When I moved to Hanover from London many years ago one of my difficulties in learning the local lingo was getting the Germans I met to speak German rather than English with me.

For reasons beyond my ken, I was highly motivated to learn the language, but why should anyone else learn German, or any other foreign language, for that matter, if they already speak English? Non-English speakers have to learn English if they wish to communicate freely within the global village. But a native English speaker is in a different situation. He can learn German, French, Spanish, or whatever - the choice is his. For most of us learning a foreign language is not quick or easy, but takes a lot of time, effort and dedication. Persistent motivation is essential. Motivations for learning
English are all around us. But where is the motivation for learning a language other than English? Especially for those with little linguistic interested or talent?

I'm not quite sure what Prof. Koch means when he refers to "the significance of the contribution [that]linguistic skills makes to the wealth of a nation" (Language lessons, Feedback, 14 October 1999), but it smacks suspiciously of "commercial interest". That might motivate some materialists among us, but it certainly would not have motivate me and does not seem to be motivating many
others either, as Prof. Koch laments.

Nobody should be forced to learn a foreign language, but everybody should be encouraged to do so. The most important thing is to have good, enthusiastic and inspiring, native-speaker teachers. If a pupil or student doesn't enjoy what he is learning he is wasting his time! Our government should make a simple offer to selected foreign governments: we will provide the buildings and the infrastructure if you provide the teachers for teaching your language in this country. Ideally Germany and France in particular would rival each other in providing the best teachers and facilities.

There are many ways of motivating people to learn a foreign language, and probably for most people a whole bundle of motivations is necessary if they are to stay the course to proficiency.

It is essential to take natural aptitude and inclination into account. One person will hate German but love French. Then they must learn French. If it is the other way around they must learn German, or Russian, or whatever the language is that they take a fancy to. For a native English speaker it is not
so important which foreign language they learn. But learning some foreign language can be extremely rewarding.

All of my experience is with German, but I assume that much the same would apply to other languages. German has its own characteristics, its strengths and weaknesses, not forgetting its own peoples and the cultures and subcultures that they comprise. Learning German has opened up whole new worlds to me that cannot be communicated through translation. Above all, it has also given me an invaluable perspective on my native tongue and on my own, English, culture. It is difficult now for me to appreciate just how "insular" I used to be.

Learning a language is like entering into a deep personal relationship, which is why it shouldn't be forced on anyone and why you should be free to chose according to your own inclination. Some may chose to keep the relationship superficial. It is a very personal matter. But the right language (like the
right person) has more to offer than the inexperienced would ever dream of.

Let me tell you some of the things I like about German: For a start it's phonetic, being written very much as it is spoken. For someone like myself, who has always struggled and suffered under incomprehensible English spelling and pronunciation, that was a revelation: words spelt simply the way you pronounce them, and pronounced the way you spell them - incredible! You can dictate a German text to me and I will write it down without making a single spelling mistake, even if I do not know what all the words mean! The other great thing about German is that it hasn't been so adulterated with foreign words as English has (thank you William the Conqueror!), so that many
compound words, apart from being easy to spell, are also self-explanatory, requiring no knowledge of old French, Latin or Greek to understand them. For example, the German word for "dentist" is simply "tooth doctor" (Zahnarzt), while monocotyledonous plants are referred to as  einkeimblätterig (with one germ leaf). If an average English parent were to ask a son or daughter  what they are learning in biology and were told "about monocotyledonous plants" they would think they are definitely heading for an academic career, while for Germans there is nothing mysterious or academic about "einkeimblätterige" plants at all. That, and countless examples like it, makes a big educational,
social and cultural difference that most English people are completely unaware of.