I am trying to narrow down which one will be most useful in the years to come. Changing demographics in our state suggest it might be wise to learn Spanish. Equally alluring is the thought of taking up Mandarin, as China becomes an increasingly important trading partner to our region.

But while both dialects have some utility, I think the best new language I can learn is "political-speak," which our political class has adopted in recent years.

Political-speak is practiced by TV media personalities, politicians, consultants, pundits and the like. While it may sound similar to English, it really is nothing of the sort.

Most languages try to communicate ideas with clarity. Not so with political-speak.

The idea behind political-speak is to convince people you have convictions on a particular issue without actually having to stake a position that might haunt you come the next election. The most accomplished practitioners can make seemingly bold statements that are really opaque assertions with plenty of wiggle room in case the mood of the constituency changes.

To some degree political discussions have always suffered from this slippery communication.

One reason our forefathers were so intent on an independent media was to counter politicians' inclination to speak a lot without saying much. The framers envisioned a Fourth Estate that would ask questions, pin down elected officials and otherwise get to the bottom of things.

But now it seems many members of the media - especially those on cable news programs - have gone native. They have adopted the mannerisms of the people they were supposed to report on. It's telling that each major political party has a favored cable news outlet. If you can go to a venue where the reporter, the audience, the questions and the responses are all humming along to the same tune, it's all the easier to use political-speak.

Our government officials seem intent on perpetuating this new tongue. But there is hope. If enough of us learn their language, they can't use it to fool us.

Sadly, the only way to learn the language is to immerse ourselves in the conversation. We are going to have to carve out a little more room to pay attention to civic affairs.

Sure, we are going to need to glance at the folks on cable news, but that is just the beginning. After we hear a taste of political-speak, we need to check into the story a bit more. We'll need to read about what is going on, preferably from a variety of sources.

It may not be as fun as learning Spanish or Chinese, but if we decipher what politicians are really saying, we won't get lost in translation.