THE IMPACTS OF LEARNING AND KNOWING DIFFERENT LANGUAGES APART FROM ONE'S OWN

Definition of Languages, Its Features & Their Descriptions?

What Is Language in Linguistics, as an article mentioned that “Let's take a cue from one influential linguist of the early 20th century, Edward Sapir. In his 1921 book Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech, Sapir describes languages as "arbitrary systems of symbolism" (collingorrie, 2017). An article titled Language in Sociology authored by Chi Keung Man described language to be “an integral part of culture and allows people to communicate with each other in the society” (Man, 2012). The article further mentioned that “It is a form of undertow tones inclusive in spoken and written words and is a combined nexus of different alphabets and ideograms” (Man, 2012).?

There are seven (7) continents of the world, one hundred and ninety-five (195) countries in the world, and seven thousand, one hundred and thirty-nine (7,139) languages of the world. Each language has its own grammar, expressive and receptive functions, accents/dialects, and other features needed for a language to be used as a form of communication. The author of this article is a Nigerian (one of the counties within the Western Hemisphere of Africa whose neighbors are Ghana, Cameroon, the Republic of Benin and Togo) where 520 languages are housed, but the three main languages are Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba while Efik, Igala, Nupe/Tapa, Egun, Edo, Idoma, Urhobo, Tiv, Fulani with five hundred and seven (507) more languages.?

Sandy Chung and Geoff Pullum delineated grammar to be “the collection of principles defining how to put together a sentence” (Chung & Pullum, 2023) which is found in the Linguistic Society of America (LSA). When discussing principles, laws, doctrines, and assumptions are evaluated. This means that grammar is solidified by laws.

The Difference Between Receptive and Expressive Language, an article written by Amanda Wallace mentioned that “The difference between receptive and expressive language comes down to talking and listening. Receptive language involves listening and expressive language involves talking. These two words are probably the shortest and most used definitions to explain expressive and receptive language. And while both are key components to language, there’s more to it than just that” (Wallace, 2023). Wallace went ahead to mention that “As people, we use language to understand the world around us and to convey our thoughts and feelings. This is the basis of receptive and expressive language” (Wallace, 2023).?

An article titled Definition of Accent in English Speech: It differs from a dialect authored by Richard Nordquist defined Accents as “an identifiable style of pronunciation, often varying regionally or even socioeconomically” (Nordquist, 2018). The author further stated that “It can be contrasted with a person's dialect, which includes regional vocabulary” (Nordquist, 2018). The author of this write-up is mostly of the Yoruba ethnicity of Nigeria, she would be making use of Yoruba as an example here due to this fact. An article written by Anthony Ayodele Olaoye which he titled SOCIOLINGUISTIC DOCUMENTATION OF ENDANGERED ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION IN YORUBA LANGUAGE mentioned that “Yoruba dialects are Oyo, Egba, Ijebu, Ilaje, Ikale, Ibadan, Ekiti, Igbomina, Ijo, Irun, Yagba, Gbede, Ondo, Owo, Isabe, Ife, Ikiri, and Ijumu” (Olaoye, n.d).?

The Main Issue to be Discussed Within this Article

As aforementioned, there are various languages spoken in this world, some of these languages are siblings while others do not have any commonality with each other. Romance languages, for example, are within the same family. An article titled Romance Languages written by Rebecca Posner, Marius Sala and the Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica mentioned that “Romance languages, group of related languages all derived from Vulgar Latin within historical times and forming a subgroup of the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family. The major languages of the family include French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian, all national languages” (Posner, Sala & The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2023). There are some languages that combine their own and borrowed words together to make it, a perfect example is the Yoruba language. Yoruba is one of the three major languages in Nigeria, and the Yorubas live in the Western part of Nigeria while they are also residing in Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, the USA, the UK, and to mention a few. Yoruba borrowed a few words from the Arabic Language, such as Alubosa (Onion) which is Albasa in the Arabic Language, Wakati (Time/Hour) which is Wakt in the Arabic Language, Sababi (Coincidence) is Sabab in the Arabic Language and to mention a few.

The author of this article is a linguaphile who has proficiencies in five languages, though the rate at which she is conversant in them vary as she can speak, write and read one of her mother tongues (Yoruba) and English (a borrowed language adopted in her country, Nigeria) efficiently, Spanish (the official language of Spain, Mexico, Guatemala, Equatorial Guinea, Peru, Colombia, the United States of America, Bolivia, Chile and just to mention a few) intermediary, knows few words in French (the official language of France and the Francophone speaking countries of Africa such as Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Mali, Togo, and Guinea Bissau) and a few words in Arabic (the official language of Saudi Arabia) and lastly knows less than 1% words in Hausa (the language spoken in the Northern part of Nigeria). She knows learning, reading, writing and speaking various languages is very tasking but not for linguaphiles who love to know languages as well as polyglots and hyperpolyglots who have ears for languages.?

