A Multilingual Point of View

by Hizbawit Alem Hopkins 

April 2011

Most citizens of the world grow up as unicultural individuals who learn to live and work with people who are like themselves. They feel most comfortable among likeminded people of the same culture and tradition. Even though we are all interconnected and share the same mother Earth, many individuals find it difficult to interact cross culturally.

I consider myself one of the lucky few multi-cultural individuals who grew up in very different societies. Born Ethiopian, I spent the first six years of my life in Havana, Cuba. Even though my native languages are Amharic on my father's side and Afan Oromo on my mother's side, I first learned and spoke Spanish. My late father's illness brought the family to Germany, where I taught myself German merely using my father's German-Spanish dictionary.

I continued my journey of learning new cultures and languages in high school and college studying French, English, and Latin for over six years. Having learned all these languages, I feel that I have gained tremendous advantages for life.

I am convinced that having been exposed to hearing and absorbing different grammatical structures and phrases has deepened my cognitive development and creative thinking. Throughout my academic journey, I was applauded for my good problem solving skills, creative abilities, as well as strong expression skills and enhanced memory.

Secondly, and more important to me personally, is my belief that language is a window into the soul of a nation.  A nation's culture and identity is reflected in its language. Culture and language are interchangeably used to express societal norms and traditions. To learn a new language means to open yourself up mentally to another culture and history. You acknowledge the concept of diversity and gain valuable social benefits, as well as recognize the historical ties between languages. Learning a new language can help you become a culturally aware person, becoming exposed to the roots of culture and tradition different from yours.

Growing up, I was amazed to discover that the over 2,000 year old Ethiopian alphabet, called Ge'ez script, shares many similarities with the Ancient Gregorian and Armenian alphabets. All of these three countries are also known to belong to the oldest Eastern Orthodox nations in history.

The true power of language is that it can foster greater cultural and human understanding through curiosity. Learning a new language is an amazing experience but also an exhausting and humbling experience because you learn how to make yourself heard, how to express your core needs, and how to stand up for yourself in a language that is not maternal to you.