تويت
Language learning and teaching
Language learning and teaching
Secondly, Linguistics is not to be interpreted as language learning or teaching. A 'linguist', in our sense, is not someone who has a skill in using many languages, though this sense is of curse a current one for the word. One of the most frequent conversations that I have is based on this ambiguity. It runs as follow.
Interlocutor: You're at the university, are you? (Friendly smile) And what do you do there
Self: I teach Linguistics
Interlocutor (Face drops): Oh. And how many languages do you speak
This is difficult conversation to continue. Few professional linguists are actually fluent in more than one language. In trying to answer, I attempt to joint out that it is not a question of 'speaking' a language which makes someone a linguist, in our sense, but of being able to 'speak about' a language, of knowing about the principles on which languages can be said to work, and about the kinds of difference which exist between one language and another. Moreover, the number of languages which linguists will' know about' in some degree of detail will vary from one year to the next , and depend largely on the kind of students they have at any one time, and the kind of interests these students have. For example, if I have students who for some reason want to do some work on , say, an African language like Twi, then, unless I can refer them to a colleague who is a Twi specialist, I have simply got to begin studying this language myself, so that I can help them find their way about in it. By examples such as this, I would point out to my interlocutor that what linguistics really gives one is an ability to approach the study of language confidently and methodically ; it indicates an analytic state of mind towards all kinds of things which take place in language; and while it certainly does improve one's ability to learn new languages, this is a byproduct of the training one receives, and quite incidental. But such arguments interlocutors usually have no time or desire to hear. More often than not in a conversation of this kinds these days, I do not try to explain my sense of 'linguist' along these lines, but in answer to the question ' How many languages do you speak?' simply answer, tongue in check, 'twenty-eight'!s
Interlocutor: You're at the university, are you? (Friendly smile) And what do you do there
Self: I teach Linguistics
Interlocutor (Face drops): Oh. And how many languages do you speak
This is difficult conversation to continue. Few professional linguists are actually fluent in more than one language. In trying to answer, I attempt to joint out that it is not a question of 'speaking' a language which makes someone a linguist, in our sense, but of being able to 'speak about' a language, of knowing about the principles on which languages can be said to work, and about the kinds of difference which exist between one language and another. Moreover, the number of languages which linguists will' know about' in some degree of detail will vary from one year to the next , and depend largely on the kind of students they have at any one time, and the kind of interests these students have. For example, if I have students who for some reason want to do some work on , say, an African language like Twi, then, unless I can refer them to a colleague who is a Twi specialist, I have simply got to begin studying this language myself, so that I can help them find their way about in it. By examples such as this, I would point out to my interlocutor that what linguistics really gives one is an ability to approach the study of language confidently and methodically ; it indicates an analytic state of mind towards all kinds of things which take place in language; and while it certainly does improve one's ability to learn new languages, this is a byproduct of the training one receives, and quite incidental. But such arguments interlocutors usually have no time or desire to hear. More often than not in a conversation of this kinds these days, I do not try to explain my sense of 'linguist' along these lines, but in answer to the question ' How many languages do you speak?' simply answer, tongue in check, 'twenty-eight'!s
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