Most people start learning a new language when they are in high school or even college. For most, this is just a graduation requirement, and for some, an opportunity to help prepare them for the career of their dreams. There really is no right or wrong answer, we all have our reasons for making the decisions we do. In high school (twenty-four years ago) I decided I wanted to take French after three years of Latin, I imagine it would be easy. Well to my dismay it wasn’t easy in fact I did horrible. I’m not sure if it was the fault of the teacher, the class or me. Back then it could have been any combination, but I quickly learned that it was a bad combination.
I was very sad that one of my dreams was something I was failing at, but at the time I didn’t have the resources to make it better. He wasn’t a strong enough person or student… but he was still something. that stayed in the back of my mind.
Twenty-six years later… my entire life is on hold. I watch the hours, days and weeks go by. I just finished a week of French midterms. Written, Oral and Read… it’s a harsh flashback to my past. Some of the French I remember are unknown to me. I thought that when I went back to school I had overcome my fears about the language and I was spending my time with the colors white, red and blue. In my mind, I was doing just fine, but that fantasy was quickly killed when I learned a way to record my speaking voice while reading an assignment and then play it back for critique. I listened to my first recording and quickly realized that I had completely butchered the French language into pieces that were no longer recognizable. What I had thought sounded perfect coming out of my mouth, where there was nothing but the sound of fingernails scratching a blackboard. To say the least, this was not only humbling, but also very depressing. It seemed like all the studying and hours put in just got me better than I was in high school. So my game plan was to study more and ask more questions, which made me more confused and frustrated. Although I have no plans to abandon this adventure again. I began to seriously question my sanity… I knew that learning French is difficult. Though I didn’t expect to be gutted and filleted and served with a side of low-fat tartar sauce.
I write this to remind you that saying that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger may be a bit overrated. But this is not to discourage you but to help you find the right direction and to encourage you. There are different ways to learn a new language. The main thing I have learned is to always remember to never give up and try as many techniques and methods to learn as you can. There are many sources to learn; books, Internet sites, and home study programs.
But even after the worst day of study and one of the hardest weeks of work and school, I’m sitting here looking at my grade and trying to get all this information into my head, hoping it makes sense. I have dreams of opening my mouth one day and this beautiful Frenchie just flows out of me. There is a saying: “Fall down seven times. Get up eight.”“. I am determined to make this dream come true. I have to remind myself of this every day.
If you have dreams of learning a new language, it doesn’t matter how old you are. Never give up and be true to yourself and one day you will speak the language of your dreams. But never give up if there is a will, there is always a way!