My Daughter Wants to be a Polyglot

My daughter came to me and said, "Ibu (Mom), I wanna be a polyglot. I want to be fluent in Indonesian, very good in Spanish, and good in Japanese besides my native language in English. I also want to learn French."

I responded her, "You can do it, honey, because you learn Indonesian from me, learn Spanish at school, and learn Japanese online by yourself. As you are at least good in Spanish, you can learn French because those languages are almost same."

I am so proud of her as we know in the USA so many colleges drop the foreign language programs and it is dangerous for next generations and national security, especially if they are the leaders. If you are a leader, at least you can speak one foreign language. In Indonesia all students must learn English from ES to College, so you won't be so surprised if many students in Indonesia speak English very well.

If you are able to speak more than a language besides your native language, you will have more job opportunities than others who don't have.

I myself, besides my native language in Indonesian, my other native language is Javanese Ngoko in Surabaya dialect. I am good in Javanese Kromo (most used by people who live in Java villages), and fair in Javanese Kromo Inggil (used by old-Java people or Kingdom environment). I also can read and write Javanese letters well.

Besides English is my second language, I ever learned French for over two years and reached Intermediate class. My friends and I could not continue to Advance class because we didn't have any available instructors to teach us at French Consulate in Surabaya at that time. Language is like muscle. If we don't use it, we cannot speak it. So, I forget most of French now. Only common words/sentences that I still remember. If I learn French again, it won't be very difficult because of what I had learned before.

Speaking about foreign languages, do you know that most people who only speak a language are from United States and British? Do you know, why? Most countries learn English because English is number one top international language, so the people in the USA and British feel they don't need to learn other languages. I wrote this based on what I read from national/international surveys and articles.

By the way, I read this interesting article titled A True National Security Threat--Foreign Language Programs Disappearing, written by Dan Hamilton, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and dean of Waldsee German Language Village, a program of Concordia Language Villages. What he wrote is true and I agree with him. I am so happy and honored because I am one of those who get an opportunity to contribute the Nation as an Indonesian language instructor for the most prestigious US military.

God bless me, God bless America, and God bless Indonesia! Amen!

***

If you're interested to subscribe to this blog, please click the green sign below and follow its instruction. 

Subscribe!
What am I doing right now?

Follow me on Twitter 
What did I do when I only worked less than two hours this morning at work because of snowing day? Please, stay tuned for upcoming post. Thank you for your interest.

About 1 minute ago from web