Loving your mother tongue

My break has started and I've come back home, to Slovenia two days ago. My main language of communication has thus just shifted from English to Slovene, and it always takes me a few days to adapt and start thinking in the right language again. It always feels so good to be able to speak Slovene though – although I am completely fluent in English, which I speak more than my language, speaking Slovene is still completely effortless and easy, not having to worry because of the accent, pronounciation or grammar mistakes. The only thing I do need to worry about, and more than in English – is my speed of speaking. I speak rather fast even in English, but with the easiness of Slovene my speed just doubles in my mother tongue.

Slovene language is very important for me, also because I feel that I can only perfectly express myself using it. Sadly enough, even that is disappearing – with the amount of English in my life, I have started to forget words in Slovene and often have to use a dictionary when writing in it, as I sometimes just cannot translate some English words in it. That really saddens me, even more so knowing that I would not be able to discuss Biology, what I study, in my language at all. I have simply partially lost and partially never even obtained all the vocabulary I would need. Therefore, the easiest way for me to talk about biology is probably a truly disgusting mixture of both languages, using English words but transforming them into Slovene grammatical forms. Thus, not only my ability to express myself in my own language is impaired, but also my communication skills are decreasing.

In Slovenia, there is a great emphasis in schools to learn foreign languages, so everyone is fluent in English, and many people speak another language, often German, quite well as well. I understand and agree that learning languages is important, especially for such a small nation that we are, as no foreigner will ever speak Slovene. In recent years there has been a trend, not only in Slovenia, but Europe- or perhaps even worldwide, to have more and more international programmes at universities, taught in English. In this way, for example, one of my friends studies in Economics in Ljubljana, but in an international programme, thus being taught in English.

I find this transition a double-edged sword, as I can see why studying in English is attractive to people, and at the same time the damage it might be causing. Considering the fact that I am not only studying in English at university level but even attended an international programme taught in English in high school (the IB), one could say it is hypocritic from me to be writing about why the creation of such English programmes could be damaging and thus should not be encouraged. And honestly, I would do it again as well, also because of the quality of the programme, without which I doubt I could be where I am. Also, as ironic as this might sound, during our Slovene literature course in the IB we did a lot of literature analysis, which helped me to realise all the nuances of language that help one express himself or his ideas, how it is not only the meaning of the words that matters, but also the environment in which they are used, their sound and how all the other literate devices help shape the meaning. Consequently, the dictionary meaning of the word is only a small component of all of what it can express, and that’s the part that is really difficult or even impossible to learn in a foreign language, hence why the mother tongue is really important.

In Slovene, we have this great word for vocabulary – besedni zaklad, literally meaning word treasure. It is a treasure, as the more words you have, the more accurately you can express yourself as there are normally tiny nuances in meaning even between synonyms. Lately in Slovenia one can hear a lot about children losing their “word treasure”, presumably because they do not read enough books. However, I think the fact that there is such an emphasis on learning English must also affect the children’s learning of Slovene vocabulary – there is only a certain amount of information that a brain can process and inputting more information about English might decrease what the brain can process and remember of Slovene. In the same way as I am constantly expanding my English vocabulary at the cost of my Slovene due to communicating in it, children may not be able to expand theirs, despite still mostly communicating in Slovene.

I understand why learning English is so important, as it allows you to communicate with the entire world (that’s exactly why I’m writing this blog in English rather than Slovene), access a lot of information available only in English, provides you with more professional opportunities and at the same time also gives you a slightly different view on the world through the lens of a different language, especially through being able to access their culture through books, films and music. I completely understand the trend to make everything more in English to increase the connectivity with the outer world and it completely makes sense to me. I do find it a shame, though, that we too often forget or don’t take seriously the consequences that intensive learning of a foreign language might have on our own language, or even realise how important, and what a treasure, our own language really is. Slovene writers were fighting for centuries for Slovene language to be acknowledged and accepted, especially as a teaching language in schools, and now that we have that, it seems self-evident and basic enough to forget about its true value.