Tag: languages

Knowing English is a duty of the modern intellectual. In the first place, because English literature is the greatest in the world—that is, it has the largest number of, and has for the longest time consistently produced, first-rate authors;—secondly, because it is the closest to a universal language—that is, the language of the most common interchange and also the language of specialized literature in most areas of knowledge;—and finally, because the English have translated everything: it is often easier to find an English translation than an original French, Italian or Spanish, to say nothing of less popular languages. Knowing English, therefore, is not only to make one’s study life easier, but an obligation since the lack of English deprives the student of much of the best that is available. From all this, the problem. The Portuguese-speaking writer, for example, the more he gorges himself on English, the more he must fight to not, under any circumstances, allow it to penetrate his writing. A language whose strength, simplicity, is also its greatest weakness: syntactically, English is limited; when translated into Portuguese, its poverty is stark. Bad translations from English are intolerable, and even originals should be read with great care, preferably interspersed with vernacular works, and the precaution should be the same as that of the chemist who puts on gloves before working.

There are very distinct phases in learning a language. Before that, there are different objectives. One can learn a language to be able to order a cup of coffee at an international airport. One can, on the other hand, learn a language to be able to read and understand its highest manifestation, that is, its literature. In the latter case, there are well-defined stages, of varying lengths, and of different assimilation profiles. The first and essential step in learning any language is to listen to it, to be able to feel its phonetics. This step involves replicating the phonemes in one’s own mouth, to be able to reproduce them in mind when reading. Here it is very valid to be unaware of the graphic representation of what is being spoken, so that the brain does not get in the way of learning. Here, too, one finds pleasure in overcoming the small initial difficulties of assimilating the new phonemes and new words. Then comes the next phase, which consists of contact with texts. Already knowing the sound and meaning of many words, one must discover how they are spelled and move on to other particularities of the language. A difficulty that, at first, seems great, is quickly overcome with a few weeks of contact with texts and, after assimilating a small number of words, it is possible to jump to the next stage. To be more precise: the mastery of the main verbs, generally irregular (to be, to have), plus one verb from each regular declension of the language (obviously, mastering their personal and temporal desinences) and the main pronouns (personal, demonstrative, possessive, interrogative and relative)—with this, it is possible to force way into texts of little linguistic complexity, that is, journalistic, scientific, philosophical and similar. In this new stage, too, an apparently great initial difficulty is quickly overcome with a few weeks of contact with the texts and assimilation of new words. When the reading begins to flow and, consequently, to deliver pleasure; when the naive brain begins to believe that the language is very simple and not at all challenging, then it is time to move on to the next stage, the most terrible, frustrating and time-consuming one, the stage that airport polyglots do not even dream of existing and that consists, basically, in the transition to literary texts. It is amazing how the little sandcastle collapses all at once. The periods that used to be magically connected are now impenetrable. The pleasure of reading not only disappears, but turns into distress and wear and tear. Every line, a dictionary lookup, and therefore the thread of the narrative gets lost, one time after the other, making it impossible to assimilate paragraphs. At this stage, if the student opts for comprehension of the text, he will probably eventually throw in the towel. If, on the other hand, he goes ahead even if he does not fully understand what he reads, if he forces his brain to proceed through the inscrutable, imposing rhythm on the incomprehension, then he forces it to assimilate something. If it continues for many dozens of hours, reading and rereading, always forcing the flow of the reading, even if it thinks the activity is stupid and useless, then he witnesses the magic of learning. The brain, whipped, transforms the tiny individual assimilations into a giant pile that, all together, after many hours of anguish, enables him to understand the language at a level that even natives are sometimes incapable of. Then he can be proud and say: “I learned it”.

Goethe teaches: He who does not know foreign languages does not know anything about his own. But why? It is subject to hundreds of pages… Knowledge of foreign languages makes an invaluable contribution to the mastery of one’s native language. Languages from the same root broaden vocabulary, deepen understanding of words, strengthen the meaning of common radicals, give the student an arsenal of syntactical resources applicable to his language. Languages from different roots, in turn, challenge the intellect, force the brain to deal with a different organization of language—teaching how to structure thought differently,—strengthen the understanding of word classes, presenting them with new applications. This without mentioning the gains of cultural nature: language is the manifestation of a people’s character; to study its evolution and its particularities is to know a new way of understanding and expressing reality. Therefore, the obvious conclusion: assimilation is dependent on comparison; one apprehends the essence of something when opposed to what is different. And so, the words of the master are wise: deep knowledge of native language requires knowledge of foreign languages.

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Read more:

• How to Learn Languages
• Faust, by Goethe
• The Sorrows of Young Werther, by Goethe
• The American Bush and the Brazilian Bush