Bust These 9 Myths to Learn Languages Better
Myth #9: Language is an instinct.
I’ve always wanted to learn languages.
But I was too scared to try. I didn’t want to sound like a baby. I didn’t want people to make fun of my accent or laugh at my grammar mistakes.
I thought that some people were just talented at languages, and I wasn’t.
I was wrong.
“Language learning isn’t something magical or different.
It actually seems to “be much more like regular learning than we thought.””
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
Don’t Believe a Word: The Surprising Truth About Language is a new book by David Shariatmadari that tackles nine common language myths.
Shariatmadari studied linguistics at Cambridge University. He shares language insights based on the latest research in linguistics.
Don’t Believe a Word is helpful for any language learner because you will realize that some of the common ideas you’ve always believed about language simply aren’t true.
You will become a better language learner after understanding and applying these insights.
“[Language] is best understood as a tool for communicating, shaped by the way our brains and bodies are (which gives rise to some of the common properties of language), as well as by the particular culture we find ourselves in (which accounts for some of the differences).
Language is political.
Language is social.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
Let’s bust some myths.
Myth 1: Language is going to the dogs
“For more than two thousand years, complaints about the decay of respective language have been documented in literature.
But no one has yet been able to name an example of a ‘decayed language’.”
— Rudi Keller, Don’t Believe A Word
Many people believe that languages are getting worse.
How can you learn the “real” way to speak and write a language, if everybody today speaks and writes with spelling and grammar mistakes?
Shariatmadari states that language change is natural. Languages don’t get worse. They just constantly evolve. Languages are effective as long as you can communicate in them.
Don’t worry too much about the “correct” way of saying or writing something. There is no such thing as an objective “correct” way — it depends on the context.
Who are you communicating with?
What are you trying to communicate?
Worrying about the “correctness” of a word or grammar rule is a waste of time and energy.
People have been complaining about language forever. It’s usually the older generation(s). And there’s a logical reason for that.
Older people experience a lot of disorientation throughout their lives. Because of social and technological change, older generations often assume that the language they grew up with is “getting worse”.
“Getting worse” is just an opinion.
Language doesn’t get better or worse — it just changes.
But if language always changes, why is there a “standard language” that you learn in school, in language classes, and in textbooks?
“Think about the institutions that define standard language: universities, newspapers, broadcasters, the literary establishment.
They are mostly controlled by middle-aged people.
Their dialect is the dialect of power — and it means that everything else gets assigned a lower status.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
How to learn better:
Focus on communication when learning a language.
Don’t waste your time and energy worrying about the “correct” way to speak and write the language. Don’t try to write and speak like your textbooks or the dictionary — you will just get frustrated.
You will improve faster and enjoy the process of learning when you focus on communciating.
Language always changes.
Remember that your target language was very different 800 years ago.
What is “correct” now may have been “awful” back then!
Myth 2: A word’s origin is its true meaning
“Concepts, of course, are not naturally occurring, like apples.
They are, in fact, created by cultures…
We have our own ways of dividing up the spectrum of sensation and feeling, and other cultures may do it quite differently.
Words divide an analogue world into digital chunks.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
Humans create language.
This is a small insight that packs a big punch — we will never know a word’s “true meaning.”
Languages attempt to represent life through words. But these words will never be able to match the real world 100%.
When I think of the word “apple”, the apple that I am thinking of might be a different apple than the one you are thinking of — how will we know for sure?
“Which leads us to Wittgenstein’s crucial insight.
Although he had it seventy years ago, it’s hard to find a better account for the many different ways in which we deploy words:
“The meaning of a word is its use in the language.””
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
How to learn better:
Dictionaries are useful. But if you want to understand a word, phrase, or expression, find out how it’s used in real life.
If you are learning a new language, rather than spending all day with a grammar book, textbook, and dictionary, you should actually try and:
Listen to real people who speak your target language (Youtube, podcasts, real life etc).
Speak to real people who speak your target language (iTalki, friends, tourists in your city etc).
