Vanya Wryter Consulting Services

Tag: English

  • Which aspects do you think make a person unique?

    Which aspects do you think make a person unique?

    Learning Languages as an Adult

    Each person is unique, especially in how they learn languages as an adult.

    Kids start from scratch, like a blank document. Adults already have plenty of files stored in their brain. By the time you’re learning a new language as an adult, you might have been exposed to it in random ways—through family, movies, music, or just hearing it while growing up. So it’s not like you’re a true beginner. You already know something, even if it’s in disorganized pieces. Here’s my experience, using learning Chinese as a second language. 

    First example: you might mix up the grammar of your first and second languages, and speak a Chinese sentence with English grammar. Oops. You sound like a weirdo. But you know how to swear perfectly because you hear the words in movies and spoken by friends who are fluent. 

    Second example: you’re a polyglot. You’ve learned a bunch of languages at the beginner level. So you walk into a store in Montreal and all you can think of is how to say, “How much is this?” in Japanese. Or you’re in Tokyo, and you can only remember how to say a sentence in French. Or, more frustratingly still, you’re in Tokyo, and you can read the kanji, and you need help because you’re lost. But you can only remember the Chinese pronunciation (not the Japanese) of the kanji on the street signs, making you both literate but unable to communicate.

    Pronunciation is another funny thing if you’re trying to learn a language that you’ve heard for years but don’t speak it often. You’re not native, but you’re also not a beginner. For example, in English, you go from “I want to learn it” to “I wanna learn it” when you’re speaking more fluently. But as a non-native speaker who’s been exposed to Chinese for years, I will say the Chinese equivalent to “I wanna learn it so bad.” I’ll say a sentence that they don’t teach you in classes – something you learn from native speakers – but my pronunciation is a tad off… not quite native, and not a beginner either. 😂

    So what makes people unique isn’t just what they learn—it’s all the random, imperfect stuff they bring with them while learning.

    Daily writing prompt
    Which aspects do you think makes a person unique?
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  • Why Learn Another Language?

    Why Learn Another Language?

    With today’s global economy and advances in technology, companies hire and work with people worldwide, so it is increasingly important to be aware of cultural differences. Learning a language for networking and business purposes has many advantages, even if you only know a few words.

    The English language is convenient for communicating with people around the world. It is one of the most spoken languages worldwide. According to the World Economic Forum, “Of the approximately 1.5 billion people who speak English, less than 400 million use it as a first language….That means over 1 billion speak it as a secondary language.”

    Imagine traveling to another country where English isn’t the primary language, and you can’t understand anyone or read anything around you? How relieved would you feel if someone asked, “Need some help” in English? Even a few simple words in a common language can create a connection and start a conversation. 

    Creating a connection is the first step to networking or building a relationship, whether for friendship or business. Here are three powerful reasons for learning a language and connecting with people.

    1 Languages Create a Cultural Connection

    Food is a great connector. An event that involves sampling foods from other countries and cultures is one way to get people to experience cultures. Learning the names of foods is a sensory experience: learn a new vocabulary word and taste the food it corresponds to.

    It opens discussions about similarities and differences in food, culture, and language. It can be humbling when you struggle with the pronunciation of a new word; fascinating when you realize the meaning of a new word.

    It’s amazing what conversations you can begin by learning a handful of new words and key phrases in another language. (We’re talking about the good words here, not the bad words. People like to learn the bad words, but it’s a different result when you swear at people.)

    It’s a great feeling to say, “Nice to meet you” or “Have a safe trip home” in another person’s native language. Another benefit to learning new words is gaining a better understanding of a person’s values from their culture.

    2 Languages Broaden Your Way of Thinking

    A Google search will reveal many articles that say a person’s personality can change depending on their language. Personality traits are determined by culture, and culture and language are deeply connected. So it seems learning a language helps you to absorb the culture.

    Even if you don’t become fluent in multiple languages, learning another language helps you understand other cultures and how people think, and potentially avoid misunderstandings.

    For example, in some Asian languages, people are addressed by their titles as a form of respect. Family members are named by their relationship to the speaker. A paternal aunt is called a different word for “aunt” than a maternal aunt.  

    Knowing the degree of formality that people use to greet each other gives you insights into how people may want to be addressed. For example, in Brazil, young children call their teacher tia or tio (aunt/uncle) + first name. In France, students say Monsieur (Mr) or Madame (Mrs) + last name. In China, students call their teacher only Lǎoshī (teacher). Similarly, students in Latvia call their teacher Skolotāj (schoolteacher).

    People may struggle when speaking English because in their first language, there are more ways to say something. For example, English has three choices for articles (a, an, the) but other languages have more. In French, nouns can be masculine singular or plural, or feminine singular or plural, increasing your choices.

    In Japanese, you have even more choices when talking about the number of objects. The way you say “one of” or “two of” something (people, cats, beer, apples, houses) depends on the type of noun. (Learning numbers takes several lessons.)

