“How many languages you know, so many lives you have,” said the ancients. By learning a foreign language, we discover not only a new culture, but also ourselves. The main thing is to know that it is never too late to start.
“I decided to learn German at the age of 49,” says Tatiana, senior accountant. – My husband and I were going to go to Germany, and I wanted to surprise him. I studied secretly, according to the self-instruction manual. After 9 months in Munich, I could already explain myself – in a store or in a bar. Husband was amazed! “I started learning English almost from scratch at the age of 56 and I remember this feeling very well – a mixture of fear and perfectionism,” says psychologist Victor Kagan, who now lives in the United States and works with Russian and English-speaking patients. “But one day I said to myself: in any country there are enough indigenous people who cannot read and write, but who speak with might and main. If they can do it, so can I. The main thing is to set yourself realistic goals: “all at once” will not work. But what opportunities open up for many years to come!”
Gain self-confidence. Cases, conjugations, idioms… Learning a foreign language for an adult is a serious test. “When you make the twentieth mistake in a sentence, it’s easy to say: “Admit it, you can’t do it anymore!” – shares 48-year-old Dmitry, a lawyer. “Confidence comes when you suddenly realize that you can make your life richer,” explains Viktor Kagan. Another language is new career opportunities, acquaintances, trips. We feel busy, included in an interesting process, and this increases our self-esteem.
Details
“How to learn a foreign language?” Anton Khripko (Scythia-print, 2004).
Build your future. “At some point it seemed to me that I began to grow old, and I went to learn a new language – Hungarian!” Dmitry says. Studies by neuropsychologists confirm that those who speak two or more foreign languages are several times less likely to suffer from memory problems in old age*. By training our cognitive abilities, we change the quality of our future life for the better.
Expand your boundaries. “I speak five languages and feel like a man of the world! Wherever I go, I understand people and they understand me,” says 30-year-old Tatyana, a sommelier. – Each language opens a new facet of life for me. We think in letters, but the Japanese think in symbols, putting text together like a puzzle. It’s so mind-expanding!” Mastering another language, we comprehend a new cultural system for ourselves, another reality.
* Science Daily, February, 2011, www.sciencedaily.com
Read more:
- Learning foreign languages in a group: how to find your place
- Nine Lives of a Polyglot
- What is the point of having a variety of languages?
Language schools
- www.bkc.ru (English)
- www.english.rst.ru (English)
- www.big-ben.ru (english)
- www.ccf-moscou.ru (French)
- www.goethe.de/russland (German)