Bloganuary asks “What language do you wish you could speak?”
Having dabbled in Latin, Koine Greek, French and a smattering of Hebrew and Arabic – even a light touch of Shona, Ndebele and Hindi, (and some of our own local indigenous words – Nungyar.) I rather wish I was better acquainted with my own language (the one I’m communicating with now.)
This may sound odd as my life’s vocation is reliant on my language’s spoken and written word to explain, teach, exhort, comfort, persuade and, above all, listen to what is hidden behind words that others speak in the stories and dilemmas and experiences that they share.
Although I have received occasional accolades for what I have spoken, I always feel there is room for improvement – not because of some neurotic desire for perfection, but from an awareness that the task of communication is always ongoing and never quite finished – there is always something more.
And I am mindful of the words of St Paul when he says, “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
So I shall continue to be a learner of my own tongue, as well as others, to this end.
Wondering Pilgrim 
I studied Latin at school to but we only read and translated texts, we didn’t really speak it
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We had to vocalise it. Our teacher was a stickler for accuracy and speaking it, he believed, would fix it in our memory. As students, we wondered what value this mandatory subject would be. It has proved useful on so many occasions and provided a stepping stone to understanding some other languages.
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