The final school bell rings and the young child jumps out of his seat to make it to the bus on time. The child eagerly steps on the bus as he says bye to his friends for the day. Minutes later, the bus driver turns the bus on and the bus starts bumbling along the road. The boy's eyes light up as he sees the entrance to the neighborhood. He steps off the bus at his stop and runs home. When he steps inside his house, he sees two guests. He runs up and gives the two guests a hug. Despite being excited all day, the long-awaited conversation with the two guests only lasts a few seconds. The boy only speaks English and the guests, his maternal grandparents, only speak Dutch.
This is a sad yet all too familiar reality for me. For my entire life, I have had very small and incoherent conversations with my grandparents. I have always lived in Georgia while they have always lived in Belgium and this has led to a language barrier that can only be avoided through my mother who is the connection between my grandparents and me.
When I was a baby, my mother would speak to me in Dutch and my father, native to Puerto Rico, would speak to me in Spanish. As I grew up, I constantly heard Spanish, Dutch, and English and as a result, it took me longer to start speaking as a baby. My mom began to worry I would never speak and she ceased to talk to me in her native language. My father continued to speak to me in Spanish for a few years, but he eventually started speaking to me solely in English and for a while, I wasn't able to talk to my paternal grandmother either. However, I've made progress.
When I started high school as a freshman I was told I needed to take at least two years of a foreign language class in order to graduate, so I decided to take Spanish due to my heritage. I went on to take Spanish all four years of high school, a decision I am very happy with because now, even though my Spanish is not even close to perfect, I can have a real conversation with my Puerto Rican relatives. Although I was never proactive about learning my parent's native languages as a child, I have discovered a new desire to learn these languages as a way to eradicate the language barriers between my extended family and myself.
Research has shown that learning a new language can strengthen your brain, but foreign languages can connect you to millions of other people you otherwise would never have been able to speak to. Job opportunities are another benefit for those willing to put in the time and effort to learn a new language.
Whether you have family that speaks another language or not, learning a foreign language has the potential to be a factor that can change your life.
