DR. OLIVER SACKS URGES US TO LEARN LANGUAGES
When Dr. Oliver Sacks turned 80, he regretted a couple of things he had not done but should have done in his life. Language-learning was one of them. Dr. Sacks speaks only English, and he is sorry that he never learnt foreign languages. When a scientist like him reaches his eighties and deplores not having learnt another tongue we should reflect on it and take heed, lest we miss that opportunity and fall into that ditch when we reach the same age. Professor of Neurology at N.Y. University; the author of Awakenings (turned into a film starring Robin Williams and Robert de Niro, Despertares, in Spanish ) and The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat , Dr. Oliver Sacks wrote “The Joy of Old Age (No kidding)” (NY Times, July 6, 2013) in which he expressed his ideas about his birthday and his memories, and mentioned a few regrets he had about what he should have done in his life and did not do. Let me quote: “I am sorry I have wasted (and still waste) so much time...