The Gift of Tongues
On the subject of my modest linguistic accomplishments, there is one compliment that infuriates me above all others: “You’re so gifted with languages!” It’s meant well, but…
Firstly, I’m not.
And secondly, and thirdly, and fourthly: there is no such thing as the gift of tongues. Not anymore.
We often say that people are gifted in some way or other. We speak of gifted musicians, sportsmen, artists – and linguists. But is the ability to learn a language a “gift”? The word implies that the “gifted” one received some miraculous ability, and in fact the term is related to the Biblical account of Pentecost. It tells of the occasion that a number of Galileans – the connotation here is of uneducated country yokels – were miraculously enabled to speak in languages that they had never learned. The gift of tongues.
The Greek word for ‘gift’ is χάρισμα, which gives us our English word ‘charisma’. Charisma originally described a degree of charm or ability that could only be divinely conferred, something acquired miraculously, without effort.
It may be comforting to think that the reason we have failed to master a foreign tongue and that others have is simply due to us lacking some intangible gift. But it’s also a cop-out. It implies that our polyglot friends have made no effort and as a corollary no amount of effort on our part would produce the desired result.
So, do some have the gift of tongues, an effortless, miraculous ability to learn more quickly than others? It is certainly true that we all think in different ways and that we are all drawn to different interests. That is partly due to genetic factors and partly due to the environment in which we were brought up.
But no-one whom we think of as “gifted” has achieved any ability that she or he may have without considerable effort. And so it follows that we are not going to be able to speak a language miraculously – even if we live in another country for decades.
