Joys of Language Learning

Even in a world where Google continues to get increasingly better everyday

by Antoine Jenart and Smriti Naropanth, June 2020 

The authors of this article met at the Goethe-Institut Göttingen in Germany in 2008. They were both there to improve their German skills. They continue to be enthusiastic about the language and the process of language learning. Language acquisition in children is a subject very fascinating to both of them. Antoine lives in Belgium with his wife and child aged 2 (another coming soon!). Smriti lives in India with her husband and two children aged 6 and 3.5.

Learning a new language is to us something most enjoyable. Sometimes it is to learn about a new culture, opening a door to another way of thinking and living. At other times, it is for the pure pleasure of the immersing oneself in the grammar and workings of an unknown tongue. It has the taste of a code-breaking adventure. The main issue we face with languages is the dearth of time to master them all and still have some time for other interests!

Learning a language indeed demands much more than just curiosity. Fluency is a goal that many a language learner has struggled with. However, the difficulty of reaching that goal does not, and should not, in any way, take away from the joy of the experience. There’s a plethora of easily accessible resources out there that makes learning languages all the more manageable. Mobile apps such as Duolingo and Memrise, online platforms where one can interact with native speakers, foreign language movies and books, online news channels in global languages, and even trainers known as ‘EduTubers’ — there is something to suit everyone. One might not be able to pick up a language with the ease a toddler does, but the polyglots out there in the world show that, with the right amount time and effort put in, it need not be a distant dream. Michael Erard's "Babel No More" is a captivating read on the subject of the language learning experiences of polyglots.

We have had different learning experiences as children. Smriti’s language journey started, like most others in India, with an exposure to multiple languages (Hindi, Punjabi and English in her case). She had the advantage of being able to understand, and switch between them as she pleased. It was not something that was considered out of the ordinary and hence, it was not something to which she gave much thought. Antoine’s monolingual French upbringing was completely at the other end of the spectrum, with no special emphasis put on any other language. Dutch appeared at school more with a sense of obligation than true interest; the current Belgian school system as well has some room for improvement in that respect. The first real taste of foreign languages for Antoine was English and Russian, having had to learn English at the same time as Russian because the Russian book being used was only available in English when he started the course! He further developed this taste for learning foreign languages over the years, thanks to opportunities (even if short-term at times) like attending a high school in Germany, Switzerland and other immersion programs. One of his life goals then became the ability to code switch easily between the different languages he spoke.

Smriti used to enjoy reading travelogues, and the draw of speaking the language of a strange land, that she had only read about, was strong. But the realization that languages were anything more than a tool for communication, came when she happened to take up German as a hobby. Until then, Smriti had no inkling that the structure of languages could be so fascinating. At the same time, she chanced upon Guy Deutscher's “The Unfolding of Language”. This amazing book opened up to her the world of evolution and the structure of languages. So began her lifelong interest in linguistics. 

Antoine’s language mentor, Jean-Pierre, who is an extraordinary Dutch professor and is a good friend of his, explains: “Do you really want to learn languages? Then you first need to appreciate the language and listen! Listen before speaking, and speak before reading and writing! Do the opposite of what they force students to do in most Belgian schools.” As in human relationships actually, listening is the starting point. Jean-Pierre elaborates further: “Look how babies learn a language: they analyze your face while you are speaking, they enjoy themselves a lot and their ears open up to the sounds around them. Babies under six months hear all the sounds of all languages, thereafter this capacity dwindles for sounds not heard regularly.”

While we do believe that it is possible to learn a radically new language as an adult, there is definitely no denying the advantages of an early start.

We want to give our children opportunities, while also sharing our passion for languages. In our respective families in India and Belgium, we have our kids exposed to three different languages from birth. This has not only been through conversations, but also via rhymes, games and songs. Übung macht den Meister, Practice makes perfect, as they say! Most people who know either of us would probably find it unlikely that we love learning songs, to sing to and with our children, in different languages. It is with pleasure that we observe the struggles of our young ones with the multitude languages that they are exposed to.

We are certainly not inclined to reduce this exposure in any form, with the misguided hope that they can or should master one primary language. Smriti’s children speak Hindi with their mother, Kannada with their father, and English in school. Some difficulties (like mispronunciations, or forming the past tense) seem like those that any other monolingual child would grapple with. At other times, there are words from the different languages glued together in a single sentence, with the sole purpose of quickly conveying what they want to say, mindless of the language or grammar. Smriti also notices the evident influence of the structures of one language in their sentence constructions in another one. And the language enthusiast in her takes great pleasure in observing this fascinating process of language acquisition.

Growing in a one-language-family, Antoine envied friends and colleagues who had the chance of a bilingual education. He is currently trying the best he can to share his language passion with his son, Marcus. Antoine’s wife speaks French with Marcus, and Antoine is trying to speak only German with him. Putting in the effort of daily using a language that is not his mother tongue is a demanding but rewarding exercise. English learning for Marcus is mainly through an external school, songs and radio. 

 Some might say that the only thing that really matters is having the child exposed to a native-speaking environment early on. Naturally that is not always possible. And our main goal is that our children beat us at the game. Antoine believes that even if his children only get part of the exposure that a child in a native-speaking family would get, they are already off to a more advantageous start in life than he got. Besides, he does not hesitate to look for babysitters who are native speakers in the target languages. That can only be beneficial!

The more we practice, the more we realize how many words and expressions are necessary to be able to cope with and describe most life situations. Languages are very accurate! Should you have any doubts about that, just look around you and observe how many words are required to describe the people, the space and the objects around you! Once you have done that in one language, try it with the next one.   

As to why we chose the languages that we respectively did, raising a child is energy consuming and we considered it wise and a win-win to give our children the best chance possible by choosing the languages that we cherish the most.

Having fun and harnessing the child’s intrinsic motivation is at the focus of our efforts. There is no need to force the learning. They are definitely curious to learn, even if they are easily distracted. Most children cannot focus long on a task, but when they do, their learning power is incredible. Having our children recognize and progressively use more words in three languages is something that fills us with great joy.

Please do get in touch with us if you are interested in exchanging views on the topic!

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