"If you speak to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you speak to him in his own language, that goes to his heart" - Nelson Mandela.
As a languages teacher, who has to do daily battle with the linguistic prejudices of the average English teenager, I find this quotation beautiful and inspirational. I have it on my classroom door hoping that, if I fail to do so, then at least the great Madiba might inspire them to open their minds just a little bit. If I had a euro for each time a child has said to me "Why do we have to learn a foreign language? Everyone speaks English anyway", then I would probably be comfortably able to bail out most of the Eurozone with a bit left over for a nice holiday.
As it happens most of the world does not speak English. Just 6% speak it as their mother tongue and only 25% speak any at all. That's three quarters of the world excluded. I know, I'm showing off - I can do Maths too!
I have been hugely thrilled to see that my posts are being read in France, Russia, Germany and Serbia as well as the USA, Canada and UK. When I told Bryn that I had page views from America and Serbia he said "That will be Obama and Djokovic!" Who knows? Whoever you are, wherever you are, thank you for reading and please do leave comments on any of the posts.
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