On language learning

Learning a foreign language seems to me to be a twofold act of faith. You have to believe that you *can* do it, that by moving one stone at a time, learning one word at a time, you will eventually conquer the mountain. And you have to believe that it's *worth* doing, that at the end of the process it will make a difference to know this language, and that there will be people to speak to.

In my unsuccessful effort to learn Tuvan, it's been the first leap of faith that's been the difficult one. All along I knew I was only in Tuva for a short 11 weeks. It's been hard for me to seriously believe that I could learn to speak Tuvan in that time, and thus hard to make myself devote the time and energy it would require to do so.

For nearly all Tuvans, it's the second leap of faith that trips them up. English is taught in schools beginning in the 5th grade. But hardly anyone speaks English. Partly, it's because the quality of instruction seems to be sorely lacking, with teachers who don't have a firm grasp on the language themselves. But partly, it's because the students themselves don't see English as something they will ever need or use. It's like the American high-schooler complaining, "But when am I ever going to need to know the sine of 30 degrees?"

Sean worked a brief stint as a part-time English teacher in a local school here, but says he stopped because he didn't feel he was having a real impact. Teaching kids who live in a place where a foreigner is a rare sight, where few people leave the country or study abroad, where most expect to grow up to be herders, requires first establishing the value of the subject you're teaching.

The growing trickle of foreigners coming to Tuva and the flood of American culture-- almost all the movies on TV are from Hollywood, most of the music played at the 'discoteka' an on the radio is American pop-- will hopefully get more students actually excited about learning English. I'm hopefully contributing by being here, and also by teaching a little English on the side.