Prosím, Proszę, Прошу

            “You know English,” said the stranger. I sit there with a blank stare trying to formulate the proper response. Nothing irks me like a blanketed statement, especially when it pertains to knowledge acquisition. I take two steps back and try to place myself in his shoes. Yes, I can see why he admires the English language, it is an indispensable tool. Yet, why diminish his own language?

            You meet all kinds of people when traveling. I have yet to understand individuals that demean their own language. When discussing my foreign language abilities to others, particularly to individuals with a native language other than English, I sometimes come across this perplexing question. It baffles me when natives tell me It is unimportant to learn their language since I already know English. Don’t let these individuals fool you, it is very important.

Let’s take a sharp turn in the direction of this discussion, since this blog isn’t about those individuals, but rather the expostulation. I have visited a multitude of countries and have lived in several: Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland and Romania to be exact. On my arrival to Poland, the first of the countries I lived in, I was callow and knew little of the language. My time in Poland gave me an inkling of insight to the Polish language, however, my knowledge for the Slavic languages burgeoned. The reason for my limited growth in the Polish language can be attributed to the time spent learning Bosnian and German.

When I returned home from abroad, I was eager to apply what I had learned. While I didn’t use the language daily, I found myself exploring new outlets because of it. I had a thirst and it would only be quenched by language acquisition. I began meeting new people and making new friends, ones that were centered around language. These outlets and newfound knowledge followed me to Prague allowing me to excel in areas where I may have lacked otherwise.

My trek to Lviv presented an opportunity to practice the Cyrillic that I learned living in Bosnia and expanded on back home. Having a basic understanding allowed me to make transactions in Ukrainian, thus alleviating some of the travel stress.

At this point in my life, if you live in a foreign country, I believe it is uncouth to not at least try to speak the target language before reverting to native language or English in this case (please take this with a grain of salt, especially if you already speak a second or third language fluently). Avoid turning language acquisition into an insurmountable task. Becoming fluent in a language is not an easy task for most, so don’t get discouraged. Look at daily progress for tangible milestones.  Language is part of the cultural immersion that when juxtaposed with diversity, seems almost intuitive. Imagine a world with one language: while it may sound nice from the angle of convenience, it is hard not to see the inevitable monotone nature of society. Perhaps if diversity is not valued, maybe a “gramme of soma” will be appreciated in the dystopic future.