    Languages may have concepts that don’t exist in another language. For example, the need to talk about snow with precision has created several words in some cultures: There are 52 words for snow and ice in Inuktituk while the BBC news reports Scotland has 421 words for snow! 

    Learning someone’s name or your name is a fun way to start a conversation and connect with people in another language. Learning how to address someone in another language also tells you a lot about levels of formality and respect.

    New words and expressions are like a window into another culture from a marketing and sales perspective. It’s a way to approach people in other markets.

    On another level, learning to say a few words is a warm way to start a conversation and make new friends.

    3 Languages Increase Your Opportunities

    Being a polyglot or being bilingual has many advantages. If your company has offices in other countries, you could be asked to help with translation.

    Translation could occur in many forms, such as interpreting between languages during meetings or checking over written communications in another language. 

    You could be offered opportunities that aren’t usually part of your job description; for example, you could be a connector. If your company needs people who are fluent in a language you know, they may ask you to connect them to people from that language community. 

    Your willingness to step in and help out with translation could open doors to other opportunities or, at the very least, add an important role or achievement to your resume. 

    The best part of learning new languages for work is making connections with people who visit from other parts of the world.

    Key Takeaways

    Learning another language – or even a handful of words in another language – is a way to start a conversation and connect with people. Language is so closely tied with culture that you can discover a lot about a culture’s values.

    How many expressions can you say in another language? What language would you like to learn next?

    If you liked this post, subscribe so you don’t miss the next one!

  • What If Everyone on Earth Spoke the Same Language

    What If Everyone on Earth Spoke the Same Language

    Let’s imagine for a minute that we aren’t in a sci-fi movie. When you woke up this morning, everyone understood each other because we all spoke the same language. Convenient, right?

    We could travel from country to country without language barriers and easily communicate with people on other continents. Seems ideal at first. But when you examine the situation more closely, you’ll see why this reality may not come true. 

    Language is Culture

    Language is so complex that it’s not easy to create a language that is spoken worldwide. Every language tells you something about the people that speak it.

    For example, look at the number of words we have to express colors in English. The color red has over 20 synonyms for red (vermillion, scarlet, cherry, cerise, wine, ruby, crimson, coral, rose, auburn, bloody, blush, ruddy, coral, sanguine, maroon, florid, poppy, rusty, rouge). These words allow for beautiful imagery and poetry when we describe the rainbow.

    In contrast, colors in Chinese are expressed as the color (red) with modifiers (light red, dark red). There isn’t as much variation. But the Chinese value family, so the words to describe family are far more descriptive and precise than in English. It is not enough to say sister, brother, aunt, and uncle. They need to be exact. So if you ask how to say “aunt” in Chinese, you need to be specific and say, “How do you say aunt if she is your mom’s older sister”?

    People around the world have different cultures and cultural values. How could we have a universal language that captures all the world’s cultural values?

    Language is a Bunch of Concepts

    Often, we hear someone say, “I don’t know how to say it in English,” and they don’t mean they don’t know how to translate it into English. They’re saying that English doesn’t have such a concept. 

    Counting in French involves math, for example. Learning to count to twenty is useful because eighty is quatre-vingts (four twenties) and ninety-seven is quatre-vingt-dix-sept (four-twenty-seventeen).

    The Japanese language has different ways of counting items, depending on what the object is. For example, “one” when counting animals is ippiki, but “one” when counting umbrellas is ippon, and “one” for one drink is ippai. You can’t just say the same word to mean “one” cat and “one” pencil.

    In Cantonese, they classify food as “hot” or “cold,” but this concept doesn’t refer to temperature. Instead, it refers to yin and yang properties of food. So spicy food, mangos, chicken and lobster, for example, are “heaty” while pork, watermelon and crab, for example, are “cool.”

    It would be a challenge to capture all these concepts for all the languages of the world into one international language. 

    Language is History

    Language is a record of our history. English baffles people with its inconsistent spelling and pronunciation. For example, “through” and “threw” sound the same. But the “ough” sounds different when you say “bought” and “thought.” And “ough” changes its sound again when you say “though” and “sew.” 

    One reason for this inconsistency is how English evolved. “Knight” and “night” sound the same in modern English. But long ago, we did pronounce the “k” and the “g” in knight.

    English is continuing to evolve to be more inclusive. Instead of actor and actress, you can say actor for male and female actors. “Waiter” and “waitress” are evolving into “server.”

    Technology is also influencing language. American Sign Language (ASL) uses both hands to communicate concepts. As the popularity of the mobile phone and face-to-face calls became commonplace, ASL has evolved so it is possible to communicate while signing with one hand and holding the phone with the other hand.

    Key Takeaways

    What if everyone on earth spoke the same language? It would make communication a lot easier. But is it possible to have one universal language? Can one language capture all the nuances and cultures of all the peoples of the world? And can one language suffice to say everything we want to say as we continue into the future? What do you think?

  • How Often Do You Say Hello?

