I was surprised to discover how hardworking and incredible our brains are when it comes to everything we do even language learning. Damage to certain areas of the cortex like Broca's area and Wernicke's area can hurt one's ability to speak or understand speech. The main role of the area in front of the fissure of Rolando concerns with motor functioning, which relates to the study of speaking and writing. Wernicke's area, the upper back area of the temporal lobe, is known for handling the comprehension of speech, while Broca's area plays an important role in the encoding of speech. How one learns a language is much more complex than we think. We tend to take the brain for granted.
Because different languages have different ways to talk about the world, it is important to expand our view by learning another language. This allows us to realize that others view the world differently. By learning more than one language, we are then able to conceptualize or process meaning from more perspectives and possibilities. Learning about this motivates me more to continue learning Japanese and Korean. Sometimes, I used to think about whether if it is meaningless to study a language that is not very practical to use in your everyday life. Now, I want to be fluent one day. To reach that level, I wonder how one can retain what one has learned and be able to fluently speak a language that hasn't been used in a while. I sometimes worry about forgetting everything I've learned.
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