The Story Behind My Languages
Brussels, Belgium
Hello Everyone!
This week I want to share more about my passion for languages. I want to share more of my story related to what encouraged me to learn these particular languages. Language is a funny thing because it changes depending on where you are in the world, even in my own language. I've come to believe that I will never truly be fluent in a language because it's always changing.
English
This is my native language, so there's not much else to say about what inspired me to learn English and how I managed to do it.
French
As a child, I always wanted to learn this language for superficial reasons, but I really got the opportunity to dive into not only the language but the culture. I started learning French at school when I was in 6th grade. I picked up a few vocabulary words on Google Translate when I used to fool around on the computer, so when I was able to take my first French class, I had an idea what I would be learning.
To be honest with you, the challenge I faced with this language was listening comprehension. With having gone nearly eleven years hearing only English, I had to concentrate very hard to decipher what speakers were saying, which I still struggle with today but not as much as I used to.
When I got to high school, I took French 2 with an amazing teacher who, I believe, had a very effective and fun way of teaching. As a side note, this is why I believe teachers (at least the very good ones) are underpaid. Anyways, she was a great teacher who took the time to get us to listen to music, play games, and interact with each other so could learn collaboratively. However, during my sophomore and junior year, I wanted to knock out some graduation credits forcing me to go two whole years without taking any French classes. Then when I got to senior year, I only had one more year left so I said: "what the hell" and challenged myself to take on AP French after skipping two levels!
When I took on AP French, my teacher knew I would have some difficulties, but was still willing to work with me as long as I was able to ask for it. In an advanced level language class, NOBODY SPEAKS ENGLISH! It was French every day for the entire class, so my brain had to rewire itself to communicate in another language every time I walked through the door.
I got an A for the first semester only because my teacher went on maternity leave midway through and the substitutes didn't teach us hardly anything. Then when she came back the second semester, I fell apart. It hurts to say it, but I got... an F the second semester and it was the first F I'd ever gotten on a report card. The only reason I graduated with this mark was that the class wasn't a graduation requirement!
I say all this because learning a second language is tough. You really have to put in the effort if this is something you really want to do. On the first day of class in August, she gave us a little talk about the career opportunities you could receive from knowing a second language. She was the one that told me that fluency is not a level you achieved where you know everything, but your willingness to learn and improve over time. Language is changing which means we need to adapt.
Spanish
I put off Spanish for so long. Everyone I knew told me to learn it because it's everywhere! Everywhere you look there are signs most commonly translated in English and Spanish. With French under my belt, I was able to translate some words and phrases but overall could not understand spoken Spanish. When I graduated from high school, I moved to Los Angeles for college and was immediately blown away by how many people were speaking Spanish on a day-to-day basis. I remember having an encounter with a cleaning lady who came in to clean my apartment (courtesy of the student housing department) and she asked me if I spoke Spanish. I told her I didn't so we ended up playing charades and using Google Translate to communicate while she was there. At least I tried.
After my experience with the cleaning lady, I learned my lesson. I decided in the fall of 2017 that I was going to learn Spanish, and my church became the perfect place to start. We were hosting our first Spanish Worship Night to reach out to a larger group of people within the city. I attended because I thought it would be fun... even though I didn't understand any of it. However, I did have a great time, and I became more motivated to learn Spanish.
Honestly, learning a third language is much easier than learning a second language. Because French and Spanish are similar languages, it wasn't too difficult to put the pieces together. Also, it's was so easy for me to improve when I was surrounded by it all the time! I lived with a Chicano (Mexican by heritage but born in America) roommate who spoke it but not often enough to teach me. Then, later on, I was assigned to live with an exchange student who was actually from Mexico! I mean this from the bottom of my heart, he taught me just about everything I know. From curse words to slang expressions. We'd stay up until 2 AM with me asking questions and us dissecting his language together, and we're still good friends even though we don't live together anymore. I got so many Netflix and music recommendations and I became more enlightened to authentic Mexican food and culture which is nothing like what Donald Trump makes them out to be.
At my church, they announced after Worship Night they would be doing more Spanish services which encouraged me to learn Spanish even more. They would announce the next month's Spanish service each month and I'd spend so many hours during the week learning new words, practicing my listening skills, and training my brain to master perfect pronunciation on top of the school work I had to do. This is the reason why I tell people not to limit themselves to learn only what you major in because it can broaden what you're capable of. Over time, I saw myself getting so much better and my listening comprehension skills were a lot better in Spanish than they were in French. I wouldn't say I'm fluent, but I can communicate effectively as of right now.
German
This was a weird one. I didn't have any specific reason as to why I wanted to learn German. When I joined the creative team at church, I met a team member who was from Germany. To be quite frank, I immediately got excited because he was from another country and I love meeting people from different cultures, so one day we were having a conversation about where he was from, and knowing me, I had a lot of questions about his language and culture. I remember him teaching me a few words here and there, and eventually I told him I really wanted to learn, but then he responded by telling me German is hard...and I said challenge accepted. Anyone who knows me really well will tell you I'm not one to shy away from a challenge. I might get frustrated from time to time or overwhelmed, but I won't quit.
I decided at the beginning of 2018, I would learn German and Spanish at the same time which wasn't easy. These are two completely different types of languages. One is more latin based while the other was a Germanic language, but they were very similar to the languages I knew. Spanish is closely related to French and German felt a lot like English…only backward.
