Most kids end up learning a foreign language in middle school and continue it throughout high school. For me, this language was Spanish. I remember my first Spanish class in the seventh grade. I was very excited to learn a new language but I knew that it would also be a challenge. I found it fascinating that I was learning a completely new language which is also spoken here in the United States.
I remember struggling in the beginning. I did not have a ton of motivation because I was getting very confused by everything. But by the end of that first year, I had figured things out and felt more confident. In the eigth grade I was in the Spanish Immersion Homeroom. Each morning I would go to homeroom and we would speak solely Spanish. It was an excellent experience because I learned so many new things each day just from being in homeroom for a short period of time. I also think I fell in love with learning Spanish because I had a great teacher starting out. My teacher was very hard on us and to be quite honest I was scared of her, but I think that is part of what gave me my success in the years following.
Once I began high school I continued to take Spanish. Each year I became better and better at learning both the language and more about the people who speak it. During high school I applied to take part in the Costa Rican Exchange. After an interview process and also a short paper in Spanish, I was chosen to participate. Having the ability to go and live in a country where English is not primarily spoken was one of the craziest and most intriguing things that I have ever experienced. This experience gave me an edge against people and also gave me the opportunity to better learn the language than some of my peers. Looking back I am happy that I learned this language at a younger age because I was more eager about learning it.
Now as I am in my second semester of my freshman year, I am learning Portuguese. At first when I received my schedule, I was kind of excited to learn a third language. But after being two weeks into the semester I am really not looking forward to it anymore. Spanish was something that came easy to me, but Portuguese has proven itself to be a real challenge so far.
Portuguese is very similar to Spanish in many ways and this is what causes most problems for me. Many of the words in Portuguese are the same as words in Spanish which gets extremely confusing because the pronunciation of these words is different. The most difficult part so far is listening to someone who is speaking Portuguese. Portuguese has a very different and complex sound system which makes it very hard for me to understand the words which are being spoken. It is very easy to get frustrated when doing homework or simply sitting in class because Portuguese has more exceptions and rules when it comes to the pronunciation of words. When it comes to vowel sounds, Spanish only has five. Where as Portuguese has fourteen vowel sounds which makes it a bit more challenging.
It has been a tough two weeks in Portuguese class so far and a big challenge outside of the classroom when trying to do homework When my professor speaks to me in Portuguese I automatically begin answering her in Spanish because it is just what my mind wants to do. I remember people saying that 'it is easier to learn languages at younger ages' and I never understood that until now. So far I have had a few bumps in the road but I am making progress and am hoping to get the gist of this new language so then eventually everything will come easier to me. Knowing Spanish is both a blessing and a curse when it comes to Portuguese. It helps in some aspects and then completely confuses me when it comes to different things. I am hoping that by the end of the semester I will have the hang of things and be successful in learning Portuguese.
