Every year on September 26 Europe mentions the European Day of Languages. The aim of this day is to encourage language learning and foster respect for all European languages. Although studies reveal that almost every third Lithuanian knows English, knowing more than one foreign language is increasingly becoming not an advantage, but a necessity.
The Language Centre of Kaunas University of Applied Sciences develops the idea of multilingualism in higher education, contributes to the improvement of the English language competencies of the university staff, ensures that students are given the conditions to study as many foreign languages as possible: from Russian, German, French, Italian, Spanish to Norwegian, Finnish, Japanese, Arabic, etc.
Juan Carlos Pagán Motos, a Spaniard living in Lithuania, says: knowing foreign languages allows you to get to know your native language better
Juan Carlos Pagán Motos, who teaches Spanish in the Language Center of the Faculty of Arts and Education of Kaunas University of Applied Sciences, first came to Lithuania eight years ago and immediately started learning Lithuanian. He reveals that the fact that he cooperated with schools once he came to Lithuania and spent a lot of time there helped him in learning the Lithuanian language.
“I came to Lithuania for the first time because of one programme with European Union called European Voluntary Service and during the first 4 weeks, we had an introduction to the Lithuanian language. After that, I participated in different projects at Panevėžys District Education Centre where I taught Spanish and also cooperated with different schools. The time I spent in schools was very useful for me – they usually have pictures with the names of different seasons, months, and days of the week, and it really helped me in learning Lithuanian,” recalls J. C. P. Motos. The lecturer of the Language Centre smiles – while learning Lithuanian, he had some curious situations.
“Before I understood the Lithuanian language well, I would smile and say, “Taip, taip, taip”. And one friend was telling me something that was not a nice situation he was referring and I was telling him “Taip, taip, gerai” and he said “No, Juan, blogai!” says J. C. P. Motos.
According to the Kaunas University of Applied Sciences lecturer, learning foreign languages helps to get to know our native language and culture better. “I think that by learning a foreign language, we not only gain new knowledge but also begin to better understand our native language and culture, notice the similarities and differences between various languages and cultures. For example, when learning Lithuanian, I am more conscious about the Spanish language,” J. C. P. Motos shares his thoughts and adds that learning foreign languages also develops respect for other languages and cultures.
Was surprised that many Lithuanians can communicate not only in their native language
J. C. P. Motos, who has been living in Lithuania for eight years, says that was surprised that many Lithuanians, unlike Spaniards, can speak foreign languages.
“I feel proud of Lithuanians. I live in Lithuania for eight years and the amount of people that can speak different languages seems to be really large. Meanwhile, there is something paradoxical about Spanish culture. On one hand, we are quite open-minded, welcoming people and on the other hand, everything is in Spanish. For example, if you visit Spain or another Spanish-speaking country, people are going to welcome you in a very friendly way and if you try to say some expressions in Spanish they are going to tell you “You speak Spanish! ¡Hola! Cómo estás?”. However, the situation is changing with the new generations, step by step there are more and more people able to communicate in English,” about cultural differences between Lithuanians and Spaniards says the lecturer of the Language Centre.
According to J. C. P. Motos, the knowledge of foreign languages is extremely important for the residents of the countries belonging to the European Union, and although English can still be considered the most important language, the lecturer says that he believes that in addition to the native language, it would be worthwhile to have mastered at least two foreign languages.
K. Čižiūtė, who has learned four foreign languages, reveals what helped her speed up the learning process
Kamilė Čižiūtė, a third-year student in the Business English study programme, has already studied four foreign languages – English, Finnish, German and Japanese, and today, studying under the Erasmus+ exchange programme, she is also learning Spanish. The student says that she was motivated to learn foreign languages not only by their practical benefits but also by the desire to get to know other cultures better.
“I am interested not only in the practical side of languages but also in linguistics. For example, why certain structures or certain words appeared in one or another language, and also it is interesting to compare languages with each other from this perspective. When learning a foreign language, you can also learn about the culture of that country, because the language is strongly related to it. It is also important that many people know English, so it is very difficult to stand out knowing only this one foreign language,” K. Čižiūtė names reasons why she chose to learn more than one foreign language. The student reveals that she already had the opportunity to use her knowledge of the German language.
“I had my internship in Greece last year and there were a lot of German tourists in the place where I worked, so my knowledge of the German language came in handy when communicating with them. Now, being in Spain, I noticed that very few Spaniards speak English, so I have to learn Spanish,” says K. Čižiūtė currently studying at the University of Murcia under the Erasmus+ exchange programme. She reveals that being in an environment where the language she wants to learn is spoken helped her speed up the process of learning a foreign language.
“The most successful method for me to learn a foreign language faster is to find myself in a place where that language is spoken and try to use that language as much as possible. It really speeds up the learning process”, K. Čižiūtė shares her thoughts and adds that knowing more than one foreign language can open the door to a more successful career.
“Mere knowledge of English won’t help you to stand out. Employers start asking, “What languages do you speak?” in the expectation that the candidate will speak more than one foreign language. The world is becoming more global, countries are becoming more and more interconnected, more and more international companies are opening divisions in various countries, so knowing foreign languages is very important,” says K. Čižiūtė.
