What the “Women in Language” Conference 2020 Taught Me
By: Annika Wappelhorst
Tags: Language Learning, Language, Discrimination, Life Lessons, Women

What the “Women in Language” Conference 2020 Taught Me

Language justice, accent hierarchy and the power of words

Photo by Leonardo Toshiro Okubo on Unsplash

“Other students binge-watch shows on Netflix on the weekend, while you attend a conference.” Those were the joking words of a friend and fellow student of mine. She was right: I spent a whole weekend diving deep into the world of languages and “fangirling” over the amazing speakers at the “Women in Language” (WiL) Conference.

WiL is an online conference that first took place in 2018 and was held from September 17 to 20 this year. It showcases women and non-binary people in language learning/teaching — who for the most part created a language-related business, have an active community on social media or write a blog.

I was a first-time attendee and highly recommend the event. Despite having learned 6 languages to various levels, I still have a lot of knowledge to acquire about language(s). Here’s what I learned from various speakers during the conference — mainly about 1) discrimination through language and 2) better language learning. Bear in mind that I won’t mention all the speakers.

Discrimination through language

About language and world view from content creator Teresa Tak:

Language is one of several so-called “ways of knowing” (along with e.g. perception, emotion, reason and imagination). That means that it structures our experiences in the world. It’s the framework that shapes the way we interpret the world. It’s not a neutral tool, but rather the glasses through which we see the world.

About social justice and multilingual community building from Jamila Ball:

There is something called “language justice,” which boils down to being “the right for everybody to communicate in the language in which we feel more comfortable or empowered.” It’s still not achieved because dialogue is very English-centric, black voices and faces are rarely centered, and there are not many existing multilingual spaces.

which boils down to being It’s still not achieved because dialogue is very English-centric, black voices and faces are rarely centered, and there are not many existing multilingual spaces. Movements are just as intersectional as people.

About language preservation from Ifunanya Nwanonyiri:

The preservation of languages is a very uneven tale because of colonization. When you e.g. decide to learn an African language (even if it’s your heritage language), people will ask “What do you need that for?” — a question that would never be asked about French or Spanish. There’s also a racist prejudice about blackness, namely “Something from the African continent can’t possibly be as good.”

About decolonizing language learning and coaching from Chesline Pierre-Paul:

Chesline feels like the question “How do I feel?” is not very helpful because the answer is so circumstantial and arbitrary. They ask themselves daily: “How do I want to show up today and who do I want to show up as?”.

Photo by Jerry Wang on Unsplash

When we teach language learners or help them with a language we have better knowledge in, we should quit saying sentences like: “That’s not the proper way to say it.” / “That’s a mistake.” / “Oh, that word doesn’t exist.” / “We don’t say that in language XYZ.” I as a singular person don’t have the power to speak for all users of the language. Thus, it’s more accurate to say “I haven’t heard this in my lived experience”, “Here’s how I would have said it” or “In my education, the prescription of grammar we are conditioned to react to says: …”

/ “That’s a mistake.” / “Oh, that word doesn’t exist.” / “We don’t say that in language XYZ.” Thus, it’s more accurate to say “I haven’t heard this in my lived experience”, “Here’s how I would have said it” or “In my education, the prescription of grammar we are conditioned to react to says: …” A person’s accent is their vocal DNA , the verbalization of their identity. Pronunciation on the other hand is “the mathematization of a language”, its prescribed rhythm. However, how an accent is treated has a lot to do with structural discrimination , since some accents are seen as more legitimate . We should deconstruct that.

, the verbalization of their identity. Pronunciation on the other hand is “the mathematization of a language”, its prescribed rhythm. However, how an accent is treated has a lot to do with , since . We should deconstruct that. “Native speakerism” is a racial bias: It’s pretending like based on biology (me being born as a German), I am more legitimate than somebody not born with that language, even though they might be equally fluent.

About gender and language from Erin Morgan:

Hedges are words or phrases that we should avoid because they signal caution or probability : “It seems”, “As far as I can tell.” A French example would be “genre,” German ones “eigentlich” or “irgendwie.”

: “It seems”, “As far as I can tell.” A French example would be “genre,” German ones “eigentlich” or “irgendwie.” We should distance ourselves from stereotypes and not make fun of people who talk in a certain way, e.g. who have a vocal fry, do “uptalk” (when the last word of a sentence goes up, which Erin describes as “U.S. Valley girl” accent).