Read real materials that people who speak your target language read (news articles, magazines, comic books, Instagram memes, blogs etc).
Write to real people who speak your target language (make new friends, find a language partner…you could even journal and write to yourself).
Yes, it’s scary, and that’s ok. It’s normal to be afraid.
Don’t worry. The fear is all in your head.
You cannot master a language from textbooks alone — you either use it or lose it.
Myth 3: I control what comes out of my mouth
“The world is full of people who think they don’t have an accent — that everyone else, or certainly every other region, has an accent, but that their own way of speaking is “normal”…
But the fact is that everyone has an accent — after all, we all have to pronounce the phonemes of our language some way or another.
Some people, however, are in a position to define their own way of pronouncing those phonemes as “normal.”
Indeed, part of what constitutes power in society is the ability to define normality — to get others to view one’s own style as unremarkable, as not a style at all.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
Everybody has an accent.
An accent is about identity and belonging. Yes, people may judge you based on your accent. But “having an accent” when speaking a foreign language just means that you can speak other languages.
As long as you can communicate effectively, having a “foreign” accent or a “native” accent isn’t as important as you think.
“In other words, you sound more like the people you hang around with a lot, or identify with.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
How to learn better:
If you want to sound more like a native speaker of your target language, hang out with native speakers. If you want to have a particular accent, listen to material in that specific accent.
Listen carefully.
How do native speakers flow when they speak your target language? What expressions do they use? What sorts of rhythms and intonation do they have?
Pay attention. Language is music.
A foreign language is not just speaking the same thing with different words. Language is a window into a person’s identity and culture. It’s a new way of engaging with life. This is key.
If you want to speak like a native speaker of your target language, you have to identify as a (native) speaker of that language —you cannot think of yourself as a “foreigner” anymore. You’re not just learning the language, you must embody the language.
Adopt and embrace new cultures.
You might even become a new person.
Think of actors and actresses. In order to play their characters, they must forget who they are in real life.
If you want to learn a new language, forget who you used to be and grow into somebody new.
Myth 4: We can’t talk to animals
“Most of human language is arbitrary.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
People assume that language equals intelligence.
But language and intelligence are not the same. Shariatmadari argues that biology isn’t everything. Culture is the main reason why humans have the unique ability to use complex language.
“It is culture that determines which [languages] survive and thrive.
We are not fated to say “froyo” by our genetic inheritance.
The cultural evolution of language, made possible by productivity and learning, is one of its most distinctive attributes.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
How to learn better:
Our ability to learn languages is not purely biological.
This is important because many people believe they are just “bad at learning languages”. They believe they’ll fail before they even try.
When learning a new language, remember that there is no real reason why a word is called “this” and another word is called “that”.
A language’s vocabulary, patterns, and grammar are due to human culture and history.
Languages cannot be found in nature. They are made by humans.
Don’t try too hard to understand everything logically. The more open-minded you become to the “differences” in your target language, the easier it will be to learn that language.
Learning a language is a process.
Some days will be good, some days will be awful.
You aren’t stupid if you’re having a hard time learning a language. Don’t worry. It happens to all of us.
Maybe your learning methods are ineffective. Maybe you’re putting too much pressure on yourself.
Get some sleep and try again tomorrow.
Myth 5: You can’t translate this word
“The fantasy of untranslatability embodied by internet explanations of goya and sgrìob is just that, a fantasy.
While picturesque, it’s not without danger: it perpetuates the idea that foreigners might as well be a different species.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
Do some ideas only exist in certain languages?
Maybe speakers of other languages understand the universe in unique ways that we will never experience. This is a beautiful fantasy — but it’s not true.
We are all human.
Their universe is our universe.
“If all that seems fairly harmless, think about it this way: when you believe people are unfathomable because they speak a different language, you’re just as capable of thinking that they’re inferior or evil, instead of charming or other-worldly.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
While it’s nice to learn about culturally-specific words and ideas from other languages, you must be careful. By assuming that words can’t be translated, you infer that speakers of other languages are inherently different from you.
