Only Children and Idiots Babble: Motley Convergences of Self and Meaning in Foreign Language Learning

Abstract

Introduction:  Not long ago, a foreign language teaching newsletter I receive published, amid foreign language tongue twisters and teaching method tips, a list of ten "Rules for Being Human."  The title piqued my curiosity; in a profession that restricts itself primarily to instrumental concerns, it is an event to see raised the question of human meaning.  And so I read through several pleasant rules having to do with life as an on-going lesson until suddenly at number seven - a number sacred in so many wisdom traditions - the tone changed: 7. Others are simply mirrors of you.  You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.