Talk to me, please

Today is the European Day of Languages. This allows us to question what is involved in learning a language and whether this is in fact relevant in today's world of netspeak. It is true that the internet has infiltrated our households and the language domain within this sphere is the English language. So, one is left to question whether learning other languages is relevant within our present society.

Learning a language is certainly not an easy affair. It is a multi-tasking experienced, involving in its fullest form four modes: listening, speaking, reading and writing (deaf signing, of course, is a fifth mode in certain circumstances). It is perfectly possible to develop a multilingual competence in only the first two modes. Indeed, in some 40 per cent of the world's languages the users have no choice because their languages have never been written down. It is also possible to develop just a "reading" knowledge of a language. Differentials between the active and passive modes within spoken and written language are also common: people who listen better than they speak and who read better than they write.

However, we live in a world where different levels of linguistic demand are made on people.

A commonplace notion, for example, includes "survival ability" in a language or a notion of "getting by". We all know how difficult it is to answer the question: How many languages do you speak?' or Do you know? We all want to avoid these questions straightaway. Yet, a little knowledge of the language allows us to make a lot of progress in communicating between different nationalities.

No matter how we fight it, knowing different languages allows us to connect with people on another level. English is undoubtedly the global language and will be the language learnt by most people in order to form relationships - social or work-related.

Understanding the language of the people you wish to communicate with will allow you to appreciate and value their culture, their way of life and also form closer relationships with them. Besides the additional benefit that it can be quite fun to learn a language within a new social setting.

In fact, one of the undoubted benefits of the European Year of Languages has been to focus public attention on what is taking place, to reduce the reluctance and apathy surrounding language awareness and to promote fresh initiatives celebrating linguistic diversity in all its forms. Encouraging us all to take on board a new language and, consequently, embarking on a new adventure.

The author is director of studies at the University of Malta's International School of Languages