Why 'Voyage'?

Languages are quintessentially connected with being human. They range where human beings have roamed. They are vitally connected to our history, geography, stories, cultures, migrations, and evolution. They are as vital and alive as us.

Therefore, learning another language ought to be one of the most exciting things that anyone could imagine doing! That it isn’t always is why I’ve made it my mission to liberate languages from the classroom. School is not the place for them. 

So where do they belong? Out in the wide world, of course. And how do we learn them? The answer is that we don’t. We shouldn’t try to. Learning a language is impossible ( and so is ‘teaching’ one.) Instead, we may imbibe them. Soaking them up as we bask in the sun snug in our deck chairs.

The best environment that I can imagine acquiring an language—or two—is on a ship at sea, in pleasant company, under no time pressure, traveling between continents, calling in at islands, navigating straits and negotiating canals. It's the experience, not the destination.

I am of an age to have experienced global sea travel in the 1960s, in the last decade before flying became the norm. Between the ages of five and seven, I remember navigating through the Panama and Suez Canals and calling in at islands where coconuts bobbed in the harbor, spending six weeks at a time to span half the globe.

Those experience as magical, formative and enlightening. I believe in my bones that our exposure to and consequent mastery of new and exotic languages should occur in that same atmosphere of mystery and wonder. It ought to be exciting, dammit!  

Languages are taught methodically these days, though they weren’t always. People used to pick them up spontaneously without  strain. But to learn, consciously, with only the front of our brain ignores the rest of the iceberg below the waterline. And that, more often than not, unfortunately, leads to ‘Titanic’ failure. 

My vision is to lead an annual online Voyage of Languages. On our maiden voyage I wish to set out with an intrepid group of 100 pioneers. These will be special people. Our first trip will be exploratory in nature. Beliefs are bound to be challenged, and myths are likely to be dispelled. Is the world actually round? Does the Earth revolve around the Sun? ‘Be there dragons’ here and there, and maybe mermaids? Will we sail off the edge of the world? Shall we eventually discover treasure?

As a group everyone will need to learn the ropes and help out. We are bound to encounter storms and seasickness. It’ll be “All hands on deck!” during times of crises. But the rewards will be huge.

You’ll learn several of your choice languages in the course of this trip. Our sailing ship is limited to 100 berths, to give me ample time to devote to your needs. I seek applicants who resonate to this vision, and who have something to offer in the way of skills, experience and imagination. In future years I may need to call on some of you for help.

Each year our voyage will set off in more modern vessels. If you have actively engaged on a previous voyage you may be invited to take part on these for free, since your experience and expertise will be welcome. There’ll be a need for extra captains and staff. I see the scope of these expeditions increasing ten fold every year. Eventually we’ll form a fleet. In the second year, there will be 1000 of us, and by the 5^th year one million. Can you visualize one billion languages learners setting out in our 8^th year? If so, then I need you!

I want to revolutionize how people acquire new languages. To use the wording of R Buckminster Fuller, I don’t intend to fight the old paradigm of language learning but to put in place something that is so good that everyone immediately wants to leave the old way. I yearn to build a new model for language learning that makes the existing model obsolete. Actually, I mean to do no less than to undo Babel!

Are you with me? Do you see yourself as the pioneering type that would have boarded the Mayflower, the Kon Tiki, or even the Enterprise? In that case, this is your chance. 

"Beam me aboard, Scotty!"