When it comes to languages, they say there are three kinds of people:
- Trilinguals -- people who can speak three languages.
- Bilinguals -- people who can speak two languages.
- Americans -- people who can speak only their own language.
Clearly this is false. If you speak "American," you might also be fluent in British, Canadian, Cockney, and Hawaiian Pidgin (which is actually its own language and not simply a dialect of English). I'd guess that in most of the classes I teach there are at last two people who speak a language other than English. These include speakers of Spanish, French, Portuguese, Korean, Mandarin, and Amharic. I myself can get by in a number of other languages, some better than others.
I can't promise you this, but maybe, just maybe, you'll fall in love with another language. Knowing that language might even allow you to study in a foreign land for your doctorate as I did. Given the fact that English is essentially a Germanic language, and that Koine Greek grammar and modern German grammar have many similarities, it really shouldn't be that hard for a Greek prof to learn how to speak German. For example, English has only one word for "the," but German has 24, just like Koine Greek. In order to master the language, just decide to make it yours.
I'm currently doing this with Spanish, a language I used to speak quite a bit when I lived in Southern California. That was 28 years ago. Still, there are plenty of Mexican restaurants around where I can try to speak Spanish with my server, make mistakes, and learn from them. The more motivated you are, the quicker you will succeed. Some tips:
- Enjoy the process.
- Speak fearlessly (no one is perfect so feel free to make mistakes).
- Make it a part of your daily life (I read the Bible in Spanish every day).
- Narrate your daily actions ("Heute gehe ich zur Schule") out loud in the target language to bridge the gap between thinking and speaking.
- Use apps or websites to consume authentic content (Easy German on Youtube is a good resource).
- Shift from treating a foreign language (say, Spanish) like a "subject" to a distant cousin you're meeting for the first time.
Happy language learning!
