Ambassadors and other foreign-service staff, that is...
I asked on here a few weeks ago for ideas around learning a language as quickly as possible. And while this is not a repeat of that post (as I think I have finally found my groove), the process of language learning is proving a fascinating one from a psychological point of view.
I already have facility with an above-average number of languages, so I have always believed in their 'learnability'. But learning them quickly? And as adults? That's always been another matter. Then I was listening to our British Ambassador to one of the former Soviet countries deliver a speech in excellent-sounding language, and was amazed. Because at least ostensibly, an ambassador can be swiftly moved on to another country where s/he would have to do it all over again.
Anyway, I'm just rambling, but the moral of the story is: languages and cool, and the process of language appropriation is really, really interesting.
I was listening to our British Ambassador to one of the former Soviet countries deliver a speech in excellent-sounding language, and was amazed.
I imagine that learning how to pronounce words in a speech is significantly easier than learning a language, mind. (-:
Actually, that's a point.
What's an "above average" number of languages? I expect that for most native English speakers that average is going to be nominally higher than "one," but how common is being bilingual / multilingual in the rest of the world? I suppose with English being the language of the Internet you're going to get a lot of people with it as a second language?
What’s an “above average” number of languages?
English, French, German, and now some Ukrainian in terms of reading and speaking
Latin and Greek in terms of reading
I'm sure that the more you've learned, the easier it is to pick up new ones. Understanding the language is also a useful way to understand the culture; I found that particularly the case with Japanese.
Then I was listening to our British Ambassador to one of the former Soviet countries deliver a speech in excellent-sounding language, and was amazed.
Probably taught by his handler whilst at Cambridge.
Learning languages is much quicker if you have good facilities, like the ability to be immersed in it and 1:1 tuition, which is what I expect the Ambassador would have.
Molgrips has it, for an ambassador its professional training, and they probably don't move as much from one post to the next for continuity reasons (language skills as well as the known face at the embassy)
And there will probably be a translator on hand for the important stuff.
And as adults?
there's no evidence that it's "easier" as a child or children pick up languages quicker.
there’s no evidence that it’s “easier” as a child or children pick up languages quicker.
Young children have very high neural plasticity. This makes learning much easier than in adults. Adults initially learn foreign languages more quickly because they can already read and understand complex metalinguistic explanations, but young learners ultimately become much, much better without needed the formal instruction and practice that adults do.
Depends how young I think.
There was an interesting TED talk about the benefits of exposing babies/toddlers to different languages, as that is when their brain starts forming the connections needed to process the sounds of speech, which happens before they can talk.
https://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies/transcript?language=en
