I recently began to learn French! Je veux apprendre une autre langue! I was overcome with a desire to learn a new language by various encounters.
There is something quite terrible and isolating when surrounded by others who do not speak your own language. This first encounter came through three long weeks traveling across Mexico. I found myself slightly encouraged the first day in Mexico City when I could occasionally understand a few words in the stream of language coming from our fast-speaking taxi driver. However, those few words became meaningless when I realized I had no capability to communicate or even comprehend the conversations around me. That exciting moment when you recognize the word “car” does not last when that is all you understand for twenty minutes. The laughter of others speaking in another language, left me wondering if I should laugh along or sit silently!
My trip to Mexico inspired me to download a language app in an attempt to learn some Spanish. However, that goal quickly faded with little motivation behind it. I haven’t planned a return trip to Mexico and do not feel a strong pull back!
The second encounter came in a less shocking manner. I recently spent a week in New York City working at the United Nations Headquarters. I could write a whole paper on that topic alone but maybe another time. I met so many interesting people who spoke so many languages. My Italian co-worker sat in the General Assembly and understood all the varying languages of the international delegates. French, Spanish, Italian, etc. A Minister from Belarus told me he spoke six languages after I enquired and then added he was in the process of learning Mandarin. What struck me the most was the casual way many people I met approached the topic of language. No one seemed too surprised by their or others knowledge!
Certainly, many people learn language for practical purposes however those I met seemed to be learning beyond what was necessary or an immediate need. When I returned home, I decided to give it my best try and really attempt to learn another language. I returned to French, the language I had studied in both high school and college. I am determined to make my best effort not because I have a clear goal or purpose. But rather I want to learn something for the simple desire to learn and to know. Why study anything beyond the absolute necessities? Perhaps because the practicality of actions sometimes reduces the beauty of the journey. I can learn French and perhaps through the simple desire to know and to improve myself, doors will open that I may never have been able to unlock without my desire to just know. Il faut que j’etudie et apprends le français parce que je veux voir le monde d’une nouvelle façon!