Be careful not to let stereotypes of other cultures affect how you see their language.
Be careful not to let stereotypes of other languages affect how you see their culture.
Our language differences are an accident.
If you were born in a different place, to a different family, you might be speaking a different language right now. If history unfolded differently, your country might have spoken a different language.
Please be kind to everyone you meet.
How to learn better:
Develop empathy.
When learning a new language, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that the new language and culture you are learning is “alien” or “exotic”.
Yes, there may be differences with your native language and culture, but these differences are neither good nor bad. They’re just different.
Be kind.
Be kind to others and be kind to yourself — it will help you learn so much faster. Remember that language is cultural, not biological.
Language is about communication, not superiority.
Throw your stereotypes out the window.
Speakers of other languages are human beings just like you. No matter where you’re from or where you were born, it’s not impossible for you to speak their language.
After all, in another universe, you might have been born as a native speaker of their language!
Who knows?
Myth 6: Italian is a language
“A language is a dialect with an army and navy.”
— Max Weinreich
Languages don’t exist.
The reason why languages are considered “languages” and not “dialects” has nothing to do with the language itself. It’s because of politics, power, and society.
Languages are not superior to dialects.
They were just lucky.
“Whether a dialect is elevated to the status of “language” or not is usually a political decision, as with Piedmontese losing out to Tuscan.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
What we consider “Italian” developed from the 14th century Tuscan Florentine dialect. It was standardized in written form through the works of Dante Alighieri, author of Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy).
At the time, Florence was a powerful, prestigious, and culturally significant city. Its dialect bridged the gap between the northern and southern Italian dialects.
If history had been different, today’s “Italian” might have developed in another direction. Maybe it would have developed from a different Italian dialect like Piedmontese, Friulian, Sicilian, Ladin, or Venetian.
We’ll never know.
“What is Italian? It is a dialect that struck it lucky and was christened a language.
It is a set of rules carried around by Italian speakers, and it is a living, breathing, shape-shifting mass that comes into being in conversations and blends, at its edges, with other dialects and languages.
This is what “a language” is.
Not an island, but a drifting cloud in crowded sky.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
“Italian” is Italian today not because it’s “better”, more “logical” or more “pure” than other Italian dialects.
History, politics, and culture are what allowed Italian to become the standard language of modern Italy.
How to learn better:
Realize that languages are not physical “things” — You cannot throw a language at somebody.
There are no hard lines between a language and a dialect.
Be open to the fluidity between languages. Treat them with a curious mind.
When your target language belongs to the same language family as a language you already know — there might be lots of overlapping cognates, grammar patterns, etc.
When your target language belongs to a different language family, it might be more of a challenge. Realize that this is the same hurdle that language learners face when they are learning your native language!
Be empathetic to people of all language backgrounds.
No language is more prestigious than another. Prestige is not inherent to a language. It is simply the political, cultural and historical circumstances that determine a language’s “prestige”.
Prestige is an opinion, not a fact.
Myth 7: What you say is what you mean
“It’s not just what you say, it’s where, when and to whom you say it.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
I always tell my students that context is key.
People are notorious for saying things they don’t mean. This is why humans fight each other all the time.
Misunderstanding lies at the root of all conflicts.
“Knowing the code — the semantics and syntax — is not enough to be able to understand human language.
The process of interpreting what someone has said is not like translating hieroglyphics.
What’s also needed is knowledge of human intentions — what I want to do with my words, as well as what they literally mean.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
Humans don’t just communicate with words. We communicate through intentions and implicatures.
This is why understanding the culture(s) of your target language is so important. There are many cultural aspects and faux pas that you may not find in a textbook.
Languages change, and these cultural contexts can change too. If I spoke English the way English was spoken in 1500 AD, I would end up in many embarrassing social situations.
How to learn better:
Always learn language in context. Try to learn about the culture of your target language so that choosing a particular vocabulary word/phrase over another begins to make “cultural” sense to you.
Prepositions, expressions, expressing politeness… etc. are often not easily translated from one language to another.
