"I'll never need this."
"I'll never go there, so I don't need to learn this."
These are two things that I constantly heard at my school, two
sentences that I heard from my classmates daily, two sentences out of
many that have to do with apparent reasons as to why we shouldn't need
to learn a foreign language, two sentences that infuriate me to no
end. In my district, you are made to start taking a foreign language
from the ages of 11-12, sixth grade. I personally believe that we
should be made to learn a new language from as early as elementary school, but hey, that's just me.
From sixth grade on I constantly heard complaints about learning this new language (the one you get to choose, might I add). I don't
understand what can be so bad about opening yourself up to a different culture and a new group of people, but apparently it's like pulling teeth; that's at least the impression I've gotten from teenagers from my school and others. There's a difference between not liking a class because you find it difficult, and not liking a class because you don't try. If you tried to understand the language with everything in your being and it just didn't click then drop it; I'd understand, but if you just hate the class and drop it because it's not an easy "A," I have no words.
Learning a language is much more than just a requirement; it's a new lease on life. Being able to speak another language and being able to communicate with people other than who you usually communicate with is a blessing. It's a constant way to learn and grow, and it's incredible that that new growth as a person can come from something as small as speaking differently than how you usually do.
Learning a foreign language is a way to bring people together. I've
been taking Spanish since I was 11 and finally when I was almost 17 I got to use what I learned in real life situations when I traveled to Spain. Not many people are as lucky, being able to travel to the
country that they've been studying with their teacher, but I would
definitely recommend trying to get there at some point in your life.
It's a really satisfying feeling when you use what you've learned from school in real life, especially something as different as a language. From the moment that we stepped off the plane in Madrid to the moment we returned to New York, I was never the same.
Being able to utilize the skills I've gained since the beginning of my
learning of the Spanish language within the one week I spent in Spain was absolutely incredible and unforgettable. To this day I've never felt more comfortable and confident in my knowledge. I was speaking to natives in their language, not mine. I was able to understand them and they were understanding me too, and to be able to use a different language as a means of communication is such an empowering feeling. It's a rush.
There's a stigma around learning a foreign language. People believe it is unnecessary. The ignorance of saying things like "We're in America, learn to speak English," has become more and more acceptable in our society when it absolutely shouldn't be. As a world society, we should be accepting of other cultures; we shouldn't be putting them down. Not only can learning a foreign language be stimulating to your brain, but it can also create relationships and friendships that you never would've had the opportunity to have otherwise.
Take the time to learn something new. Take time out of your life to
travel and acquire a new language. Get yourself -- and others -- out of the mindset that foreign languages are filler subjects in our school systems. In fact, a language class can be one of the most vital classes a student can take.
