Brandon Vollaro
In Motion Special
While every college student is required to take two years of language courses, to many students, learning language has a much more important meaning than college credit hours.
Throughout history, language has been an important tool in the cohesion of cultures around the world. To many, the language of their people is as important as their ethnicity and traditions. In celebration of that fact, Feb. 21 is International Mother Language Day.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, designated the holiday in 1999 to raise awareness of the importance in preserving linguistic diversity and encourage multilingualism. It has been celebrated yearly, since February 2000. According to U.N. statistics, a single language disappears on average every two weeks.
Eskinder Debebe/United Nations
The U.N. estimates that 43 percent of the estimated 6,000 languages spoken in the world are endangered. Only a few hundred languages are given a place in education systems and the public domain and less than a hundred are used in the digital world.
One major reason for this is the push for immigrant families to prioritize English for their children. Nicholas Horvath of DeLand spoke about his grandparents, who immigrated here from Slovakia. “They told my parents to learn whatever language they wanted, but to absolutely learn English.”
Nico Moraites, a student at Daytona State College with a love for studying languages, said learning Greek was important to him and his Greek heritage. “Language is important to me because language holds a culture,” Nico explained as he walked to his carbetween classes to switch out his French textbook for his German one.
Since Greek language has been around for eons, Moraites finds the changes in it over time tell just as rich of a story as any history book. He recalls growing up in a Greek household that before he was able to learn the language, it was “the language of secrets” between his older family members.
The best advice he has for students looking to learn their mother language is to buy a textbook and hire a private tutor.
As for how he learned, “I saved up money for a year and a half to visit Greece to study.”
That coincides with the advice of Senior Professor Ray Cornelius, who teaches both French and Spanish courses at Daytona State.
“The best way to learn a language is to surround yourself with it,” he reaffirmed, while strongly suggesting visiting a country that speaks the language you wish to learn. But first, he said, learn the basics.
When he was seven, he visited French Canada, and found himself completely surrounded by French speakers. “I had to quickly learn simple commands to get by, like “pass the butter’.” As a child, language learning comes easily. The older you get, however, the trickier it becomes. Cornelius said.
According to him, adults want to know the “why” behind everything. This can make language learning overwhelming in the beginning, especially in a foreign country. Listening to music in the language you want to learn helps.
Daytona State College currently offers language courses in Spanish, French, German and American Sign Language. Professor Cornelius hopes to see more student interest in language-based extracurricular activities.
“Don’t wait for someone else to do it, be the solution to the problem you want,” he advised.
He recommends that students ask professors about the possibility of class trips, as well as even simply getting like-minded language students together to socialize in clubs. On campus there are various clubs that focus on multicultalism and language, including the American Sign Language Club, Global Friends and the Multicultural Club nm the Flagler/Palm Coast campus.