Working in libraries is all about service – and to be good at service it’s necessary to be able to communicate. Languages are always going to be valuable in providing some great service, and in helping you find a lovely job – or get promoted at the lovely job you already have!

What languages could you learn? Look around your community. What languages are being spoken at home in addition to English? That would be a great place to start! You probably have some ideas about those languages: Somali, Spanish, Hmong, Finnish, Polish.

To get some ideas about other languages spoken in your community, do a little investigation – you probably don’t know all of them, no matter how long you have been there. I really like city-data.com – there is a ton of great information about your community to learn! Browse around census.gov for other kinds of information about your community. (More information is never a problem!)

Maybe you have a gift for languages, and you pick them up easily. Fantastic! Maybe you are more like me – and struggling with English is a challenge most days. Either way, we can all learn at least a few words that will help to make our service to our community better, to encourage people to come visit the library, and to keep the library connected to the community members!

Where can you go to learn words in other languages? There are a variety of free sources. Here are a few places you can start:

• Duolingo “Learning with Duolingo is fun and addictive. Earn points for correct answers, race against the clock, and level up. Our bite-sized lessons are effective, and we have proof that it works.”
• Babbel: “At Babbel, we obsess over crafting the tools you need to start having practical, everyday conversations.
  We believe the sooner you begin to speak a new language, the sooner you’ll open yourself up to a world that’s bigger, richer and more inspiring. “
•  Rosetta Stone Travel App: “Take your lessons on–the–go with the new Rosetta Stone mobile app. Learn to speak Spanish, French, Italian, English, German or one of 19 other languages anytime, anywhere. With instant syncing, downloadable lessons and more useful features, it’s never been easier to learn—whenever and wherever you are!”
• Memrise: “Go from zero to language hero with over 200 courses full of rich content created by expert linguists.”

• Google Translate: “Translate between 103 languages by typing
  • Tap to Translate: Copy text in any app and your translation pops up
  • Offline: Translate 59 languages when you have no Internet
  • Instant camera translation: Use your camera to translate text instantly in 38 languages
  • Camera Mode: Take pictures of text for higher-quality translations in 37 languages
  • Conversation Mode: Two-way instant speech translation in 32 languages
  • Handwriting: Draw characters instead of using the keyboard in 93 languages
  • Phrasebook: Star and save translations for future reference in any language”

You might start with some general words, and that is never going to be wrong. Learning to say hello, good bye, thank you for visiting, here is a book – all of these are things you say probably a dozen times a day. “The bathroom is over there” will be important no matter what you are doing. Start paying attention to the things you regularly say. Talk to your colleagues -what are their most common words and phrases?

Research says that if you learn the 1,000 most commonly spoken words in a language, you are essentially fluent for most purposes. So don’t worry about making it all perfect; don’t feel like you have to have it all or nothing with a new language. People appreciate your trying to be a better communicator; being able to stumble your way through a few ideas will help immeasurably in providing great service – you do not need to be completely perfect at it all! Just work to get better than you are today, and that is great.