As cliché as it may sound, I find myself at the end of a journey and, inevitably, at the beginning of another. Thus, I feel that it is appropriate that a dash of reflection is in order to help put things in perspective.
During my sophomore year of high school back in 2002, on one of the lazy last days before the beginning of summer vacation, as I was in English class waiting for the period to end. The teacher happened to switch the topic of discussion to foreign languages and, little did I know, what was said would prove to leave a lasting impression on me.
To the point, one of my classmates made a joke that set in relief the reality of the foreign language situation in the USA. The joke was as follows:
-"What do you call someone who speaks three languages?"
-"trilingual"
-"What do you call someone who speaks two languages?"
-"bilingual"
-"What do you call someone who speaks one language?"
-"American."
While this could be said of the citizens of many a country, America's position at the head of the world economy has led to the dominance of English in various realms and this has, in turn, created a vicious cycle that continues to the present - namely that there has traditionally not been a great perceived need to learn a foreign language for purposes other than the study of English and the Classics. (i.e. the effectively dead tradition of studying Latin and Greek) As someone who, from a very young age became entranced with foreign cultures, particularly those of East Asia, the message of this joke achieved special significance for me and remained in my subconscious, slowly drifting to the surface, every now and then.
The inner complexities of the workings of the mind are beyond me, so I am unable to fully describe the exact process, but, however it happened, somewhere around this time, I came to the firm decision that I wanted to learn Japanese. Eventually this evolved into a desire to learn Chinese as well as Japanese and to study abroad in college in the country of whichever language I chose to tackle first. Afterwards, I would study the other language and avail myself of the opportunity to spend time in the other country.
I have accomplished these things and the quest very much continues to this day. My vision has expanded as my horizons were broadened. Success in high school and on the job with Spanish led me to continue my study of the language in college, which has in turn led me to other languages. All told, I have, at present, studied around 20 languages and I do not expect that I will stop learning languages ever. It is such a joy and, what's more, it is the all-important means by which you gain access to a linguocultural sphere and the milieu of the denizens that create said sphere with every day of their lives.
Apparently that makes me what is called a polyglot, I honestly did not know of this term until I found that I was one. Now, I guess that it is high time that I bear the responsibilities of being one. My exact vision for what that means will become clearer with time as I develop this blog, but for now, I encourage you to stick around. I am ready to slowly release the floodgates, as I help you to understand the way that a polyglot thinks about and looks at languages, language learning, and the world.
Cheers,
Evren
-A polyglot and a southerner
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