Languages Aren't Only for Learning. They're for Using.
A conversation with Maria Martinez of Bilingual Cerebros
I recently had the pleasure of talking with Maria Martinez of Bilingual Cerebros about Linguicity, multilingualism, and some of the ideas that led me to create a word game where more than one language is invited to play.
Maria and I talked about how Linguicity began, how the game works, and why switching between languages became such an important part of it.
But our conversation also touched on a question that has become increasingly important to me:
What happens to a language after we learn it?
Many of us have languages that were once a bigger part of our lives than they are today. It may be a language we studied in school, one we grew up hearing at home, one we used while living or traveling somewhere else, or simply one we haven't had much reason to use lately.
That's something I can relate to personally. I studied Spanish in high school and am now refreshing it later in life. I'm also learning French and Irish — languages that are part of my own family heritage but weren't passed down to me as languages I grew up speaking.
So for me, questions about learning, returning to and reconnecting with languages have become personal as well as part of the thinking behind Linguicity.
The language may still be there. What may be missing is a reason to use it.
Giving Our Languages a Reason to Play
That's one of the ideas behind Linguicity.
Linguicity isn't a language course, and it isn't intended to replace one. I see it as a complement to language learning — a low-pressure way to use what we already have.
Players can choose several languages within the same game. The Language of Play determines which language must be used for a word, and that language can change as the game progresses.
That means a player isn't simply recalling a word. They may have to activate Spanish for one turn, switch to French later, and then return to English or another language.
The switching is part of the game.
And perhaps just as importantly, there doesn't always have to be an educational objective behind using a language.
Sometimes “because it's fun” is reason enough.
Our Languages Don't Have to Live Separately
We often treat languages as though they belong in separate boxes: one we speak at home, another we learned at school, another we use professionally, and perhaps another that we haven't used for years.
But they're all part of what we bring with us.
That thought is at the heart of Linguicity and of a question I keep coming back to:
Why leave your other languages at the door?
A multilingual game gives those languages somewhere to meet — and, hopefully, another reason to stay active.
Watch the Conversation
My thanks to Maria Martinez for giving me the opportunity to talk about Linguicity and for a conversation that allowed me to reflect not only on where the game came from, but where it may be going.
Watch my conversation with Maria Martinez on YouTube:
And if you have a language you haven't used for a while, perhaps it's time to invite it back into the game.
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