If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.
If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
Nelson Mandela
My name is Joe and I’m the current owner of this website.
Originally the site was started by Zach, who wanted to give tips and advice on how to learn a new language. Later Derek took over and continued in Zach’s original spirit.
My heartfelt thanks goes out to both of them.
Now it’s my turn and I hope to grow the site and the number of regular readers and to help them with useful, practical, or simply funny insights on other languages than their own.
Why bother to learn a new language?
Of course it can help with your career. Many big enterprises are international, and being able to communicate with colleagues from other countries is definitely an advantage. In some companies it’s even mandatory to spend some years in offices abroad, if you want to make it to the top floor.
But to me there are more reasons to learn a new language apart from fostering your career.
I think Nelson Mandela put it best when he said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
For me, travelling to other countries isn’t just about lying at the beach, getting a nice tan and having a huge cocktail at the hotel bar in the evening. I’m not saying that’s wrong. When you are on holiday, you should relax, have a good time and recharge your batteries. That’s absolutely fine, it’s your holiday!
But beside these rather laid back activities, I usually try to indulge into the country I’m in. I’m curious to learn about the people, their culture and their way of life. Traveling can really broaden your mind and learning more about other nations can give you a much better understanding of how they are and why they are living the way they do.
So I like to go to markets and take a look at the food and other items on sale there and watch normal people do their shopping, having a little chat in-between. I try to eat in local restaurants and experience the local dishes instead of having the usual burger. I love to go to museums and art galleries, wandering around for hours, looking at the exhibitions items and learning a great deal about a country’s history and culture.
All of this gives you a better understanding of a country and it’s peoples minds, hearts and souls. But if you really want to get a feeling for another country, you should try to learn it’s language. Being able to speak or at least understand the local lingo, will enable you to read the local newspapers, watch their TV broadcasts or read a few books by famous writers of that particular nation.
Speaking their language really adds a whole new layer of understanding. And to me…
Understanding each other is crucial.
We are facing a huge number of problems which affect mankind globally and can’t be solved on a national level alone. Climate change, air pollution, plastic waste filling up the seas or pandemics like the spread of Corona / Covid-19 in 2020 are some of the problems which have to be solved in cooperation amongst the different countries.
And the more we know about each other, the more we communicate and exchange our ideas, the more we understand our respective background and culture, the easier will it be to negotiate and to come up with solutions accepted and applied globally.
To achieve this, communication and understanding each other is crucial. And languages are the cornerstone of communication.
So, go ahead and start learning a new language. You will expand your horizons, help your career, train your brain and, thanks to the use of state-of-the-art apps, you can even have a lot of fun while doing so.
