Articles and Stories

March 7, 2013

For each country there is at least one official language, the ‘lingua franca’, defined as the ‘official’ language. This is the language we teach our children and the language we learn at school.

Growing up, we first learn the language of our family. Parents often adopt words that children pronounce incorrectly because such words are ‘cute’.  Words like ‘aminals’, ‘phony’, ‘lellow’, etc. stay within a family and nobody notices when such a word is used during a conversation outside of home. Such words just become part of a family and spread to other members.

Not only do we speak our own ‘family’ language, we also each speak a different personal language. Gary Chapman wrote the book about ‘The 5 Languages of Love’, explaining that we all speak our own language of love. He identifies various behaviors and categorizes each as a language. If you like to receive compliments, than that is your language, or if you like to be touched, give gifts or express your love by doing chores for others, or just by plain listening; each is a language. If you understand the language or needs of your kids and partner then you can respond accordingly. You also need to understand your own language so that you can reveal it to your family and friends.

Besides the language of love, we also speak a financial language. Do you like to spend freely or do you prefer to keep your money under your mattress? Then there is the language of nature and the language of food. Are you an outdoor or indoor person? Do you have exotic tastes, are you a picky eater or don’t you care what you eat.

Many more character languages could be listed here, the important part is to know your own language and those of your friends and family members, and, if you try to respond in the same language, you will become everybody’s favorite.