Everything that is worth knowing was written in English or has been translated to it.
Well, not quite, but it's a good rule of thumb. So, immerse yourself in books written in English. Get audiobooks if you can. If you go far enough, you will be exposed to new concepts and ideas in English first, before they percolate to your native language. After a time, you will find yourself struggling to put into your mother tongue concepts which are, for you, effortless in English.
English is a beautiful language, because it lets you reach people. Honor it by always doing your very best when writing and speaking it. Pay attention to your pronunciation, and challenge yourself by writing more, if you can, and editing and sharing your work.
Other than that, perfect native pitch is over-rated, and it may take away confidence dearly needed to talk and practice more.
Everything that is with knowing was written in English or has been translated to it.
Noam Chomsky must have believed this too; when he was prince of linguistics he considered trying to save or document dying languages a waste of time and unfashionable.
It effectively resulted in a language genocide.
It's hubris to think English will contain all of the answers.
Everything that is with knowing was written in English or has been translated to it.
It's a rule of thumb, a practical rule for life at the same level than buying groceries.
I'm well aware that language incarnations form a very esoteric space, worth studying and caring about if you are in the right profession, or have the time and the inclination.
Having a diversity of languages not only helps preserve culture and human knowledge, but also gives linguistics more examples to test hypotheses against. Is this language feature a universal feature of all languages, or did it just spread from one language to another?
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Everything that is worth knowing was written in English or has been translated to it. Well, not quite, but it's a good rule of thumb. So, immerse yourself in books written in English. Get audiobooks if you can. If you go far enough, you will be exposed to new concepts and ideas in English first, before they percolate to your native language. After a time, you will find yourself struggling to put into your mother tongue concepts which are, for you, effortless in English.
English is a beautiful language, because it lets you reach people. Honor it by always doing your very best when writing and speaking it. Pay attention to your pronunciation, and challenge yourself by writing more, if you can, and editing and sharing your work.
Other than that, perfect native pitch is over-rated, and it may take away confidence dearly needed to talk and practice more.
Noam Chomsky must have believed this too; when he was prince of linguistics he considered trying to save or document dying languages a waste of time and unfashionable.
It effectively resulted in a language genocide.
It's hubris to think English will contain all of the answers.
There was a really engaging interview with Wade Davis on CBC about this: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/saving-the-planet-means-liste...
Forgive the tangent.
It's a rule of thumb, a practical rule for life at the same level than buying groceries. I'm well aware that language incarnations form a very esoteric space, worth studying and caring about if you are in the right profession, or have the time and the inclination.
Having a diversity of languages not only helps preserve culture and human knowledge, but also gives linguistics more examples to test hypotheses against. Is this language feature a universal feature of all languages, or did it just spread from one language to another?
Why would you want to save a dying language? Just curious. If the answer is in the interview you linked to, could you give a tldr?