Unfamiliar scripts and unknown scribbles: on the importance of learning a linguistically distant language

'It's daunting to find the language so foreign, so distant, but also so thrilling. One is absolved of

responsibility when the language is incomprehensible.'

- Frances Mayes, Author of Under the Tuscan Sun

American travel writer Frances Mayes speaks the truth for many. A globalised world means that, now more than ever, cultures from afar can still get acquainted with each other. But that still does not remove the intimidation–or ignorance–towards the distance that languages carry.

But Frances Mayes' truth also doesn't extend far–global connectivity implies opportunity to live more culturally enriched lives, and engaged learners wouldn't truly be absolved of responsibility when the language is incomprehensible. If learning a distant language comes with so much sacrifice, why should the world still bother?

I did my doctoral study on how to learn–and teach–a linguistically distant language. And in this piece, I adapt one eloquently written section in my dissertation on why linguistically distant languages are something to take seriously, not just in the teaching industry, but also in our personal language learning decisions.

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With global connectivity being an ever-expanding phenomenon, the language learning landscape becomes progressively more complex. Unlike previous eras, learners today are increasingly exposed to languages from different sides of the globe, which oftentimes are languages that share few commonalities with their first languages. Although there are no concrete statistics to illustrate this, we can imagine the magnitude of this trend by imaging the number of English language learners across Eastern Europe and the entire continent of Asia, where many learners speak a first language that may bear limited linguistic resemblance to the English language. Beyond English language education, the rise of multiple political-economic global superpowers such as Latin America, Asia, and the Arab world has also stimulated the growth of the Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic language teaching industries worldwide. This weaves a good idea of how many language learners may find themselves confronting rich dimensions of linguistic distance.

Aside from these learner demographics, the importance of learning linguistically distant languages can be elaborated through four vastly different disciplines—global trade, immigration studies, neuroscience, as well as philosophy:

Global Trade can be Hindered by Linguistic Distance

Firstly, there is the global economic perspective. This point is illustrated in Hutchinson's statistical analysis of U.S. trade back in 2005, wherein he investigated whether linguistic distance may reduce opportunities for international business. It was found that there tended to be less trade between the United States and countries that spoke a first language considered to be linguistically distant from English, such as Japan and South Korea. Whilst Hutchinson did not explain clearly whether reduced trade was due purely to linguistic distance or other geographical, political, and cultural barriers, this study does trigger broader reflections on whether more effective tackling of linguistic distance in foreign language learning might widen opportunities for international economic collaboration.

Linguistic Distance, if not Addressed, can make Societal Integration Hard to Attain

Closely linked to the economic perspective are issues of immigration. Recent decades have observed an unprecedented global cross-continental movement, under both voluntary and involuntary circumstances. The former often concerns movement for motives of finding better career opportunities or a different lifestyle. The latter, on the other hand, may relate to large-scale refugee movements in response to the ongoing political conflicts emerging around the world. In many of these cases, the immigrant either willingly moves to or finds themself forcibly displaced in a country far from home, where the learning of a largely unfamiliar language is often needed. Struggles to acquire the language in the country of immigration are commonly associated with issues of societal acceptance or acculturation, adaptation, and consequently, employment. While some public policies may reduce the disadvantages that immigrants face due to the lack of linguistic skills, there are still limits as to how much these policies can assist, and educational entities are left with the pivotal duty of teaching languages effectively to immigrants. The navigation of linguistic distance when learning a target language is hence critical in such settings, as it is not only a concern of well-being, but also survival.

Distance in the Mix: a Healthier Linguistic Diet?

The third factor that accentuates the importance of learning linguistically distant languages is neuroscientific. Recent decades have seen a spike of interest in the potential cognitive benefits of bilingualism—a belief enhanced by the increased levels of executive functions as well as the delayed onset of dementia among bilinguals. A possible bilingual advantage has intrigued the interest of scientists in uncovering factors that may contribute to differences in bilingual cognitive effects, such as age, proficiency, language switching frequency, and more recently, typological distance between the new target language and the background languages. While at present it appears that even minimal L1-L2 typological distance can contribute to advantages in bilingual executive control, an area that merits attention is whether the processing of linguistically distant languages—or dimensions of linguistic distance—may form cognitive training in ways that are not yet fully understood or comprehensively tested by the scientific community. In 2017, it was pointed out that more intense neural resources are needed for lexical retrieval, articulatory processing, attention, and cognitive control in a linguistically distant L2, and that the processing of a distant language likely triggers more explicit than implicit memory. In the neuroscience of multilingualism, it was also argued that different dimensions of L1-L2 typological distance—aspects touching upon writing system, lexicon, tonality, orthographic depth, morphosyntactic structures, and cognition barriers in language—are prone to activate and strengthen different areas of the brain over time. To illustrate, an L1 English speaker may activate more of the visual-spatial areas of the brain when developing knowledge of the Mandarin logographic script, yet develop speech motor actions when engaging in complicated grammatical tasks that require both accuracy and speed (such as declining nouns and adjectives when using Polish cases). This discussion on linguistic distance and its complex potential to strengthen cognitive function is relevant to what scientists Bak and Mehmedbegovic coined as a 'healthy linguistic diet'—that is, 'exposure to different languages, learnt to different levels of proficiency, can have positive effects across the whole lifespan, benefiting individuals and societies'.

One does not Leave their Comfort Zone by Investing Only in the Familiar

Finally, although this view has not been much talked about in academic literature, we may also appreciate the philosophical dimension of learning a linguistically distant language. In the globalised era that we live in, where multilingualism is becoming an increasingly powerful tool for building intercultural thinking, there is no need to limit ourselves only to languages similar in origin to our native tongues. Linguistic distance reminds us of the extent of language diversity, that across the world, humans have shown incredible creativity in constructing this one thing that we all call language. It is humbling to experience how there can be infinite ways to design a writing script, to sound out words, to conceptualise an object, or to engineer a syntactic system. Xenophobia in the current neoliberal era is complex, and there is no evidence to prove that language education always leads to improved intercultural communication. But there is still the idea—naïve, yet somewhat hopeful— that learning a language that originates far from home can have us build empathy for people from distant corners of the world. It may stimulate us to engage critically with cultures that contrast sharply with our own, driving us to venture out of our cultural comfort zones and appreciate humanity from a rich angle. 

 Image by StockSnap from Pixabay