Last week I talked about how “learning any language can be a lifelong process, but it’s also true that many people stop formally studying a foreign language once they reach a certain level of proficiency.
What this level looks like differs from person to person. Some place the bar extremely high, and they can spend a lifetime perfecting just one or two foreign languages. Others are happy if they can ask for directions and hold a basic conversation at a café. If they so wish, these people can “learn” plenty of foreign languages over the span of twenty to thirty years.” (for further context check out this other post where I explain exactly how long it takes to learn a foreign language).
Now, this may be a controversial take, but I often think of this difference in terms of interpreters vs. polyglots, or quality vs. quantity.
When people find out I work as an interpreter, the first question they ask is: “How many languages do you speak?” I have no clue where this idea comes from, but many seem to be convinced that working in this field means your list of languages must be very long.
Some people are shocked when I tell them I really only consider myself proficient in three languages: Italian (duh), French, and English. I guess in their eyes this must be extremely unimpressive.
But people who draw that conclusion are missing some context. They have absolutely no idea what level of mastery and skill one must achieve to interpret professionally. You must know tens of thousands of words, idioms, and collocations; understand and convey nuance; and swiftly move from one register to another while also performing other cognitively demanding tasks. This has nothing to do with simply getting by in a foreign country. It’s on a whole different level.
Most interpreters study their working languages for decades and still feel they have a lot to learn. They aim for quality over quantity.
However, I feel public perception has been skewed by people who claim to “speak” 10+ languages, because it certainly skewed mine.
When I was a young language enthusiast, I came across a video by one such polyglot, who allegedly speaks dozens of languages. I remember watching him stop random people in the street; if he couldn’t speak their language, they would get ten dollars.
Of course, I can’t say how he did in most languages because I didn’t understand a thing. Until about two thirds of the way through the video, when he stopped two French tourists. After a brief “How are you?” “Good,” uttered with a very thick accent, he quickly dismissed them by saying: je parlais la langue de vous [EN: I spoke the language of you] (implying: so you didn’t win the prize).
That was the moment I realized my drive for excellence was incompatible with the idea of becoming a super polyglot who checks a language off the list every two years.
You can speak a few languages very well. You can speak many languages less well. But you can’t speak many languages very well.
I’ve always been a perfectionist: to me, “speaking a language” is all about the details. I enjoy knowing how to translate clouer au pilori and juridiquement contraignant off the top of my head. I won’t be able to do so in 20 languages, but that’s okay.
More than on any of my other posts, I am curious about your experience.
Do you agree? What does learning a language mean to you?