Maturation

November 15th is the seven-five-three festival, when parents with boys of five, girls of seven and either boys or girls of three celebrate their children's maturation, dress them in gay clothes and take them to shrines where they pray for their children's future.

Learning a language is much more than an intellectual or cognitive task. It is a vehicle for growth and maturation through the experience of other cultures. It broadens our horizons and deepens our personality. It allows us to find new approaches to solving problems because we have known other worlds, enabling us, as Proust says, "to see with new eyes."