    How Often Do You Say Hello?

    Some random trivia I came across today: the song “Hello My Baby” was meant to poke fun at some trendy slang from the time. That new word was “Hello.” Alexander Graham Bell suggested “Ahoy!” as the proper way to answer this new invention called the telephone. Instead, people were taught that “hello” was the proper way to answer the phone. The song (shown below) made fun of how people sounded when answering phones was still a new phenomenon. How far we’ve come since then! Hello is now just a regular part of the English language.

  • 3 Powerful Reasons to Learn a Language for Business

    3 Powerful Reasons to Learn a Language for Business

    With today’s global economy and advances in technology, companies hire and work with people worldwide, so it is increasingly important to be aware of cultural differences. Learning a language for networking and business purposes has many advantages, even if you only know a few words.

    The English language is convenient for communicating with people around the world. It is one of the most spoken languages worldwide. According to the World Economic Forum, “Of the approximately 1.5 billion people who speak English, less than 400 million use it as a first language….That means over 1 billion speak it as a secondary language.”

    Imagine traveling to another country where English isn’t the primary language, and you can’t understand anyone or read anything around you? How relieved would you feel if someone asked, “Need some help” in English? Even a few simple words in a common language can create a connection and start a conversation. 

    Creating a connection is the first step to networking or building a relationship, whether for friendship or business. Here are three powerful reasons for learning a language and connecting with people.

    1 Languages Create a Cultural Connection

    Food is a great connector. An event that involves sampling foods from other countries and cultures is one way to get people to experience cultures. Learning the names of foods is a sensory experience: learn a new vocabulary word and taste the food it corresponds to.

    It opens discussions about similarities and differences in food, culture, and language. It can be humbling when you struggle with the pronunciation of a new word; fascinating when you realize the meaning of a new word.

    It’s amazing what conversations you can begin by learning a handful of new words and key phrases in another language. (We’re talking about the good words here, not the bad words. People like to learn the bad words, but it’s a different result when you swear at people.)

    It’s a great feeling to say, “Nice to meet you” or “Have a safe trip home” in another person’s native language. Another benefit to learning new words is gaining a better understanding of a person’s values from their culture.

    2 Languages Broaden Your Way of Thinking

    A Google search will reveal many articles that say a person’s personality can change depending on their language. Personality traits are determined by culture, and culture and language are deeply connected. So it seems learning a language helps you to absorb the culture.

    Even if you don’t become fluent in multiple languages, learning another language helps you understand other cultures and how people think, and potentially avoid misunderstandings.

    For example, in some Asian languages, people are addressed by their titles as a form of respect. Family members are named by their relationship to the speaker. A paternal aunt is called a different word for “aunt” than a maternal aunt.  

    Knowing the degree of formality that people use to greet each other gives you insights into how people may want to be addressed. For example, in Brazil, young children call their teacher tia or tio (aunt/uncle) + first name. In France, students say Monsieur (Mr) or Madame (Mrs) + last name. In China, students call their teacher only Lǎoshī (teacher). Similarly, students in Latvia call their teacher Skolotāj (schoolteacher).

    People may struggle when speaking English because in their first language, there are more ways to say something. For example, English has three choices for articles (a, an, the) but other languages have more. In French, nouns can be masculine singular or plural, or feminine singular or plural, increasing your choices.

    In Japanese, you have even more choices when talking about the number of objects. The way you say “one of” or “two of” something (people, cats, beer, apples, houses) depends on the type of noun. (Learning numbers takes several lessons.)

    Languages may have concepts that don’t exist in another language. For example, the need to talk about snow with precision has created several words in some cultures: There are 52 words for snow and ice in Inuktituk while the BBC news reports Scotland has 421 words for snow! 

    Learning someone’s name or your name is a fun way to start a conversation and connect with people in another language. Learning how to address someone in another language also tells you a lot about levels of formality and respect.

    New words and expressions are like a window into another culture from a marketing and sales perspective. It’s a way to approach people in other markets.

    On another level, learning to say a few words is a warm way to start a conversation and make new friends.

    3 Languages Increase Your Opportunities

    Being a polyglot or being bilingual has many advantages. If your company has offices in other countries, you could be asked to help with translation.

    Translation could occur in many forms, such as interpreting between languages during meetings or checking over written communications in another language. 

    You could be offered opportunities that aren’t usually part of your job description; for example, you could be a connector. If your company needs people who are fluent in a language you know, they may ask you to connect them to people from that language community. 

    Your willingness to step in and help out with translation could open doors to other opportunities or, at the very least, add an important role or achievement to your resume. 

    The best part of learning new languages for work is making connections with people who visit from other parts of the world.

    Key Takeaways

    Learning another language – or even a handful of words in another language – is a way to start a conversation and connect with people. Language is so closely tied with culture that you can discover a lot about a culture’s values.

    How many expressions can you say in another language? What language would you like to learn next?

    If you liked this post, subscribe so you don’t miss the next one!