Example:
English:
I want to eat something.
German:
Ich will etwas essen.
These sentences mean the same thing, but in German, it literally translates to:
I want something to eat.
What made sentences easy to follow was that they capitalize on nouns so I knew what was an object and what wasn't. The letter W is pronounced like a V and the letter V is pronounced like an F not to mention the CH sound comes from the back of your throat and sounds like you're hissing. The letter R sounded much like a softer guttural R that I hear in the French dialect. I spent a whole year trying to learn this language and I'm still bad at reading German to this day, but it's something I intend to work on overtime.
I told myself I wanted to be fluent in German by the end of last year, but I still have trouble with the language to this day, yet that doesn't stop me from using it. It took me what felt like forever to learn the four German cases, which were really confusing on its own, but I never stopped trying. My parents were hosting their annual charity ball, and one of the volunteers was a German lady (I feel like God is manifesting international friends towards me!). I introduced myself because my mother told me about her, and I wanted to practice. We hit it off right away, she was funny, friendly, and such an open person. We were going in and out of German and English with our conversation. I think at one point, I code-switched and said something French but she didn't seem to care. French is my defense language because I refuse to speak English because using my native language feels like cheating. My speech was very hesitant when trying to communicate my own thoughts since I'm at the phase where I'm still processing what I want to say without it rolling off my tongue, but she was patient.
Italian
I'm fairly new to this language. I'm in the beginning stage of being able to communicate in Italian, but it's similar to what I know (Spanish and French). This is one of the Romantic languages associated with Latin roots and I love their history (and of course their food). When I first started learning this one, I was able to read almost immediately. The sentence structure is the same, but the language has only 21 recognized letters in their alphabet. The other five letters are recognized as foreign letters and only used in loan words from other languages. I haven't had too many revelations with this language just yet, but I've met very few native speakers.
At one point during my first year at FIDM, I met someone who was on exchange from Italy taking classes related to product development. We met at an Industry Club meeting, there was a special guest speaker from Calik Jeans who came to discuss her experience working in the industry and I noticed she was there. I didn't think much of her at the time but I saw her a few times around campus. It wasn't until later when she came up to me at one point and introduced herself (again, I’m attracting international friends without trying). Her name was Marzia and that's when I found out she was Italian. We managed to exchange numbers at one point, but I wish I had stayed in touch more so after she finished her exchange. I take this as even more motivation to keep learning Italian because you have no idea who God will place in your path, but it's best to try to be ready for it as best you can.
When I moved into my first place after college, my roommate then told me she was from Italy, and I thought “It keeps happening!” She was in LA on an internship for marketing, and she was the most honest and funniest person ever! If she didn’t like something, she wasn’t afraid to say it which was really refreshing for me as a people-pleasing American. After her internship ended, I got to take her to the airport and say our last good byes, but we still keep in touch to this day because if I ever end up in Italy, I have a friend I can reach out to.
Portuguese
I have SO many Brazilian friends which mean I have no excuse not to learn Brazilian Portuguese if I really wanted to! I've been told by so many people that it's almost exactly like Spanish but with a different accent. I found out from those friends that Portuguese is like night and day when you compare the language spoken in Brazil to how it's spoken in Portugal which motivates me to learn both versions since like I said earlier, you never know who you'll meet. I have yet to see how well I'll be able to pick up this language because I don't have a lot of difficulties reading the language, but I will have to work harder to enhance my other skills in communicating in this language. I’ll let you know how this one goes, but for me, this was like German… I just wanted to prove I can learn it.
Dutch
Like German, this a Germanic language that's completely different from most of the other languages. German is similar to English, but Dutch is similar to German.
Example:
English
Do you speak German?
German
Sprechen Sie Deutsch?
Dutch
Spreek je Duits?
So I feel like learning how to read it wasn't incredibly difficult, but I know I will have a difficult time learning to speak and write my own sentences. The thing I don't understand is why Dutch is called Dutch when the Germans call their country Deutschland and the Netherlands call their country De Nederlands. That doesn't make sense! Dutch is really German when you think about it! My reasoning could because the Netherlands and Germany were a part of the Germanic tribes centuries ago with High and Low German dialects (I’ll do more research on this). When you start learning other languages, you start finding out so many things you never knew about a country and its origins. That's why I encourage others to learn about the history of the languages they learn which is why I love LangFocus, a YouTube channel designed to dissect the linguistics and history behind many languages to have a better connection with the language.
Catalan
For those of you who aren’t familiar with this language, Catalan is spoken in the Barcelona area of Spain. I initially wanted to learn it because I was watching France 24 international news and they were talking about how the Catalonian people have been trying to become their own country for some time now. I assumed that because it’s a language spoken in Spain it would be similar to Spanish. I wouldn’t say I am fluent in this language simply because it’s not commonly spoken as much as the other languages, but I primarily started learning this language out of meer curiosity. Fortunately, Duolingo allows people to learn languages through other languages, so learning it from Spanish to Catalan really helped me be able to compare the 2. As a result, Catalan feels more like Spanish, French, and Italian got together and basically threw up a language.
In summary, these are the stories behind the languages I have devoted so much time to learning. I hope my stories encourage and inspire you to learn or continue learning whichever language you choose to learn. I choose to learn languages, not only for the sake of learning them but to connect with other people around the world because that's what matters most. We're all human beings saying the same things every day, it just sounds different to you based on how and what they're saying.