Reflections of a language learner

“Learning a new language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.”

I was born to a bilingual family, so I really do not remember what it was like for me as a kid to learn English or Telugu.  Learning Hindi was also easy for me; I did not have to put in many efforts – thanks to Bollywood and the life in Delhi. But recently I have taken up French because I wanted to do something out of the box. As a CA student being bound by taxes and law I wanted to do something new and different and narrowed my search down to learning a foreign language i.e. French.

As a CA student my mind always questioned and demanded for logical reasoning in everything I learnt. My mind is conditioned in such a way to provide my client with the best solution for his legal problem. Once I stepped into this new language world my mind tried changing its somewhere constant world to look into other simpler aspects in life. My otherwise questioning mind stopped questioning here because a language has certain rules and they have to be accepted. Some things simply cannot provide logic and this is one of them.

I have become a curious kid in the classroom once again. Each class made the language even more challenging. It reminded me of a child making silly mistakes while learning how to read and write and yet excelling in it after consistent learning and by accepting the challenge in making mistakes.  It also opened up my thought process and made me aware of foreign culture.

The learning was never monotonous. It was never one sided. Each day was different. Sometimes it was a team effort and other times it was only an individual’s effort. As adults we always like to speak only after gaining some knowledge in the language but here the story is different. Anybody can learn a foreign or a new language with the right guidance.

All of us enjoy reading books, listening to music, watching movies. Imagine a new world with new books, new songs and new movies. That’s what language does to you. It gives you wings to explore a new beautiful world.