The Danger of Learning a Foreign Language

Just came across an very interesting article by Tim Sullivan on how learning a language outside of its culture can hinder your abilities to speak. I find this is especially true with Japanese as much of the language and word choice depends on your relationship to the speaker.

It dawned on me that learning a foreign language didn’t assure effective communication would happen. I learned the hard way that if you don’t understand the values, assumptions, thought process and culture behind the language you’re studying, then it’s better if you don’t speak the language at all.

Read the full article here.