As promised, here are some interesting facts and quotes about learning foreign languages:
“Language is the only thing worth knowing even poorly." /Kató Lomb/
- According to experts, at this moment there are more than 5000 languages spoken around the world. The 12 most widely used represent approximately ¾ of the world’s population, and the 30 most principal ones are spoken on more than ¾ of the world.
”Those who know no foreign language know nothing of their mother tongue.“ /Johann Wolfgang von Goethe/
- English is the most widely published language and also the language spoken by the greatest number of non-native speakers.
"The limits of my language are the limits of my universe.” /Ludwig Wittgenstein/
- Language learning is like mental gymnastics. Several studies suggest that the more languages we know already, the easier it becomes to learn another. Also, learning a second language has been proven to delay the onset of dementia.
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." /Nelson Mandela/
- A language dies every two weeks:
Int. Mother Language Day, 21 February 2013 [Live Windows Project – UCA Farnham] from United Nations on Vimeo.
”A different language is a different vision of life.“ /Federico Fellini/
- And on this same note, here’s an interesting one which I had to include because it’s that time of the year again: guess which foreign language has won the most Oscars so far? It’s Italian! (With 12 Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Film category.)
I hope many of you got encouraged to raise efforts in language learning, maybe even start a new one! If you have any language learning stories you’d like to share, you can find my contacts on the right!
