I’ve held a certain fascination for foreign cultures, especially languages, my entire life. A frequent traveler, my grandmother would bring me newspapers and advertisements in Arabic, Greek, French, and many other foreign languages as she jetted around the world. I remember being in my pre-teen years, when I was mostly a bookworm and less of a teenager, locked up in my room trying to decipher the characters in an Egyptian newspaper. I will be a life-long student; I enjoy learning as much as I enjoy using the knowledge acquired. Whether or not you believe in the story of Babylon, if all the languages of the world were made to keep us from understanding one another, this hurdle has been rendered irrelevant in our new age of instant information. The next time you travel to a foreign country, make sure to learn a little about the culture and their language. You will be surprised at how much more you can understand than just the meanings of a few words.