The New Yorker inquires about Hyperpolyglots
I've long known that polyglots were a thing. I've known a couple over the years. I've known that in regions of high cultural exchange (Turkey, for some reason, being among the first examples that springs to mind, though much of Europe also qualifies), it's not only common but almost necessary for people to be polylingual. A casual example in the article shows a cab driver who speaks to different groups in his social circle in about five different languages total, none of which is the English he uses professionally.
Some small part of me, whenever I hear about this, is somewhat disappointed in America. A hub of the entire world, culturally and economically, and we're the ones to NIMBY the fuck out of everyone. "You're in America, we speak English." Linguistic gatekeeping.
It is what it is. It's one of many things I'm sort of pulling away from by leaving. And I know, of course, this attitude isn't unique to the US. Brexit is borne of the same attitude.
This is getting rambly and aggressively political. Apologies. I'll try to drift back to the more personal, and positive.
I don't believe I have the discipline, nor the energy, and certainly not the disposable income, to dedicate hours in a day to meticulous and regimented study of language. Nor do I have the social fluidity to go out and just engage with people like the primary 'source' in the article does. What I do know is that I pick things up remarkably quickly when I have the right input. I know that in most of my language classes dating back to first grade, I've outpaced most of my peers and at times stymied my teachers. Mom told me some years ago that after my first year at a bilingual English/Spanish school, the teachers were struggling to find a place for me that would balance my educational/academic needs and pace with the sheer rapidity with which I was picking up Spanish.
Damned if I remember more than five words of it, of course.
That's the privilege of being American: I learn English and the rest of the world sort of bends around me to meet it. That's changing as the US becomes less of a dominant superpower, and globalization introduces focal areas and specializations from a wider variety of countries.
I don't remember when I first began dreaming of having a dazzling command of languages. Of being able to speak to almost anyone in their native tongue, or in a shared additional. I remember a scene in the book "Left Behind," wherein two characters goes to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. There, a couple prophets have taken up residence preaching about the causes and results of the rapture and the greatest-ever need for God's presence (or something - it's been a long time). One of the characters goes to a few different people in the crowd, converses with them in their L1, and learns that each is understanding the prophets in their native language.
And I remember thinking, holy shit I want that. I want to be able to approach almost anyone and have a conversation fluidly or fluently with them.
In high school, there was a brief period where I was taking Latin, maintaining German, and self-teaching Russian all at once. And it was pretty satisfying.
But while that interest hasn't waned, my extroversion has. I'm less comfortable in groups, meeting new people, putting myself out there than I ever have been. Too many years of comfortable seclusion.
It is my strongest intention to change that. Not necessarily to become an extrovert - I'm not sure that can be changed. But to resist that inertial isolation and push myself to engage in foreign ways.
Harbin is, as I believe I mentioned elsewhere, often recognized as one of the best places to learn Mandarin, due to its relatively 'pure' dialect ("putonghua"); as an analogy, consider the "universal dialect" or "neutral dialect" practiced by broadcasters and news reporters - that is essentially the "putonghua" of the US.
What I've also realized, however, is that due to the political history of the region and proximity to other countries, it's entirely likely that Harbin will also be an excellent place to learn both Russian and Japanese. Atop that, TEFL teachers can come from several different countries - basically any where English is the native/national language. A quick google search turned up this Quora answer, wherein one can see that English is frequently alongside other languages in many other countries as a 'national language.' A TEFL teacher from South Africa is not unheard of, despite this reply suggesting they have eleven recognized national languages.
The opportunity to learn is considerable. And from my conversations with current teachers at the school where I'm headed, there is a reasonable amount of free time during most weeks.
TEFL can take me all over the world. My desire to learn languages might drive me beyond China; depending on how I like the city (or the country) and how much the actual exposure and opportunity to learn draw my brain out of its shell...
Well...there's a reason I've told everyone who asks, "I have no idea how long I'll be gone."
'Til next time. Zaijian (goodbye)
-L
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