Modern Languages: Why It Matters

by Katrin Kohl

It might seem as if globalization is making the whole world speak English. But spend time in any major city and you are likely to encounter a cornucopia of languages. Even monolingual people have different ways of speaking to their bosses or teachers, their intimate friends or their pets. And if you live in India or Nigeria, you might use five different languages during a typical day.

Katrin Kohl makes a passionate case for why we must embrace languages in all their diversity. When you study a language, you open a unique doorway into the world, immerse yourself in a different way of seeing, and discover new ways of communicating with people from different cultures on their terms. Kohl argues that language diversity is of vital importance to human societies, sustaining the complexity of human nature, culture and technology. We should care about preserving it as much as we care about preserving the diversity of our biological world.

157 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 7, 2021

Reviews

[Michael Erickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is essentially a persuasive essay arguing in favor of the study of foreign languages, and specifically degree programs in interpreting and translation (not the same thing!). The first chapter had some "learning languages is good for you because it is good for you" circular logic that was initially worrying, but more interesting points come up later in the book.

A particular passage that stood out to me spoke of how strongly focused certain scientific fields have become towards solely using English as a "language of science". But that's resulted in instances where research is unintentionally being repeated because the English-speaking researchers weren't aware that their work had already been conducted and published by non-English teams. The last chapter also spoke about how native English speakers have a unique "responsibility" to basically meet foreign speakers halfway rather than just expect the world to bend to their language as the default; I found that discussion interesting.

Also just some fun tidbids thrown in throughout like studies suggesting that multilinguals are better at conflict resolution than monolinguals, and also knowing a second language can delay Alzheimer's by about 4 years. Interesting, quick little read.

[Luca Nicoletti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting reading about languages and how they impact a person's culture and way of thinking. Nice examples explaining how some sayings in a language are not there in others simply because there is no need for them, as the culture of people who speak them don't engage in such behaviours.
Also interesting to know how studying and learning more than 1 language can affect our communication, learning and social skills all at once.

[I Read, Therefore I Blog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Katrin Kohl is Professor of German Literature at Oxford University. This very readable book makes a convincing case for why it is important to study modern languages, how they offer a deeper means of connecting with people and thinking about culture and ideas and makes interesting points about the benefits and limits of AI translation programmes. As universities and schools increasingly cut language programmes, this is an important counterweight.

[katelynn c · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book really reframes the way you look at language, in every way. i was absolutely hooked by the first half—there were a lot of interesting ideas, many of which really make you want to learn a new language. although i did find the latter half of the book a bit repetitive and kind of lost the meaning a couple times. very cool read though!