Which languages do you speak and how did that impact your life?
I admire people who can speak multiple languages. Working in a university college, I spend my days talking with students from all over the world. The are here to study degrees that are taught in English but many of them speak multiple languages. Their command of these languages is amazing & it always a joy to see their English skills grow quickly as they study & converse in English each day. I always recommend that students stay in a diverse community such as this rather than get an apartment with people from their home country as they grow their language skills so quickly.
As an English speaker, my command of other languages is limited. I learned German in high school, but my command is not strong enough to hold a conversation, just enough to read a little bit and to recognise some words in more technical language.
At theological college I learned Greek & Hebrew in order to read the biblical texts in their original languages. This was a steep learning curve, one which requires ongoing discipline to maintain. I’ve not had the time to do that but I do find that background helpful There is always greater insight in reading any text in its original language, particularly biblical texts.
When you come from an English-speaking background, there can be a certain arrogance and laziness that come with that. You can easily expect other people to bend themselves to you rather than putting in the effort to meet them part way. The little bit of work that I have done in learning other languages has encouraged me to put in more effort to meet people part way. That might mean learning how to pronounce someone’s name properly. It might mean slowing down in conversation. It might mean avoiding slang that unnecessarily excludes people. It might mean being patient when someone is searching for a word. It might mean remembering that fluency and intelligence are not the same thing.
Language is not just a tool for communication. It is one of the ways we carry home, memory, humour, faith, grief, and belonging. To learn someone’s language, even a little, is to honour something of their world.
I still only speak English with any fluency. But living and working among people who speak many languages has enlarged my life. It has made me slower to assume, quicker to admire, and more conscious of the generosity of others.
The Afterword 
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