I couldn’t agree more. Being able to compare two or more language systems allows for a wider perspective on the workings of language:
✔How are particular languages built?
✔How does grammar work and how does it differ across languages?
✔What are the origins of words?
✔What works better or worse in particular languages, in terms of efficiency and effectiveness of communication?
✔Finally, it allows us to notice how culture is reflected in a language and to what extent the language that we are born into, shapes the way we perceive the reality of the world around us.
To give you some examples:
When doing English phonics with my 7-year-old son, whenever he hears “g” /dʒiː/ like “guitar” or “c” /siː/ like “cat”, for instance, he always frowns upon and says “Mom, shouldn’t it be /g/ because we say /ɡɪˈtɑːr/ not /dʒiːta:r/ and /kæt/ not /sæt/?”
I totally get him, and I tell him to think of “g” like “ginger” or “c” like “city” instead. He probably wouldn’t make this observation if he wasn’t exposed to German or Polish.
I sometimes think that the English alphabet should be reworked for those who learn English as a second language. Or simply put aside, after all, how often do we actually need to spell words?
Another example is related to all those “extra” words or even concepts that we acquire through other languages. Take “responsibility” versus “accountability”, not distinguished in many other languages, in English they offer a pin-point precision in communicating our thoughts. They may also make us more conscious about different dimensions of that concept.
Or the French “voilà”, which, in my opinion, is perfect to express …. well, exactly, the “voilà” effect.
Finally, the Polish “serdeczność”, which I guess could be seen as an equivalent of the English “friendliness”. It derives from the word “serce” (heart) and is a symbol of the Polish “open-hearted” courtesy.
LANGOLUX 