There are over 6,000 languages in the world. Some are more important than others, not better or more advanced, just more important. Why? Because they are spoken by more people, in more countries. That does not mean that Finnish is not important to the Finns, and Maori is not important to the Maoris. It is just that these languages are not so important to the rest of us.

On the other hand, Mandarin Chinese is spoken by over one billion people. Chinese origin words account for 60% of Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese vocabulary. Knowing Chinese will help you learn these languages too. It helped me. Chinese culture has influenced the world for thousands of years with its art, philosophy, technology, food, medicine and performing arts. Today China’s economy is booming. Chinese seems well worth learning.

Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese are essentially dialects of the same language. If you learn one, you can learn the others. I did. If you learn Spanish, you open the door to the culture, music, history and possible business dealings with 800 million people in 60 countries, including the US and Canada.

If you get ambitious you could try Russian, as I have been doing for the last two years. Once you have Russian you can probably communicate with other Slav speakers.

But hold it here! Before getting carried away, let’s look at the present situation of language teaching. According to one Canadian survey, after 12 years of daily French classes, only one high school graduate out of 147 (0.68%) achieved “intermediate” proficiency. Another survey of immigrants learning English in the US showed that “classroom instructional hours” had little impact on progress.

If we cannot teach our own official languages in North America, what hope is there for other languages like Chinese or Spanish, let alone Russian, Arabic or Hindi?

As a speaker of 10 languages I know the benefits of speaking more than one language. We simply have to change the way we go about teaching languages. To start with we need to dispel seven common misconceptions about language learning.

1. Language learning is difficult

It is only difficult to learn a language if you don’t want to. Learning a language takes time, but is not difficult. You mostly need to listen and read. Believe me, it is that simple. I have done it many times. Soon you feel the satisfaction of understanding another language. Before you know it you start speaking. It is the way languages are usually taught that makes language learning hard to like.

2. You have to have a gift for learning languages

No you don’t. Anyone who wants to, can learn. In Sweden and Holland most people speak more than one language. They can’t just all be gifted at languages. Foreign athletes in North America usually learn to speak English faster than people in more formal learning environments. In language learning it is attitude, not aptitude, that determines success.

3. You have to live where the language is spoken

Some immigrants to North America never learn to speak more than halting English. Yet we meet people in other countries who speak flawless English. In 1968, I learned to speak Mandarin fluently while living in Hong Kong, where few people spoke it. With the Internet, language content is available to anyone with a computer, and you can download it to your iPod and listen. Where you live is not an obstacle.

4. Only children can learn to speak another language well

Recent brain research has demonstrated that our brains remain plastic well into old age. Adults who lose their eyesight have to learn a new language, braille, for example. Adults have a wide vocabulary in their own language and are better language learners than children. I have learned 4 languages since the age of 55. Adults only need the child’s willingness to experiment and desire to communicate, without the fear of ridicule.

5. To learn a language you need formal classroom instruction

This is the crux of the problem. Classrooms may be economical to run and a great place to meet others. They have the weight of history and tradition behind them. Unfortunately, a classroom is an inefficient place to learn a language. The more students in the class, the more inefficient it is. Languages cannot be taught, they can only be learned. Theoretical grammatical explanations are hard to understand, hard to remember, and even harder to use. Drills and exercises are annoying to most people. A majority of school kids graduate unable to communicate in languages that they study for 10 or more years.

6. You need to speak in order to learn (and I have nobody to speak to)

Speaking the language is usually the goal of language learning, but speaking can wait. Once you have acquired the language, you will find the opportunity to speak. When you are learning the language it is more important to listen. Trying to just pick up a few “handy” phrases to say is likely to just get you into trouble. If you meet a native speaker, you will inevitably spend most of your time listening unless you already know the language. You do not need to speak in order to learn, you need to learn in order to speak.

7. I would love to learn but I don’t have the time

How about the time you spend waiting in line, commuting, doing things around the house, going for a walk? Why not use that time to listen to a language on your iPod? Once you get started, even 10 or 15 minutes a day will soon grow to 30 minutes a day, or one hour. If you believe you will achieve significant results, and if you enjoy doing it, as I do, you will find the time.

