I studied languages at university.
I now wish that I had studied a proper subject like Philosophy.
That's probably the only proper subject there is.
Philosophy in a sense is the only subject.
Philosophy at universities in the English-speaking world is maybe not the same thing as it is elsewhere. Which is one reason I was never encouraged to do it.
"A country without a language is a country without a soul": This may be true. A language does also articulate the culture that it is part of, and is part of that culture.
But the actual process of learning a language is a task and not really a study.
I was put off studying Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge which was the course I wanted to take at one point. I was disillusioned with literature as something to study. I loved literature I just thought you can't really study it in a meaningful way. I much preferred the idea of trying to learn things scientifically about life - hence social sciences. Literature can teach you about life, but is it scientific?, I reasoned.
The man who helped put me off S.P.S. was Mr. A.R.M. Little who taught me English A-level and who later became headmaster of Eton, himself an Old Etonian. Oh I say what ho, old bean!
He said to me - "Sociology? That's the kind of thing taught by sniffy types in donkey jackets."
He seemed to have a low opinion of it at any rate which rather rubbed off on me. He didn't seem to give much more of a reason than the comment already related. Such analysis! Hmm.....
He is now supposedly an expert on education since his retirement from Eton. But I remember him as a bit of a snob. But that is precisely what Eton produces and is designed to produce.
You don't need to be an expert on education to know that Eton in its current form is utterly immoral and wicked. You only need to be a 9-year old child.
I was taught to respect people like him and his views. But I wish I had stuck to my own thinking even at that young age.
If I'd been educated in France I would have been studying Philosophy at the same age and hence would have had the chance to think about things.
If I'd been educated in the USA I would have specialised a lot less at university anyway.
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All of the above does not apply to linguistics, the study of language, which I believe is a very important subject and distinct from the learning of languages, an activity which I am questioning here as an academic subject.
Linguistics is an important discipline. Learning languages is a chore.
Discuss. etc.
There are other skills and subjects that go with language learning - e.g. interpretation, translation etc.
These are also to some extent a part of linguistics.
May 08
Maybe everyone at University should study some form of philosophy or intellectual history.
I think in the Hispanic world many Arts degrees are awarded by a faculty called Filosofi'a y Letras: Philosophy and Arts......
In the English-speaking world these two activities - Philosophy and the Arts - can often be separated...
In France, they realised long ago that philosophy is the only subject so they teach it to you at school. It is also a country where people value education for its own sake as well.
I now wish that I had studied a proper subject like Philosophy.
That's probably the only proper subject there is.
Philosophy in a sense is the only subject.
Philosophy at universities in the English-speaking world is maybe not the same thing as it is elsewhere. Which is one reason I was never encouraged to do it.
In England Philosophy is sometimes seen as a quaint hobby and not a mainstream subject and fundamental activity as it is often is in France for example.
If I had my time again I would study philosophy and anthropology and politics and social sciences.
Not languages. I am thoroughly disillusioned with the idea of specifically learning languages as an academic study and activity.
Learning languages in itself should not be an academic study. It is a task not a study."Studying" a language is possibly something different.
If I had my time again I would study philosophy and anthropology and politics and social sciences.
Not languages. I am thoroughly disillusioned with the idea of specifically learning languages as an academic study and activity.
Learning languages in itself should not be an academic study. It is a task not a study."Studying" a language is possibly something different.
But learning a language is a task not a study.
Learning a language is nothing more than a sometimes enjoyable chore.
Something that can be done easily simply by exposure, by staying in the country and a perhaps a little study. Anyone can do it. It's like riding a bike.
The most proficient speakers of languages other than their mother tongue (or mother tongues) are almost always people who have simply lived where they are spoken, or used them a great deal, rather than those who have studied them.
I thoroughly regret the many hours I have spent in a classroom learning languages - learning another way to say the same thing - when I could have actually been actually learning things.
And I could have learned the language in a far more enjoyable way.
The reasons why I did languages at A-level and degree level were that I was good at them and because I was advised and encouraged to do them and because I could. I enjoyed languages.
Learning a language is nothing more than a sometimes enjoyable chore.
Something that can be done easily simply by exposure, by staying in the country and a perhaps a little study. Anyone can do it. It's like riding a bike.
The most proficient speakers of languages other than their mother tongue (or mother tongues) are almost always people who have simply lived where they are spoken, or used them a great deal, rather than those who have studied them.
I thoroughly regret the many hours I have spent in a classroom learning languages - learning another way to say the same thing - when I could have actually been actually learning things.
And I could have learned the language in a far more enjoyable way.
The reasons why I did languages at A-level and degree level were that I was good at them and because I was advised and encouraged to do them and because I could. I enjoyed languages.
I was told and I believed that studying languages or more specifically learning languages was useful.
But even then I knew that it was not really a study. I couldn't really see any other proper subjects around to get my teeth into. I nearly applied to do Politics. But that appeared not philosophical enough. As did philosophy itself.
I also harboured a belief that some kind of metaphysical transformation would happen to me when I could speak, write, understand and dream another language fluently. That I would grow a new self. Not remotely true.
A language definitely does have aesthetic and cultural qualities that can be appreciated once learnt. However a language is fundamentally a means of communication.
A language definitely does have aesthetic and cultural qualities that can be appreciated once learnt. However a language is fundamentally a means of communication.
