Having trouble motivating to learn how to conjugate verbs in Spanish, having issues with memorizing hundreds of Chinese Characters, trepidatious about taking that new language class, no worries, we have a quote for that. Once you read the wise proverbs about how cool it really is to speak in another tongue you will never again doubt the importance of being a polyglot.
The Concept of Language (Noam Chomsky)
“The joy of knowing a foreign language is inexpressible. I find it really difficult to express such joy in my mother tongue.”
“One who speaks only one language is one person, but one who speaks two languages is two people.” -Turkish Proverb
“As a hawk flieth not high with one wing, even so a man reacheth not to excellence with one tongue.” -Roger Ascham
“Language is “Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.” -Benjamin Lee Whorf
the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes
“...Orm always afterwards used to say that, after good luck, strength, and skill at arms, nothing was so useful to a man who found himself among foreigners as the ability to learn a languages.”
Frans G. Bengtsson,
Funny Language Learning Commercials
“We should learn languages because language is the only thing worth knowing even poorly.”
Kató Lomb, Polyglot who spoke 16 languages!
“Learning a new language, just like opening a new window, allows you to see the world with intimacy.”
“I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigrees of nations.” -Samuel Johnson
“Each time a language dies, another flame goes out, another sound goes silent.”
― Ariel Sabar
“The Scots language is a mark of the distinctive identity of the Scottish people; and as such we should be concerned to preserve it, even if there were no other reason, because it is ours. This statement requires neither explanation nor apology.”
― J.Derrick McClure
Ironic and Humorous Quips:
“Oh child, your language is so utterly simple and limited that it has the affect of extreme complication.
The one phrase it is imperative to know in every foreign language is, 'My friend will pay.
“In attempting to learn the Umbundu language, I often look back with a shiver and a blush at the atrocious mistakes I made. The African has a highly developed sense of humor, but he listened to these blunders politely with a deadpan expression on his face. Some of the young girls giggle, but the men control their emotions until later, when, in the absence of the missionary, the blunders are repeated around the campfire to the accompaniment of howls of laughter.”
T. Ernest Wilson
There's a store in New York called Bonjour Croissant. It makes me want to go to Paris and open a store called Hello Toast.
“...it always felt good to have that moment of resolve, like saying, "I'm gonna learn French!" It doesn't matter if you do it or not, deciding is the high, right?”
― Felicia Day
Slang is language that takes off its coat, rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands, and goes to work.
I speak Esperanto like a native.
Quotes long enough to be Essays:
“I'd hoped the language might come on its own, the way it comes to babies, but people don't talk to foreigners the way they talk to babies. They don't hypnotize you with bright objects and repeat the same words over and over, handing out little treats when you finally say "potty" or "wawa." It got to the point where I'd see a baby in the bakery or grocery store and instinctively ball up my fists, jealous over how easy he had it. I wanted to lie in a French crib and start from scratch, learning the language from the ground floor up. I wanted to be a baby, but instead, I was an adult who talked like one, a spooky man-child demanding more than his fair share of attention.
Rather than admit defeat, I decided to change my goals. I told myself that I'd never really cared about learning the language. My main priority was to get the house in shape. The verbs would come in due time, but until then I needed a comfortable place to hide. ”