About the importance of black representatives in the language community from Dr. Kami Anderson:

We need to show black kids and kids of color learners of a target language that look like them. When children are in spaces where nobody else looks like them, they quickly feel like they don’t belong. When your black children learn Spanish in school, show them black Colombian communities. When they learn Mandarin as a second language, show them black polyglots!

Better language learning

About accent acquisition from Eliza Simpson:

Everybody has an accent. Everybody.

To take on a new accent means learning speech gestures outside of your selected group of sounds (outside of your own accent). That is a physical skill.

means learning (outside of your own accent). That is a physical skill. It helps to ask native speakers smart questions about how to produce a sound in a foreign language: Do you feel a buzz in your mouth? What’s making contact (lips, tongue, roof of mouth)? What’s moving (lips, cheeks, jaw)?

One of the reasons why we speak in a higher or lower pitch in one of our foreign languages might be to help our brain switch between languages.

About music for language acquisition from Desta Haile:

Singing is for the most part done by good breathing . That means virtually everybody can sing!

. That means virtually everybody can sing! There’s more one can do to learn languages with songs than just listening to them. We can fill gaps in the lyrics, learn about the artists’ life, watch interviews with the artists, look for cover versions, check if the artist has done movie soundtracks and if so, watch the movie.

Musicians can be language teachers, in that they make us learn things about the local style, cultures (seasons, sayings, idioms) and history (some artists were censored and even exiled).

About remembering how we learned things as a child from Devy Basely:

As language learners, we should try to become like a sponge — because that’s what makes young children so successful learners of several languages at a time. Young children require many many repetitions, they are picky about their language resources and only like what they like. They use natural memorizing tricks like colorful (mental) images and have a short attention span — we can use that for our benefit by creating short study sessions.

About things to avoid as a language learner by Sarah Jamieson:

Being obsessed with fluency and not analyzing why we learn a particular language.

Not making SMART goals (SMART = specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound), such as “I want to learn more kitchen vocabulary in Swedish.”

Being too shy to get “out there” when living in a country where our target language is spoken. The ex-pat community gives comfort but doesn’t help learn the local language.

Photo by Annika Wappelhorst (Author)

About how to get the most out of reading books in a target language from Melissa Blaszko:

Participants of a survey about foreign language reading who understood less than 98% of all printed words were not able to demonstrate that they understood the text, even when they thought they understood it. That means: We should look for books in our target language that we understand 98% of. Luckily, there are books for every level!

Luckily, there are books for every level! To find out if you understand more than 98 % of a book you’d like to read, do this:

Count the number of printed words on the first page. Multiply the number of words on one line times the number of lines. Count the unknown words on that page by going through and counting every single one. New words divided through Total Words = Percentage of new words If the percentage is below 98%, it’s better to start with an easier book.

About awakening through language from Jessica Tefenkgi and María Ortega Garcia:

We tend to over-identify with our names, job, age, actions, language, etc. — but these things change while the core essence of my being remains the same!

— but these things change while the core essence of my being remains the same! Our story does not define our future, since it’s no more than the perspective we currently have of the world.

Journaling in a foreign language can be used not only for language improvement but also for self-healing! You create a universe free of rules or expectations and make the target language your own.

About jobs related to language learning from Sara Maria Hasbun:

There is an incredibly wide range of jobs in the language industry . One that sounds really interesting to me as a communication and media student is a “multilingual SEO specialist.”

. One that sounds really interesting to me as a communication and media student is a “multilingual SEO specialist.” Translators (who translate written language) do not have to be fluent speakers of both languages they work in. They also don’t have to be able to translate in both directions, one is sufficient (Language A to language B).

About how to stop apologizing for no reason from Shanti Cumaraswamy Streat:

When we apologize for things that we haven’t wrong, we diminish our own value and our efforts , we make people irritated, they take us less seriously and we maintain hierarchies. This not only goes for “Sorry, this is a silly question” but also for diminishing compliments by replying “Oh, you could’ve done that too” or “You know, that wasn’t hard work.”

, we make people irritated, they take us less seriously and we maintain hierarchies. This not only goes for “Sorry, this is a silly question” but also for diminishing compliments by replying “Oh, you could’ve done that too” or “You know, that wasn’t hard work.” We shouldn’t say sorry for low language skills in a foreign language . When we do that, people will automatically focus on our potential mistakes, which is counterproductive.

. When we do that, people will automatically focus on our potential mistakes, which is counterproductive. Women tend to be too humble because that’s how we’re socialized. We should embrace our abilities, celebrate our efforts and stop apologizing!

© Annika Wappelhorst 2020