WOK-global views

 "...Learning additional languages enhances the learning of the 'mother tongue' as well as broadening a student's worldview." 
It is true that learning addition languages strengthens a student's understanding of their first language. When learning a second language the student often learns rules about language that can be applied to their own. By learning how a language is put together a student is able to take what they have learned and apply their knowledge to their own "mother tongue".  This knowledge is also used to broaden overall understanding of culture and language. 

Alex and Ray have multiple qualities that support language learning. Both were introduced to language at a young age and through traveling were able to immerse themselves in language. They are both social people, which makes it easier for them to be to be exposed to languages. Their minds are able to recognize patterns easily, especially in sounds.

When it comes to spoken language, I find that I am more of an auditory learner. I learn best by hearing a word or phrase  repeatedly and mimicking it back. When I took French I found that the only way I could pronounce the words correctly was to disregard the spelling and listen to another person say the word. For example, I knew that "goodbye" in French was pronounced "or-ev-wa" before I even took the class. But when I learned that the word was spelled "au revoir" I began to mispronounce the word slightly because I was focused on how I thought it should sound based on the spelling. When it comes to Latin, however, I am a visual learner and I learn through writing. This is mostly because Latin is a dead language and so the pronunciation of the words is not as important as the spelling. Even so, I find that the pronunciation of Latin words is much easier to sound out than French. 

There are pros and cons to both language uniformity and language diversity. Although language uniformity would allow for the entire human race to communicate through one language, culture and individuality would be lost (not to mention that converting the entire world to one language would most likely be impossible). Although language diversity allows for individual culture, it can make communication difficult and ideas can be lost in translation. During the class debate I spoke in favor of language diversity. I said that varying languages and cultures are what make humans unique. I pointed out that there are some ideas and emotions that can only be expressed in certain languages and therefore get lost in translation. The solution to this, however, is not to eliminate these languages, but to learn them. Although language uniformity and language diversity both have advantages and disadvantages, language diversity is a better option.