The Importance of Speaking Another Language

In my 'other life', I'm a language teacher. I teach English and German at a Middle School in the Greater Stockholm area. Speaking English is not a big deal over here - but speaking German certainly is. And I speak it fairly well. And I can't even begin to tell you what a difference that makes when it comes to experiencing life in the German speaking world.

For instance, 18 years ago, in Bernkastel-Kues, we visited the Lauerburg Winery and Vineyards for the first time. The shop, smack in the middle of Bernkastel, was run by an elderly couple. We were later to find out that they were the former proprietors, and that their son had now taken over. At that time, my German was more than a little rusty, so we tried to get by in English, with rather sullen mono-syllabic answers as a result. But J had a question about growing wine, and we realised there was no way we would get an answer unless we tried German. And lo and behold, the couple instantly turned out to be the most charming and entertaining persons. We chatted away, they offered us to sample their wines - we had a great time. Unfortunately, at that time, we could only import very few bottles of wine - I think it was two bottles per person - and their wines were quite exraordinary. What a shame!

However, next summer we went back, and now Swedish law had changed. And the couple proved to be just as charming this year, telling us a rather funny story involving another Swedish customer, who happened to be the brother of former Prime Minister Olof Palme . We bought quite a few bottles that time.

Of course, this year we revisited the shop, but the couple had passed away. The son turned out to be just as friendly and welcoming though, showing us his wine cellars, something he probably didn't do on a regular basis.

On one of our previous visits, we were shown the 17th century building where the daughter of the owners was to be married the following week. I very much doubt that would have happened if we had not spoken German.

Next year we are planning to visit the Loire Valley in France. Do we speak French, you may wonder? Well, we both took it for four years in school - 40 years ago, and we really haven't used it since. I can introduce myself, but that's about it. So I guess that will have to be our project this winter - to brush up our French!