This is the inspirational story of how learning a new language is not so bad
The power of language is amazing, almost intoxicating knowing that you could communicate with people from across the globe. However, like a lot of things, learning a language can be a challenge. Especially for some people more than others. I am one of those people. Languages have never been my strong suit, yet through my time in college, I have found a reignited love with language and challenging myself. If you think that there is no way that you could learn a new language, this is your sign to start now!
All my life (since kindergarten I should say) I have been taking a language. That being Spanish, of course! For thirteen years, I was learning Spanish and it was terrible. Maybe it was because I didn’t have good Spanish teachers until I was in high school or maybe it was because it seemed to be the last thing my brain could understand. It was frustrating, to say the least. I studied hard for every exam, quiz and presentation yet it never seemed to stick. Words would get jumbled together or just not even be somewhere in my brain to use. To say it was frustrating would be an understatement. I did not run into this issue with any other subject in school.
This frustration lingered for a long time, especially since I was surrounded by friends who all had knacks for language. Even my sister picked up French her first year of high school and it was a breeze for her! I thought for sure that I should just give up on my hope to understand language.
With that feeling of defeat in my head, I started college not even thinking about taking an entrance exam for Spanish. What was the point of wasting time on something that I am not good at? I thought that from college on, it would be all math and science since that seemed to be the one thing I knew I was good at. However, this changed when I attended SOAR. I had the option of checking out First-Year Interest Groups (otherwise known as FIGS) and one of the FIGS available was Italian Food and Culture. That sounded amazing being able to take classes with the content being around food and culture (two of my favorite things) and so I decided to take it. Yet, one of the requirements was an Italian 101 language class.
To say I was nervous would be an understatement, but since it was just a 101 class, I thought I could survive. And I did! I actually had a lot of fun in that class. Maybe it was the fact that it pushed me much harder than any other language class I had ever taken. Maybe it was because the TAs had a real passion and made each class fun and different. Maybe it was because it was just something new and exciting, but I really found a passion! Since that 101 class, I have since declared an Italian certificate. It has not been easy, but it has been fun and a unique experience!
This is a PSA that learning a new language is hard, even for those who learn naturally, but it does not mean it can’t be done. I highly encourage anyone to start learning that new language you have been thinking about even if it is just through an app! While it has been one of the harder things I have done, it has also been the most rewarding!