Let's Talk
I had coffee with a new friend. It was interesting and enjoyable.
My friend, Louise, has had a fascinating and difficult life. She is the daughter of a narcissist who still, at 92, bullies her and everyone else around her. If anyone has ever encountered a true narcissist, you know how difficult they are. Everything is someone else's fault, shaming those around them, little empathy for anyone but themselves, and a great need to be admired.
We talked of Louise's education, with two advanced degrees in Mythological Studies and Depth Psychology, and her work as a college professor.
I found she is trilingual. I realized this and reacted with the proper amount of admiration. She looked at me and shrugged, reminding me that it is very common in Europe for a person to be tri or quadrilingual.
It occurred to me that our American education system fails us by not looking more outward. The Boy Scout reminded me that most middle schools offer foreign languages. That is my experience also. Perhaps it is our society, in general, who does not look outward and value other cultures and languages. I can see that the more affluent you are, that more opportunities are available. A nearby high school, in a far more affluent area, offers not only the usual French, Spanish and German, but also ASL, Italian, Japanese and Mandarin as well as their Advanced Placement versions.
Friends of mine with better educated parents got the benefit of their emphasis of the importance of a second language but the bulk of us got by with the minimum requirement and not one step further. It's a shame. Perhaps we would look at other cultures with more curiosity and with mor understanding if we had the spoken word in common.
Just a thought.
My friend, Louise, has had a fascinating and difficult life. She is the daughter of a narcissist who still, at 92, bullies her and everyone else around her. If anyone has ever encountered a true narcissist, you know how difficult they are. Everything is someone else's fault, shaming those around them, little empathy for anyone but themselves, and a great need to be admired.
We talked of Louise's education, with two advanced degrees in Mythological Studies and Depth Psychology, and her work as a college professor.
I found she is trilingual. I realized this and reacted with the proper amount of admiration. She looked at me and shrugged, reminding me that it is very common in Europe for a person to be tri or quadrilingual.
It occurred to me that our American education system fails us by not looking more outward. The Boy Scout reminded me that most middle schools offer foreign languages. That is my experience also. Perhaps it is our society, in general, who does not look outward and value other cultures and languages. I can see that the more affluent you are, that more opportunities are available. A nearby high school, in a far more affluent area, offers not only the usual French, Spanish and German, but also ASL, Italian, Japanese and Mandarin as well as their Advanced Placement versions.
Friends of mine with better educated parents got the benefit of their emphasis of the importance of a second language but the bulk of us got by with the minimum requirement and not one step further. It's a shame. Perhaps we would look at other cultures with more curiosity and with mor understanding if we had the spoken word in common.
Just a thought.
Agreed Linda. I took Spanish but ever really had an interest in truly learning it. Oh well, I guess if I really wanted to; there is always today to sign up and try again.
ReplyDeleteToo true
DeleteSome might say that American culture itself is narcissistic.
ReplyDeleteI’d say there is some truth to that. And I’d say President kumquat isn’t helping in the area, being a malignant narcissist himself.
DeleteI can still read French from my high school days. BUT if I knew then what I know now, I would have taken Spanish. and is your new friend a relative of donald dump, THE American narcissist?
ReplyDeleteOur grandchildren are in French immersion. For the first five years they only speak French in class. They are doing well with it. Children pick up other languages easily. Europeans are amazing with thei languages they can speak.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that a wonderful gift to give a child.
DeleteWe had the basic foreign languages at our high school and I remember having to take French. I never used it but when I went to college in Alaska, my wife and I spent two years studying and using Inupiaq, the language the Eskimos use. I had fun but no longer use it, there aren't any Eskimos around Ireland these days. :)
ReplyDeleteNow that is amazingly cool.
DeleteDo dirty words and phrases in Italian constitute my 2nd language? :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I know a narcissist just like you described, he's orange, overweight, with a bad combover that is over colored and he is really dumb and the leader of the free world, which is frightening. (I only say overweight because he mentions every time he speaks about a woman, so tit for tat)
Totally counts lady!
DeleteI took one year of high school French and ninth grade Latin. I wish I'd taken more French. It's a much harder struggle when you are older. And really, a bit embarrassing that when we travel abroad we either try (I do) but fail or don't even try to speak the language of the country we visit.
ReplyDeleteI tried too and worked hard on brushing up on my French but it was frustrating that my man picks up languages so easy. He understood when I didn't (which might have a lot to do with my hearing loss).
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