Hi
Entry no. 1 will give you a hint of what this blog is going to be about. I started writing this blog with the idea of showing the significance of language in our life. I want to write about language (English, Polish, German, Russian, etc.), teaching and learning foreign languages and what's the most important how it influences the life of each person in the world.
During my education history I have always preferred learning languages and reading books. In the secondary school Maths, Physics, Chemistry and other mysteries of science seemed to be the most difficult (and the most boring) things to understand. What's more, my teachers would always repeat that language studies belong to the field of humanities, which automatically classified me as the student who can write and talk about literature and grammar but has no chances to find a job other than teaching. I ended up as the student of English Linguistics at the John Paul II Catholic University in Poland with all the happiness that the nightmares of maths and physics are finally gone. I was extremely amused with the fact that the next five years will be ONLY about humanities.
The reality however showed something completely different. My first year of the Bachelor degree was focused on analysing physicist formulas for the right pitch of voice in pronunciation. I had to write the reviews of scientific articles about engineering and translate the manuscripts concerning theories of famous scientists. My first reaction was asking myself "why me?". Then, I talked to my mother who told me something that became a kind of motto in my life.
When I told her how terrible my courses are, she calmly said that this may be the advantage of my studies. She suggested that I should look at this whole situation as an impuls to learn something new. I don't have to understand all the theories used in translation, but it is good to know that there was a particular person who came up with this or that idea. At that moment I totally couldn't understand why she comforted me in SUCH way (not sticking to my side, mum? come on!) when suddenly I remembered something that my high school teacher told us: "You always have to get to know the world. ALWAYS. And you should watch TV news every evening, read daily newspapers with all the sections - economy, politics, sport, culture. Even the tabloids. Because you may not know what other people are interested in, you should always be ready to talk to them about anything. You may not be an expert, but you must always be ready to talk to the others about anything that interests them."
After recollecting all the smart words I decided to change my attitude. I said 'sorry' to all the scientific subjects and started looking at language from a completely different perspective. My studies showed me that except for reading novels and analysing poems, language IS REALLY ABOUT SCIENCE.
Why am I saying this here? It's because of the more and more opinion among my friends who claim that learning languages may be useful but in your career path it leads you only to the job of a teacher. When I hear them saying it I always disagree. Language is equally important as most of the scientific subjects - this is the basis of communication. Without language no on would be able to explain the theories, nor would they be able to express them.
The moral of this entry for today is: no language = no science.
