There is an Italian man named Giuseppe Mezzofanti. He was a cardinal who was considered to have mastered more than 38 languages, including Chinese, German, Arabic. He even learned one language in a single night! I wonder though whether he understood the culture behind them, that is, whether he had truly mastered any. In the case of Chinese for example, Mezzofanti would barely have had the chance to practice with native speakers. I wonder: could he tell entertaining stories in Chinese, or could he understand our myths and traditions? 

If these parts of a language are so difficult to master, can we really say that many can become fully fluent in a language other than their native one? I have been taught English since I was five years old. Even now however, I don’t think I have mastered English fully, as I still struggle with SAT Reading, for example. 

If you just want to learn how to survive in another language, then take a crash course! This course won’t even help you in some basic situations, though, for example, when you want to gossip with a classmate. Language acquisition is a process. People shouldn’t scurry after so many languages just for the sake of it. What is the purpose of speaking ten or even 20 languages if you aren’t able to understand jokes in those languages? The article pointed out that in order for a child to learn a language, they have to see the fun in it. For me, the fun is digging in instead of skimming across. 

07.14.2022

Suzhou