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36. The Attitude of a Linguist. Just Communicate Fish traps exist to capture fish.
Once you've caught the fish you can forget the trap.
Rabbit snares exist to capture rabbits. Once you've got the rabbit you can forget
the snare. Words exist to capture meaning.
Once you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? I'd like to have a word with him!
- Zhuangzi, 4th century BC
It may seem obvious, but to become a linguist you have to want to communicate in another
language. People who succeed in learning another language have a goal in mind: to get to know
another people and their culture, not just to learn a new language. It was only when
I became motivated to connect with a new culture and people that I was on my way to becoming
a linguist. Not all language learners are motivated to
use the language they are learning. I remember clearly one day forty years ago when I was
in charge of a language lab at the Agricultural Institute in Paris. One of my students suddenly
groaned "Merde, I have been studying English for ten years and I still do not understand
a thing!" With that he flung down his headset and stomped out of the room. I can still see
him. I can sympathize with his frustration. He
speaks for all the language learners who suffer through years of formal classroom language
teaching, memorizing, drilling, answering questions, studying for tests- and yet do
not achieve fluency. He was fed up with trying to learn words that were not relevant to him.
He did not care about the content of what he was studying. He had no desire to communicate
in English. The whole process was meaningless to him.
The linguist knows that to become fluent in a new language requires a commitment that
goes beyond attending classes or studying text books. A linguist stretches in order
to connect with a new culture, taking every opportunity to confront the new language in
real life situations. Without the motivation to communicate in the new language, the learner
is left struggling with the technical details of language that are so easily forgotten.
I remember how it was when I studied Latin in school. We had competitions to see who
could decline Latin nouns the fastest, out loud. I could decline bellum, in both singular
and plural, in a few seconds. It literally sounded like a blur. But I never had any intention
of speaking Latin. I just wanted to pass tests. My high school French was similar. My Latin
is now long since forgotten and I was unable to speak French properly until after I left
high school. Language is about communicating, not about
details of grammar, nor vocabulary lists, nor tests, nor exercises. In the quotation
that starts this chapter, Zhuangzi tells us that even the very words of language are artificial
creations. It is the heart to heart communication of meaning that is the essential nature of
language, and therefore of language learning. All the rest is artificial. Fish traps are
only useful for catching fish. Words are only useful if communication takes place. The learner
has to want to start communicating.