"A country without a language is a country without a soul": This may be true. A language does also articulate the culture that it is part of, and is part of that culture.
But the actual process of learning a language is a task and not really a study.
I was put off studying Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge which was the course I wanted to take at one point. I was disillusioned with literature as something to study. I loved literature I just thought you can't really study it in a meaningful way. I much preferred the idea of trying to learn things scientifically about life - hence social sciences. Literature can teach you about life, but is it scientific?, I reasoned.
The man who helped put me off S.P.S. was Mr. A.R.M. Little who taught me English A-level and who later became headmaster of Eton, himself an Old Etonian. Oh I say what ho, old bean!
He said to me - "Sociology? That's the kind of thing taught by sniffy types in donkey jackets."
He seemed to have a low opinion of it at any rate which rather rubbed off on me. He didn't seem to give much more of a reason than the comment already related. Such analysis! Hmm.....
He is now supposedly an expert on education since his retirement from Eton. But I remember him as a bit of a snob. But that is precisely what Eton produces and is designed to produce.
You don't need to be an expert on education to know that Eton in its current form is utterly immoral and wicked. You only need to be a 9-year old child.
I was taught to respect people like him and his views. But I wish I had stuck to my own thinking even at that young age.
If I'd been educated in France I would have been studying Philosophy at the same age and hence would have had the chance to think about things.
If I'd been educated in the USA I would have specialised a lot less at university anyway.
-----
All of the above does not apply to linguistics, the study of language, which I believe is a very important subject and distinct from the learning of languages, an activity which I am questioning here as an academic subject.
Linguistics is an important discipline. Learning languages is a chore.
Discuss. etc.
There are other skills and subjects that go with language learning - e.g. interpretation, translation etc.
These are also to some extent a part of linguistics.
May 08
Maybe everyone at University should study some form of philosophy or intellectual history.
I think in the Hispanic world many Arts degrees are awarded by a faculty called Filosofi'a y Letras: Philosophy and Arts......
In the English-speaking world these two activities - Philosophy and the Arts - can often be separated...
------------------------------------------------------------
In France, they realised long ago that philosophy is the only subject so they teach it to you at school. It is also a country where people value education for its own sake as well.
In England, those with power know that philosophy is the only subject, or the most fundamental subject, so therefore they avoid teaching it at school at all costs.
And even at English universities it is regarded as little more than a hobby.
I exaggerate for effect. As usual.
..........
March 2018
I am further confirmed in my opinion that it is not worth studying languages by Bernard Shaw's sententious observation: "No man fully capable of his own language ever masters another."
At the age of 45, I am quite sure that this contains the greater part of the truth.
Those who say that people are naturally fully capable of being highly multilingual are not really telling the truth in my opinion.
What further compounds my frustration is that I fully realized the truth of this observation when I first read it aged about 18. I very nearly acted upon it and chose not to study languages but circumstances and inertia prevented me from fully acting upon it and rejecting languages as a study. I truly wanted to apply it to my life ,but I got stuck in a course of action that I partially felt to be in some way more suited to me and which I then had to re-persuade myself to fully follow.
Overall, I regret having studied languages and wish that I had studied Philosophy.
--------------------------------
March 2018. A note on Education.
The decisions I made when I was between the ages of about 16 and 20 affected my entire life.
I remember being very conflicted and tortured by the decisions I had to make - mainly with regard to choosing what subjects to study. I remember how hard I found these years and looking back I feel that I made a lot of bad decisions at this time.
I feel that a less specialized education system after the age of 16 and an education system that involved the study of philosophy from the age of 11 would have helped me a lot.
Also an education system that was less competitive and less obsessed with exam success would have helped me too.
I also think that education should be universal, of good quality and a human right rather than something that parents have to pay for. A society should not need to provide Education through privatized institutions. An education of a high standard across the whole of society is essential.
..........
March 2018
I am further confirmed in my opinion that it is not worth studying languages by Bernard Shaw's sententious observation: "No man fully capable of his own language ever masters another."
At the age of 45, I am quite sure that this contains the greater part of the truth.
Those who say that people are naturally fully capable of being highly multilingual are not really telling the truth in my opinion.
What further compounds my frustration is that I fully realized the truth of this observation when I first read it aged about 18. I very nearly acted upon it and chose not to study languages but circumstances and inertia prevented me from fully acting upon it and rejecting languages as a study. I truly wanted to apply it to my life ,but I got stuck in a course of action that I partially felt to be in some way more suited to me and which I then had to re-persuade myself to fully follow.
Overall, I regret having studied languages and wish that I had studied Philosophy.
--------------------------------
March 2018. A note on Education.
The decisions I made when I was between the ages of about 16 and 20 affected my entire life.
I remember being very conflicted and tortured by the decisions I had to make - mainly with regard to choosing what subjects to study. I remember how hard I found these years and looking back I feel that I made a lot of bad decisions at this time.
I feel that a less specialized education system after the age of 16 and an education system that involved the study of philosophy from the age of 11 would have helped me a lot.
Also an education system that was less competitive and less obsessed with exam success would have helped me too.
I also think that education should be universal, of good quality and a human right rather than something that parents have to pay for. A society should not need to provide Education through privatized institutions. An education of a high standard across the whole of society is essential.