Learning Many Languages Makes One More Human?

Learning other languages can make one express oneself very well – better than the native speaker at times. It can be akin to "people watching gorillas or ants 24 hours a day." However, learning many languages is an altogether different issue

Why do people need to learn so many languages? To rule the world?
What do people want to do with the many languages they’ve learned? Why don’t they just aim for one international language that almost everybody understands? Or go simplistic with just two or three, and stop from there?

Obviously, there is effective communication when both source and receiver are homophilous or have a common frame of reference. Beyond this, however, what motivates one to keep on learning many, many languages?

Whether they make sense to one or not, people learn languages for a multitude of reasons. With them, not all reasons have to be economics-driven.

One said, the more languages one knows, the more times one is human. However, not everyone agrees, where one noted that those who knew several languages tend to be very proud and took every chance to display them.

"Human" was explained as giving one a better understanding of humanity as a whole. Still, it does not necessarily follow that the more languages one knows, the more one becomes human, because then it implies that language learning should have solved the many problems that plague society at this time.

One international language would be a nightmare for me, one said, as it would be a bit boring. Diversity is something that should be embraced, not shunned, he said. "Using nothing but English would make the world a very boring place and I can't see why we should overlook languages spoken by millions of people just because they aren't 'international' enough," he continued.

The reasons given for learning many languages were: to be able to talk to people, read newspapers, magazines and books in the language one has learned; write e-mails, and letters, listen to particular music, write little stories with them, and make translations. One is also able to study in a university, move to a place, impress other people at parties.

However, language learning is not always a leisure activity but can be a must sometimes. For example, one had to learn a particular language as an obligation to relatives and nationality, to enhance one’s career prospects, to work on an on-line translation dictionary, and in order to get a slick international job.

French, believed to be dead, is still "a pretty widespread international language" for one. People keep studying it because of its language’s features. Irish was one’s choice because "I felt I had an obligation to my relatives and my nationality." One had to learn Chinese or Korean because he might find himself walking along in a Chinese border town bordering North Korea.

Here’s one multi-language speaker who saw world affairs in language learning -
"A Persian proverb states that 'har zabaan-e-digei, zendegi-ye-jadidi e' - each language is a new life. Although I do not have much practical use for many of the languages that I have learned, (what practical use is there anyway for any language other than English and Spanish in Southern California?), every language that I have learned has taught me how to react with other citizens of the world better, as well as give me a new perspective on how to understand other people and to be 'quick on my feet' when speaking. Middle Eastern languages have given me a unique perspective about world affairs. For example, it is surprising how much power women really have in countries like Iran."

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