Textbooks will never beat real-world applications. A word in one culture could have a completely different meaning in another.
Quick example — As a Canadian, I say “please” and “sorry” a lot. This is perfectly normal in English.
When I was learning Colombian Spanish, I developed the habit of saying “please” and “sorry” all the time.
Though my Spanish accent was passable, my Colombian friends commented that I was being overly polite in a way that could be misinterpreted as demeaning or pretentious.
I stopped saying “por favor” and “lo siento” all the time.
My Spanish improved.
I was no longer a Canadian person speaking “Canadian English” with Colombian Spanish words.
I was now a Colombian person learning Colombian culture and the Spanish language simultaneously.
Myth 8: Some languages are better than others
“It’s all a question of taste.
Languages are unmistakably different, but they all aim at the same thing — effective communication — employing different strategies to achieve it.
And they all succeed in their own ways. There is clearly no objective assessment to be made…
…Your language is better than mine?
Says you and whose army?”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
It’s easy to assume that some languages are better than others.
Today, English is the global language of business. Tomorrow, it could be something else.
Languages rise and fall.
There is no objective way to measure whether any language is better than another one.
“Clearly, you are likely to have warm feelings toward the language you grew up speaking, while hostile ones may be prompted by those you don’t feel comfortable using, or have simply heard and not understood at all.
A language stakes out a community of people who understand one another. It is therefore a means of expressing solidarity.
But by defining an in-group it also defines an out-group.
Language can welcome, but it can also exclude.
As a result, it is frequently a vehicle for ethnic or nationalistic sentiment.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
Because no language is inherently better or worse than another, you have the opportunity and ability to learn any language in the world.
Yes, it can be done.
Throw away the false belief that a language is “inaccessible” because it’s “too different”, or “too difficult”.
If your native language is in a different language family to your target language, it may be more of a challenge than learning a target language in the same language family.
But all challenges can be overcome with the right mindset, methodology, desire, and consistent practice.
“Language and race are completely independent.
A child of any ethnicity can learn any language as well as any other native speaker if they grow up with it.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
Who are you to learn a new language?
Who are you not to?
If you’re human, you can learn any human language. It’s that simple.
It’s not easy, but yes, you can do it.
“All languages do the job we need them to do: allow us to communicate effectively.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
How to learn better:
Treat all languages with respect.
Treat the speakers of these languages with respect as well.
We are all human.
No language is naturally better or worse than another. No person is naturally better or worse than another.
It’s very difficult to learn a new language if you assume that the target language is “impossible” or “too difficult”. If you think like that, you’ve lost before you’ve even begun.
More importantly, if you think that speakers of your target language are naturally “better” or “smarter” than you, you’ll be too intimidated to speak to people. You’ll be too scared to actually have the conversations and interactions that will make you fall in love with the language and culture.
Nobody is better than you. Nobody is worse than you.
We are all human.
Myth 9: Language is an instinct
“The crucial evolutionary advance that enabled language, then, was the ability to identify with others, and put ourselves in their shoes.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
This Shariatmadari’s most controversial language myth.
Language is not a special human instinct. It does not exist in a magical part of our body.
Yes, we have brains that are more complex than other animals.
But language is a general human cognitive ability. According to Shariatmadari, there is no isolated “language module” in the brain that grows as a result of a genetic blueprint.
“The regularity and complexity of grammar is shaped by the way communication occurs.”
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
Grammar in any language did not develop due to genetics. It developed due to changing and evolving communication needs.
Language is primarily a social, cultural phenomenon.
Language exists because humans have the ability to empathize with each other.
“Language is the fruit of both the biological evolution of social thinking and the long cultural evolution of human societies.
There is no poverty of the stimulus, no double dissociation, no UG in Chomsky’s sense.
There is human cognition, and as a result there is language.
— David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe A Word
How to learn better:
You are not “bad with languages”.
The fact that you can speak your native language fluently shows that you have the capability to learn any language.
Don’t use the excuse that you’re “just not good with languages.”
You’re human. You can do it.
You have an amazing brain.
Use it.
