This is a quote by Flora Lewis:
“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.”
Flora Lewis was an American journalist who specialised in international affairs. She lived many years in Europe and died in France.
This quote is famous probably because it describes in a few words how learning a foreign language goes beyond the learning of words and solving basic communication needs. The magic in speaking another language is how it stretches your mind and shifts your horizons further, opening up a new vision of life and life matters.
This quotation by Flora Lewis supplements nicely this other quote.
If you speak or are learning a foreign language, you have probably experienced such moments when you suddenly realise how this other language casts a new light on some concept or idea.
If you have experienced this kind of moment, please use the comments section below to say what your mother tongue is and what foreign language you are learning 🙂
Yes I’ve felt more tolerant towards French people (including my husband ) since I learned French. The negative questions for example. “Vous n’en voulez pas un autre verre de vin?”. If everyone learned at least a second language, the world would be more empathic.
Thank you for your comment Ellen. I totally agree in saying that the world would be more empathic for if you learn new languages, and hence new ways of thinking, it stretches your mind and makes you see things differently. That’s the real magic in learning a new language! 🙂
Defenetly. Learning another language widens our view of the world. When I got married to an English person and went to live to England I was forced to understand their ways of living and thinking. This experience enrich my view of the world, that up to then was limited to my country, Catalunya, Spain..
Thank you so much for sharing your experience in learning a new language and living in a new country Joana. 🙂