The main issue that wants to be evaluated in this paper is the issue of cultural competence between individuals. This word is from the Social and Behavioral Science discipline, specifically Social Work course. Why Cultural Competence in Social Work Is a Vital Skill, an article posted into Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) mentioned that “Cultural competence in social work entails understanding the cultural differences of people in need of social services” (Virginia Commonwealth University [VCU], 2023). This is related to this article because individuals have to be able to communicate with each other irrespective of languages or dialects spoken.?

Languages are a subset in culture used for differentiating individuals and ethnicities of countries but having the expressive (oral) and receptive (hearing) language skills would make the world better because we, as humans would be able to understand ourselves without the usage of translators, translation applications, and dictionaries as it would not be easy for us unless we see these sets of aids, and it can be problematic if we do not. What if these tools or individuals (translators) are not in existence, how then do we convey information and data to each other?

Agreed that there are forms of help rendered in terms of differences in languages and dialects, the author researched why languages need to be known, understood and learned. While doing her findings, she came across an article titled 7 reasons to learn a foreign language written by Kathleen Stein-Smith posted to The Conversation which stated the reasons as a. Makes an individual smarter b. Boosts academic achievement c. Provides professional and career advantages d. Provides broader access to education and information e. Gives you more social and global skills f. Increases national security and g. Life is more interesting.?

The author of this article would be adding her own points to Stein-Smith’s points in order to explain the seven (7) advantages of learning an international language. For the first point, which is that language makes an individual smarter, Kathleen stated that “Research has shown that knowledge of more than one language is associated with better reasoning, problem-solving skills and creativity. It also helps people deal with unknown and unfamiliar situations. Use of another language tends to delay the onset of dementia” (Stein-Smith, 2019). Apart from this, the author of this article would like to say that it also brings in multiculturalism (engaging in many cultures) which would aid people to appreciate others. The second reason being that language boosts academic achievement, Stein Smith mentioned in her article that “Language learning supports academic achievement. This is true for English-speaking students studying a foreign language, as well as English language learners in bilingual and immersion programs. It also boosts academic outcomes at the college level” (Stein-Smith, 2019). To add to this, this is because when an individual doesn’t comprehend a topic or word in the language used, the person can switch it to other languages he/she knows.

The third reason being that language provides professional and career advantages, Kathleen mentioned in her article that “Foreign language skills are associated with increased job opportunities. Research has shown that demand for bilingual workers in the United States has doubled from 2010 to 2015” (Stein-Smith, 2019). The fourth reason being that language provides broader access to education and information, here, Kathleen stated that “If you speak another language, you could earn a degree in another country, which could end up being a less expensive way to get a college education. If nothing else, it at least enables you to better enjoy studying abroad and to learn more than you would if you only spoke English. The same is true when it comes to the news media. Those who only speak English cannot directly access news and perspectives in parts of the world where other languages are predominant” (Stein-Smith, 2019).

The fifth reason being that language gives you more social and global skills, Kathleen stated that “In the case where a language may be part of our own cultural heritage and identity, building on the knowledge of that language makes it possible for us to reconnect with the experience of past generations of family. Speaking another language also opens up opportunities to do business and work in other parts of the world. Overall, 75% of the world population does not speak English. Those who only speak English may also be limited and less inclined to collaborate with?

others around the world to address global issues” (Stein-Smith, 2019).? In addition to this, the author of this write-up would like to cite the examples of the White Americans who visited the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State Nigeria for the study abroad program because of their love for the Yoruba Language. Because of this, they are far ahead of other individuals who did not come with them as they could speak Yoruba language eloquently. The sixth reason being that language increases national security, as stated by Kathleen that “This need was underscored in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, when it surfaced that lack of Arabic linguists led the U.S. to miss critical messages sent by al–Qaida about the 9/11 attacks a day before they occurred” (Stein-Smith, 2019). Lastly, the reason being that Life is more interesting, according to Kathleen, “Think of all the people here in the U.S. (well over 60 million), around the world (75% of the world population), and online whom we are able to talk to if we speak their languages.” (Stein-Smith, 2019).?