My love relationship with the study of
foreign languages

I was about fifteen years old in my native
country of Brazil when I first became in love with the field of foreign
languages: the first of these was French, then English. The final exam at the
end of high school came with the option between English and Spanish; of all the
other subjects I had studied during the previous years, Spanish yielded the
highest score, though I had never seen a word in Spanish before that exam (It
is both similar and dissimilar to Portuguese).

After arrival in New York City, I worked at a
company where I was the only worker who did not speak Spanish. This prompted me
to take the most logical step: to master conversational Spanish. I was also
learning English, which was the most important language one needs to master to
succeed in the US.

My eagerness to learn English soon started to
pay dividends. After only a few months in New York City, I went to a language school
that offered ESL courses; but upon taking the placement exam I found out that my
grasp of English was already beyond the highest level they offered at the time.

My passion to learn Italian as a fourth language,
and my interest later to pursue Italian studies in graduate school, was born
when I took an elective course to complete my first College degree (Liberal Arts).
The lecturer, seeing my involvement in the class and my eagerness to help other
students learn Italian, said that Hunter College, a very prestigious college in
New York City, offered a BA program in Italian studies. Sure enough, in 2001 I
graduated with honors from Hunter College of the City University of New York
(BA: Italian and French, 2001- My profile in the Who's Who Among American
Colleges and Universities was also published in 2002).

At Borough of Manhattan Community College of
the City University of New York, I elected to take a level III French
Literature course. But I had not had any prior formal education in French.
Professor Consenstein encouraged me not to give up the course during the first
week, which was, after all, the most logical step. My gratitude to that beloved
professor, whose patience in revising my writings and his in-depth knowledge
about and passion for the language, culture, and people of France inspired me
to immerse myself in my studies of the French language and received an -A in
his class. “Edmilson, your work deserves an A, but your exposition in French
exceeded by five minutes the time allowed.” I enjoyed every moment in that
class! 

The following are also listed to underscore
the value I give to learning and the teaching of foreign languages:
Twenty-seven graduate credits toward a Ph.D. in Italian by the year 2007 at The
Graduate Center of the City University of New York, various undergraduate
language courses taught in Italian and Spanish (one semester of French) at the
City University of New York, and a Post-baccalaureate teaching Certificate in
2009 at Queens College, New York.

In conclusion, the various academic
recognitions in the study of languages during my academic years, which
culminated with my biography added to the book Who’s Who Among Students in
American Colleges & Universities in 2002, stand as a further testimony of
my passion for and the importance I place on the study of foreign languages.
The world has shrunk during the last three decades or so; indeed, since my
arrival in New York City in 1989, and the historical fall of the Berlin Wall
that same year, the world has become more and more interconnected due to
various technological advances, the chief one being in the field of information
technology. This is very positive of course. However, this good comes with
pitfalls: for it threatens to discourage many to learn a new foreign language
as computer information systems provide translated texts on-demand with a
simple click of a mouse. Too sad!

Let us hope this trend does not hold; for
indeed, fluency in one or more languages, other than one’s mother tongue is
vital. God forbid we should all end up depending on artificial intelligence to
simply ask for a glass of water from someone with whom with cannot communicate
naturally. Therefore, learning at least one language other than one’s native
language should be an endeavor every sensible person would do well to pursue.

Indeed, I have always been in love with
foreign languages. I currently read articles, books, etc., in seven languages
(English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, and Latin) as a means
to maintain fluency and to increase mastery of these languages; I am also industriously
studying Mandarin Chinese. I believe in the natural way to learn and teach languages;
any L2 acquisition theory falls short of being an effective means to learn and teaching
language if the natural blossoming of the language in the mind of the learner
is not at the core of such theory as the most important component. Natural learning
and acquisition of any language, L1 or L2, should ‘gently and gradually flow
into existence’ like the gentle strokes of a savvy painter on a purely white
canvas, one gentle stroke at a time. The idea that the essence of language
preexists in the deepest recesses of one’s mind, and therefore, the teaching of
any language is like a gentle wooing into being of that language as a sensible
means of communication and being in the world. Edmilson Xavier