\/8016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}