世界上有六千多种语言。其中有一些语言要比另一些更重要，不是更好或更高级，但是却更重要。为什么呢？因为讲这些语言的人和国家相对更多。这不是说芬兰语对芬兰人不重要，毛利语对毛利人不重要。只是这些语言对于我们其他人来说不那么重要。

另一方面，有超过十亿人讲汉语。日语、朝鲜语和越南语中，起源于汉语的词汇占到六成。了解汉语对学习这些语言很有帮助。我就是受益者。中国文化通过其艺术、哲学、技术、食品、医药和表演艺术，影响了世界几千年。今天的中国经济日益繁荣。汉语也成了非常值得学习的一门语言。

西班牙语、法语、意大利语和葡萄牙语本质上是起源于相同的语言。如果学会其中一种，你也就学会了其他几种。我就是这样。如果学会了西班牙语，你就向包括美国和加拿大在内的六十个国家，八亿人口的文化、音乐、历史甚至可能商业贸易，打开了大门。如果你有雄心壮志，还可以试试学俄语，就像我两年来一直做的一样。一旦学会了俄语，你差不多也可以同其他讲斯拉夫语的人交流了。

但是到此为止！在你对此入迷之前，我们先看看现今的语言教学形势。根据加拿大的一项调查，经过十二年天天上法语课，147名高中毕业生中才有一名（0.68%）可以达到中级精通水平。另一项关于在美移民学习英语的调查显示，“课堂教学课时”对提高英语水平几乎没有任何效果。

如果在北美连我们自己的官方语言都教不好，还有什么指望教授其他语言比如汉语或西班牙语呢？更别说俄语、阿拉伯语和印地语了。

作为一个可以讲十种语言的人，我知道会多种语言的好处。只是我们需要改变当前教授语言的方式。在此之前，我们需要消除学习语言的7种常见错误观念。

1. 学习语言很难

除非你不想学习语言，才会觉得困难。学习语言确实需要花点时间，但是并不困难。你差不多只需要听和读。相信我，就是那么简单。我已经这么做过很多次了。很快你就能体会到理解另一种语言的满足感。还没理解就开始说，这就是通常的语言教学方式，这样使人很难喜欢学习语言。

2. 学习语言需要天赋

不，不需要。任何人想要学都可以学。在瑞典和荷兰，大多数人都会不只一种语言。不可能他们全都具有语言天赋。在北美的外国运动员学习讲英语一般比那些在比较正规学习环境的人要快。在语言学习上，是态度决定成败，而不是天资。

3. 需要住在讲那种语言的国家

有些北美的移民者一直英语说得磕磕巴巴。但是在其他国家，我们可以见到英语说得异常完美的人。1968年住在香港期间，我学会了流利的汉语普通话，而那里是很少人说普通话的。有了互联网，任何人都可以使用电脑获得外语资料，你可以下载到iPod然后收听。你住在哪里都没有妨碍。

4. 只有儿童才能学好说外语

最近的大脑研究表明，直到老年，我们的大脑都是非常具有可塑性的。失去视力的成年人不得不学习新的语言，例如盲文。成年人有广泛的母语单词量，因此相比儿童是更好的语言学习者。从55岁开始，我已经学习了四种语言。成年人需要的仅仅是儿童的那种不怕嘲笑，乐于试验的意愿和交流的欲望。

5. 学习语言需要正规的课堂教学

这是问题的关键。课堂教学可能很经济，也是接触他人的好地方。课堂教学背后有着厚重的历史和传统。可不幸的是，课堂不是学习语言的好地方。教室学生越多，效率越低下。语言不是教出来的，而是学出来的。对语言理论上的语法上的解释很难理解，不易记忆，更难以应用。对于大多数人来说，训练和练习很让人厌烦。大部分的孩子在学习了某种语言10年或更长时间后，毕业了还不能用这种语言进行交流。

6. 只有说才能学语言（而我找不到人说）

通常学习语言的目的就是说，但是说可以先放一放。一旦你学会了一种语言，你就能找到说的机会的。当你学习语言时，更重要的是听。想挑出几个“巧妙”的短语说一说，可能只是给你自己添麻烦。如果见到一个母语是外语的人，毫无疑问大部分时间你都是在听，除非你已经很熟悉这门语言。不是必须说才能学，而是必须学然后才能说。

7. 我很想学语言可是没时间

这些时间应该有吧——排队等待的时间、乘车的时间、在屋子周围忙的时间、外出散步的时间？为什么不利用这些时间听iPod里面的外语资料。一旦开始，时间会从一天10到15分钟，很快长到每天30分钟甚至一小时。如果相信自己可以取得显著的成果，并且喜欢这样做，就像我一样，你就会找到时间。