Example Language Log Post

On Sundays, I like to tune into WAMU public radio if I am home and I have the time to listen over morning coffee, while working in my garden, as I knit, with my cats while the family is out of the house etc. (now you know what an exciting introverted life I dream of.)  In November, I heard an episode of Freakonomics  that had segments connecting to most of the topics that I have ever included in this college writing seminar - and discussed by some of the best-known linguists out there. The link brings you both to the audio and the text version of the story; I suggest listening, which was more interesting that reading it on the page. Doing both would be fine, too, but only reading doesn't suit the podcast mode. What I mean is that I really enjoyed hearing the podcast, yet now as I look at it, well, it's a good reminder of what I heard but it isn't the most engaging read. 

One of the most fascinating ideas in the podcast for me was the economic analyses, for I don't typically think about language that way, but I do occasionally wonder whether what data shows about costs connected to multilinguality, or whether there is any truth to the idea that being multilingual can get you a better job.  Both of those ideas are popular, but - being a university professor - I wonder if they are true. The podcast sheds some light on those issues.

image source: https://sperezco.weebly.com/

In terms of my area of interest and knowledge, the section about the rise of English and how it has taken over most of scientific communication, for example, is particularly important for me. As one of the speakers notes, participating in that domain requires not only knowledge of science but also a high oral written fluency in a second (third, or more) language. On the one hand, that puts a burden on scientists who have to learn both their field and language. However, it's the next point from the podcast that saddens me:

And if [scientists without that high fluency in English] can’t participate — what kind of science is the rest of the world missing out on? The massive leverage of English in the scientific community — and in other communities — is something you probably don’t think about much if you are a native English speaker.

Even though I am a native speaker who grew up in a monolingual home, I do think about it, a lot, but I don't have the answers. 

  

But I have some answers to other questions the podcast asks! Near the beginning, the host queries

Let’s think about it, first, on a personal level. What language or languages do you speak? What benefits do you think that confers — whether economic, cultural, or otherwise? What do you think you lose by not speaking other languages? And how do you feel about people who speak those other languages? Maybe you think of them as more unlike you than they actually are, solely because they speak a different language? And how much does the language you use to express your ideas and emotions influence the ideas and emotions themselves? 

I hope to come back to this entry and answer some of those questions in comments. If you are inspired, I hope that you will answer some of them, too.