30 citas inspiradoras sobre el aprendizaje de idiomas
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Palabras de filósofos, políglotas, escritores y líderes sobre por qué aprender un idioma lo cambia todo.
El lenguaje moldea nuestra forma de pensar
“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”
— Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921)
“Language is the dress of thought.”
— Samuel Johnson, Lives of the English Poets (1779–81)
“Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.”
— Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Professor at the Breakfast-Table (1860)
“A different language is a different vision of life.”
— Federico Fellini, director de cine italiano
“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.”
— Flora Lewis, corresponsal extranjera de The New York Times
“The diversity of languages is not a diversity of signs and sounds but a diversity of views of the world.”
— Wilhelm von Humboldt, filósofo y lingüista alemán
“I was beginning to think in Greek. That is the great Rubicon to cross in learning any language.”
— C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy (1955)
Por qué aprender un idioma
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
— Nelson Mandela, expresidente de Sudáfrica
“He who knows no foreign languages knows nothing of his own.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poeta y estadista alemán
“Knowledge of languages is the doorway to wisdom.”
— Roger Bacon, filósofo inglés del siglo XIII
“One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.”
— Frank Smith, psicolingüista
“You can never understand one language until you understand at least two.”
— Geoffrey Willans, autor británico
“To have another language is to possess a second soul.”
— Atribuido a Carlomagno (Emperador del Sacro Imperio Romano); la atribución se repite ampliamente pero no está verificada históricamente
“You live a new life for every new language you speak. If you know only one language, you live only once.”
— Proverbio checo (del dicho: Kolik řečí znáš, tolikrát jsi člověkem. — «Cuantos idiomas sabes, tantas veces eres persona.»)
“To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world.”
— Proverbio chino
Dentro de la mente políglota
“Language is the only thing worth knowing even poorly.”
— Kató Lomb, políglota húngara e intérprete simultánea (trabajó profesionalmente en 16 idiomas)
“Language is not a genetic gift, it is a social gift. Learning a new language is becoming a member of the club — the community of speakers of that language.”
— Frank Smith, psicolingüista
“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.”
— Toni Morrison, discurso de aceptación del Premio Nobel de Literatura (1993)
“He that is acquainted with only one language, will probably always remain in some degree the slave of language. But the man who is competent to and exercised in the comparison of languages, has attained to his proper elevation. Language is not his master, but he is the master of language.”
— William Godwin, The Enquirer (1797)
“Reality is constructed by languages, and the existence of a variety of languages means the existence of a variety of realities, a variety of truths.”
— Minae Mizumura, The Fall of Language in the Age of English
“In what language am I, suis-je, bin ich, when I am inmost? What is the tone of the self?”
— George Steiner, After Babel (1975)
“Every word is a bird we teach to sing.”
— Daniel Tammet, savant autista y políglota, Every Word Is a Bird We Teach to Sing (2017)
El camino: práctica, errores y perseverancia
“Invested Time × Motivation / Inhibition = Result.”
— Kató Lomb, políglota húngara — su fórmula para el éxito en el aprendizaje de idiomas. La motivación está en el numerador; el miedo a cometer errores está en el denominador.
“Not having heard of it is not as good as having seen it. Having seen it is not as good as knowing it. Knowing it is not as good as putting it into practice.”
— Xunzi (荀子), filósofo chino, siglo III a.C. — la fuente original de lo que más tarde evolucionó en «Dímelo y lo olvido, enséñame y lo recuerdo, involúcrame y lo aprendo».
“Sbagliando s’impara.” (Se aprende cometiendo errores.)
— Proverbio italiano
“I have learned more languages since the age of 60 than prior to the age of 60.”
— Steve Kaufmann, políglota canadiense y fundador de LingQ (habla más de 20 idiomas)
“If you’re going to learn a new language, you can’t try to be perfect. You’ll stop yourself from talking. You just have to let go.”
— Yao Ming, jugador chino de baloncesto que aprendió inglés tras mudarse a la NBA
“There is no such thing as an ugly accent. Saying there is, is like saying there’s an ugly flower.”
— David Crystal, lingüista británico
“Aim to make at least 200 mistakes a day. The more mistakes you make, the faster you become a confident language learner.”
— Benny Lewis, políglota irlandés y autor de Fluent in 3 Months
“We acquire language in only one way: by understanding messages, or obtaining ‘comprehensible input’ in a low-anxiety situation.”
— Stephen Krashen, lingüista e investigador de adquisición del lenguaje, The Power of Reading
Aprender un idioma no se trata de llegar a un destino, sino de expandirse. Cada nueva palabra, cada nueva frase, cada nuevo error es un paso hacia un mundo más amplio. Como dijo Kató Lomb: tantos idiomas, tantos años por delante para aprenderlos.
Si estas citas te han inspirado a retomar un nuevo idioma, OpenL ofrece traducción gratuita en más de 100 idiomas — útil cuando necesitas comprender rápidamente una frase en un idioma que apenas empiezas a aprender. Para profundizar en un idioma específico, consulta nuestra guía sobre el catalán, una lengua romance con una rica historia política y cultural.
Fuentes
- Ludwig Wittgenstein — Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus — Proposition 5.6
- Samuel Johnson — Lives of the English Poets — “Life of Cowley”
- Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. — The Professor at the Breakfast-Table (1860) — Chapter II
- Wilhelm von Humboldt — Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — on the diversity of worldviews
- C.S. Lewis — Surprised by Joy (1955) — Chapter IX
- Nelson Mandela — Oxford Essential Quotations — verified quote
- Goethe — Britannica — widely anthologized in Maxims and Reflections
- Roger Bacon — Durham University — on languages and knowledge
- Charlemagne “Second Soul” — Quid Plura? blog — tracing the misattribution to 1989 UPI
- Czech proverb — Wikipedia Reference Desk — analysis of the proverb’s origin
- Kató Lomb — Polyglot: How I Learn Languages — free English translation (TESL-EJ)
- George Steiner — After Babel (1975) — on translation and multilingual identity
- William Godwin — The Enquirer (1797) — on the multilingual mind
- Minae Mizumura — The Fall of Language in the Age of English — Columbia University Press
- Toni Morrison — Nobel Lecture (1993) — Nobel Prize in Literature
- Daniel Tammet — Every Word Is a Bird We Teach to Sing — memoir (2017)
- Xunzi — Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Chapter 8, “The Achievements of the Ru”
- Quote Investigator — “Tell Me and I Forget” — origin tracing to Xunzi
- David Crystal — official site — British linguist and author
- Steve Kaufmann — Montreal Gazette — profile of the Lingly founder
- Benny Lewis — Fluent in 3 Months — Daily Mail interview on embracing mistakes
- Stephen Krashen — The Power of Reading — on comprehensible input and language acquisition
- EF Education First — 50 Inspiring Quotes About Languages — reference quote collection
- Flora Lewis — New York Times obituary — career overview; the language quote is widely attributed to her body of work as a foreign correspondent
- Frank Smith — psycholinguist bibliography — Ourselves: Why We Are Who We Are (2006); his language quotes circulate widely in literacy and language education contexts
