Language is creative connection—not just rules—and LEX helps us embrace it as a shared human experience.
by Clara, LEX Member & Club Facilitator
Language is often taught as an academic subject, as a set of facts to be mastered. In truth, language is a creative interaction. Speaking and listening are practical, creative skills.
A speaker reaches out, using their knowledge base, their creativity, and their desire to interact. A listener reaches out, using their knowledge base, their creativity, and their desire to interact. If there is enough overlap, enough of a connection, it is a successful communication.
Consider this example: Someone says, “Yesterday, I will wash 3 times my teeth and also use the tooth string.” It only takes a little effort and creativity for the listener to understand that, yesterday, the speaker brushed their teeth 3 times and also flossed, at least once. The original statement has significant issues with verb tense, sentence structure, and word use. But it is understandable if the listener cares to understand. So, should language learning be centered on verb conjugation and vocabulary?
Under any circumstances, language is approximate. Stop and think for a moment how often misunderstandings arise among people fluent in the same language. Ask a marketing professional, a family counselor, a customer service representative, or a communications expert. They’ll tell you that a speaker says, “blah blah blah,” and a listener might hear, “bleh bleh bleh.” It happens all the time. Deals fall through because of it, marriages end because of it, and lawsuits are filed because of it.
Years ago, I worked as an English tutor in a college tutoring center. We worked with many students who spoke English as a second, third, fourth, or fifth language. We sat at tables in a large open room. We could often hear each other, and I was sometimes amazed at what other tutors said. They would explain grammar in ways that made no sense to me. And they would define English words in ways that I found very odd.
All of us tutors were fluent English speakers. In fact, we had excelled in college English courses. But we sometimes disagreed on the basic features of the English language. The models of English that we carried in our minds varied substantially.
Even fluent speakers have to communicate across gaps and differences. The speaker reaches out to communicate and the listener reaches out to understand. Both people are actively using logic, creativity, and a desire to interact, and these qualities are intertwined – they cannot be dissected. That’s why I propose that language is interlogicreativactional.
Of course, what seems successful will vary according to context. One day, standing at the counter at a Dunkin Donuts, I heard two employees speaking Arabic. I can recognize Arabic, but can only speak a few words. When one of the women handed me my cup of tea, I said, “Shukran.” Startled, she stopped her rapid motion and looked me in the eye. “Afwan,” she said. We gazed at each other and so much was communicated in that moment. Two words and a bond grew up between us.
Does verb conjugation and precise word use matter? Of course it does – in some contexts and at a certain point in development. But not as a first consideration for basic communication. Let’s feel very good about our three words of Mongolian, our few sentences of Portuguese, our halting Mandarin, our flowing but grammatically atrocious French…In our LEX clubs and exchanges, we show up with a desire to communicate, and a desire to understand. Those are the most important considerations for basic communication.
Language uses everything we have as human beings. It is the outgrowth of our hearts, minds, perspectives, and experiences. Each language is the living creation of a people. Indeed, each language is born, evolves, and dies.
If you kill a butterfly and pin down its body, you can see its anatomy very clearly. But you’ll never sense its motion. What’s different about LEX? What is our contribution? We don’t try to pin down the butterfly. Instead, we gaze in wonder at its flight.
Language is often taught as an academic subject, as a set of facts to be mastered. In truth, language is a creative interaction. Speaking and listening are practical, creative skills.
A speaker reaches out, using their knowledge base, their creativity, and their desire to interact. A listener reaches out, using their knowledge base, their creativity, and their desire to interact. If there is enough overlap, enough of a connection, it is a successful communication.
Consider this example: Someone says, “Yesterday, I will wash 3 times my teeth and also use the tooth string.” It only takes a little effort and creativity for the listener to understand that, yesterday, the speaker brushed their teeth 3 times and also flossed, at least once. The original statement has significant issues with verb tense, sentence structure, and word use. But it is understandable if the listener cares to understand. So, should language learning be centered on verb conjugation and vocabulary?
Under any circumstances, language is approximate. Stop and think for a moment how often misunderstandings arise among people fluent in the same language. Ask a marketing professional, a family counselor, a customer service representative, or a communications expert. They’ll tell you that a speaker says, “blah blah blah,” and a listener might hear, “bleh bleh bleh.” It happens all the time. Deals fall through because of it, marriages end because of it, and lawsuits are filed because of it.
Years ago, I worked as an English tutor in a college tutoring center. We worked with many students who spoke English as a second, third, fourth, or fifth language. We sat at tables in a large open room. We could often hear each other, and I was sometimes amazed at what other tutors said. They would explain grammar in ways that made no sense to me. And they would define English words in ways that I found very odd.
All of us tutors were fluent English speakers. In fact, we had excelled in college English courses. But we sometimes disagreed on the basic features of the English language. The models of English that we carried in our minds varied substantially.
Even fluent speakers have to communicate across gaps and differences. The speaker reaches out to communicate and the listener reaches out to understand. Both people are actively using logic, creativity, and a desire to interact, and these qualities are intertwined – they cannot be dissected. That’s why I propose that language is interlogicreativactional.
Of course, what seems successful will vary according to context. One day, standing at the counter at a Dunkin Donuts, I heard two employees speaking Arabic. I can recognize Arabic, but can only speak a few words. When one of the women handed me my cup of tea, I said, “Shukran.” Startled, she stopped her rapid motion and looked me in the eye. “Afwan,” she said. We gazed at each other and so much was communicated in that moment. Two words and a bond grew up between us.
Does verb conjugation and precise word use matter? Of course it does – in some contexts and at a certain point in development. But not as a first consideration for basic communication. Let’s feel very good about our three words of Mongolian, our few sentences of Portuguese, our halting Mandarin, our flowing but grammatically atrocious French…In our LEX clubs and exchanges, we show up with a desire to communicate, and a desire to understand. Those are the most important considerations for basic communication.
Language uses everything we have as human beings. It is the outgrowth of our hearts, minds, perspectives, and experiences. Each language is the living creation of a people. Indeed, each language is born, evolves, and dies.
If you kill a butterfly and pin down its body, you can see its anatomy very clearly. But you’ll never sense its motion. What’s different about LEX? What is our contribution? We don’t try to pin down the butterfly. Instead, we gaze in wonder at its flight.
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