Back to the Basics

By Amy Sherrill

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Learning a new language is hard.

As someone who has been studying French for over six years I can attest to that. Sometimes, we get discouraged by seemingly endless verb tenses (and their accompanying exceptions!) or after a particularly challenging passage in which you only understood about one word out of four. When this happens it's important to remember your ‘why’. Why do you want to learn this language? What are your goals with this language? Maybe you want to learn Japanese because you’ve been dreaming of traveling to Japan for years and when the day comes you want to be able to communicate. Maybe you live in a country where that language is spoken and to be able to walk and talk like a native is a goal of yours, especially if your stay is potentially long-term. For whatever reason you’re studying, focus on that, and remember; languages are a skill, another tool in your toolbox of communication with the people around you and it’s okay if some of your tools are ‘sharper’ than others. It’s okay if metaphors throw you for a loop or you just can’t wrap your head around all these ridiculous proverbs that make much more sense as a native speaker. We speak to communicate, to share ideas and stories. Maybe you can’t exactly write poetry in your target language yet, but just think how much easier you can communicate now, compared to when you started your studies!