Language Learning and Cryptocurrencies Are Strangely Similar
By: Mathias Barra
Tags: Language, Language Learning, Bitcoin, Education, Cryptocurrency

Language Learning and Cryptocurrencies Are Strangely Similar

Photo by Executium on Unsplash

I’d be so freaking rich you wouldn’t believe it. Even though I don’t know much about crypto.

I don’t know too much about cryptocurrencies. I’ve done some research and am finishing a book about it, but I’m far from an expert. One thing is sure though. They aren’t going away. No matter what goes against them.

I love languages and I know they’re not going away any time soon. Hell, they’re only growing stronger each day despite all the technology to auto-translate.

Learning a language is a lot like what the cryptocurrency market has been since its inception. It’s evolved a lot and will keep on doing so.

Don’t believe me? Just watch.

Everybody’s curious. Few Dive into it.

Since the big increase from the end of 2017, cryptocurrencies have never really disappeared from the news or online conversations. The countless new millionaires that arose back then made many curious, myself included.

Cryptocurrency. Blockchain. Proof-of-Stake. Bitcoin. Ethereum. Dogecoin even. We all hear these words often yet few really understand what each means.

Many people have tried to invest in cryptocurrency only to get out as soon as things started going south. I’ve seen the same thing happen in language learning.

Each year, there are millions of people deciding to learn a new language. They’re curious about what it’d be like, about the possibilities they could offer to improve their lives.

They dabble in a language. Then another one. Then stop for some reason. Then start again years later and the circle begins again.

Most people give up when it gets tough

Learning a language can be difficult. You have to survive the “am I really capable of doing this?” phase. You have to keep going when you don’t feel like it. Most people can’t seem to handle it. They stop the moment a good excuse arises.

That’s also what happens to most cryptocurrency investors. Most people fled at the end of 2017. Many did again during the May 2021 crash. They feared the decline in Bitcoin and Ethereum.

In language learning, when you’ve overcome this stage, you realize it really isn’t that hard. All it takes is time. The first time is the hardest. The second struggle you get, you remember overcoming it. You remember you’ll improve again.

It’s because you’ve learned more about what learning a language is that you don’t struggle as much after.

Similarly, for cryptocurrency markets, those who have learned more about them, who have learned about the cryptocurrencies themselves fear less. They may be uneasy but they trust their gut. My writer friend Toby Hazlewood recently wrote a piece about how he felt about the last Bitcoin “crash”.

It’s something I’m interested in and curious about. I think that blockchain computing, Web 3.0 and cryptocurrencies will play a significant part in the future and I’ll continue exploring, experimenting and learning about them.

It’s because he’s studied it that he can accept being unease.

Those who give up learning a language quickly are those who haven’t learned enough about it.

It’s unstable

Crypto markets go way high and then way low. They aren’t for the faint of heart. It’s easy to feel motivated when the price goes up. It’s not when the price is divided by two in a matter of hours or days.

Learning a language is just as unstable.

Some days you feel extremely fluent. Some others, you don’t. Some periods you can feel yourself getting better. Some others you wonder if you’re not only getting worse.

Learning a language isn’t about getting fluent tomorrow. It’s a process. And like most processes, it’s unstable.

Just like you keep forgetting about your ex until one day you fall upon a song that triggers all the memories again. Accept having unstable memories. They’re proof you’re not a freaking AI.

You’ll get FOMO

I wonder how many people didn’t feel they missed out on Bitcoin in February. Then how many thought it again in March. And again in April. When you see the price going up, anybody would feel like they should have invested in 2017 when, at its peak, the price was “only” around $20,000.

I sure felt I should have invested back then.

That reminds me of when I met two 21 years old Czech people at the polyglot conference in 2019. They had started learning languages at 12 years old. I started when I was 18. Looking at them, I felt the time I wasted doing nothing as a teenager. I wondered how many languages I could be speaking right now, at 30, had I started earlier.

Learning languages is an incredible journey. I advise it to everybody. It’s changed my life.

When you start and begin feeling at ease in a new language, you’ll certainly also feel awful for not having started earlier. You’ll wonder what level you could have reached by then.

But that’s not what matters. What matters is that you started.

“The best time to start was yesterday. The next best time is now.” — Unknown

It will never go away

Cryptocurrencies have existed for longer than most of us realize. Bitcoin has been around since 2009. It keeps on growing. The possibilities of blockchain are evolving day after day as more people dive into it.

Blockchain will create more ways to live. There will be more platforms like Mirror.xyz for writers. More platforms like Audius for musicians. More platforms like Zed.run for betting. It will keep evolving whether you like it or not.

Languages will too. Each word you say and write impacts the language you’re using in a tiny manner. Whether it’s your native language or not.

We all make the world evolve by combining languages with our cultures, our experiences, our beliefs. Machine translation may help with translating manuals but it will never be enough to share feelings properly.

The thankfulness of native speakers to see you having learned their language creates a deeper connection with them. Your understanding of the culture makes you more appreciative of their language and their points of view.

Language learning, just like crypto, will never leave the face of the earth.

Final thoughts

I may not be a crypto expert but I’m among the many who think it will keep revolutionizing the world. I am, however, an expert in language learning and can assure the same thing.

I’m not saying I know everything about language learning, nor that I’m the best at it — hint: I’m not. I’ve only spent enough thousands of hours on it to know the importance of foreign languages.

Languages are what we use to share our world. The more languages you speak, the more varied ways you can share it. And the more people you can share it with.

Learn a language today. Yesterday would have been better, sure. But today’s just as good as any day to start.

I can promise you one single thing. You will never regret it.