ONE of the world’s leading polyglots flew all the way from Macedonia this weekend to stand on the stage at St Ouen’s Parish Hall to recite a poem in Jèrriais.
Richard Simcott is British and used to work for the Foreign Office but now lives in the Balkans, where he runs his own language consultancy and organises an annual global polyglot conference.
He is internationally recognised not only because of his impressive language skills – he has studied over 50 languages; many of them to a high degree of proficiency – but also because of his advocacy of the power and importance of language, and the benefits of learning new ones.
Poly: Greek for ‘many’. Glot: meaning ‘tongue’. For Richard, this refers to someone who goes out their way to learn languages that they do not need for their day-to-day life; differentiating it from the term ‘multilingual’, which refers to someone who has grown up speaking many languages, Luxembourgers being typical examples.
About a year and a half ago, a friend of Richard’s told him about an online beginners’ course, ran by Jersey Heritage’s Aline Cattermole, in Jèrriais.
Fascinated by the ancient language of a small island off the Norman coast, Mr Simcott took up the mantle and received a gold certificate on Saturday for his rendition of ‘À la Campangne’ (In the Countryside) by Florence M Hacquoil.
He said: “Having the opportunity to study Jèrriais was really interesting for me because it shows the other connections that we have, especially with a language like English. It can really enrich your awareness of English and other languages around the region, even Scots.
“Norman French clearly had a great influence on English and a large amount of vocabulary can trace its roots back to it, such as the ‘tion’ or ‘ity’ endings.”
Asked if it had been an easy language to learn, Mr Simcott replied: “Speaking English and French has definitely helped my understanding in my online classes but there are quite a lot of peculiarities to Jèrriais too; it is definitely its own thing. I’m not fully there yet; it is still a work in progress.”
He added: “Coming to the Eisteddfod was a complete accident. I said I would come over to Jersey to see it but was then asked what poem I was going to read. So, I said I’d give it a go: I wasn’t feeling particularly nervous; I just wanted to do the language and the people of Jersey proud.”
Mr Simcott said that a community’s language, and particularly minority languages, were integral to its culture and identity.
He said: “I think it is extremely important because a language tells the history and story of where and why it was spoken. Those early speakers were the people who first discovered these places, so they are the ones that gave names to landmarks, which often have a meaning behind them, or they also tell the story of who lived in a certain place, who came and what happened.
“The culture and the history of a place is carried in its language and feeling that connection to the people that came before you is quite a powerful thing.”
He added: “Sometimes in life, you can feel as if you’re flying around like a paper bag in the wind, but language can give you that anchor. And with Jersey surrounded by sea, it’s good to have a strong anchor so you don’t fly off in the storms.”
Mr Simcott said that England and people who spoke English as a first language were unusual internationally for their inability to speak a second language.
He said: “I think part of it is to do with the education system and how it is put together and how it is taught. There’s a natural tendency that when you travel abroad, and especially if you are in a touristy area, people there will want to practise their English. So, it’s a natural tendency to question the merit of learning that language.
“However, on the other side of the coin, English has accepted words from so many other languages, from German to Japanese to Arabic. Words like ‘tomato’, ‘avocado’ and ‘chocolate’, for example, are originally from Mexico but have taken on an anglicised form.
“So, as English speakers, we’re actually quite well placed with our rich mishmash of language and vocabulary to learn other languages. It’s the way it is taught that holds us back rather than ‘we can’t do it’.”
He added: “I think it’s always a good idea to have an awareness of other languages and how it how they work. I’m not going to pretend that if you speak English, you have to learn another language to communicate: of course, we know people learn English everywhere, so you can travel quite happily around the world and just use your language.
“However, that doesn’t enrich your experience of it: it is an English lens over wherever you go, so you don’t get to experience it as it is. You don’t get the flavour of the words and when you see a sign, or something on the menu, you don’t appreciate the links to other things in that culture.
“Also, you also don’t understand your own language as well, unless you’ve really studied English. Often it gives you more empathy as well, with people who are learning your language or learn other languages to be able to understand where they’re coming from.
“There is no magic pill to learning a language and anyone can do it. And the health benefits, at any age, are demonstrable.”
