Have you considered learning a second, third, or even fourth language? I know I have. My goal in this article is to give you a reflection on my personal experience in the world of Multilingualism. Allow me to give you some background on myself: Hello everyone, my name is Ezekiel Moreno, I’m 16 and a Junior at Excelsior Victorville, and at this moment I can speak five languages: French, Spanish, English (of course), Korean, and Tagalog.
Over the course of my polyglot (speaker of many languages) journey, I have found that learning a language takes time, dedication, and lots of practice! However, there are ways to turn these tedious tasks into fun activities. Thanks to the internet, there are a multitude of apps, websites, and extensions that you can use when learning your target language. Studying a language can be as simple as watching a movie on Netflix or a Youtube video in the language you’re studying. Perhaps you have an interest in music, consider listening to music and singers in your target language.
Now before I continue, allow me to explain how I got into language learning. In my late middle school years and transitioning into high school, I often found myself fascinated by cultures and languages. There are such a multitude of stories and places to travel internationally, and the more I dove deeper into it, I began to find a personal passion in the topic. I eventually got curious and started using Duolingo. While the app helped, I found myself even more curious than before. I wanted to move past the phrases Duolingo taught me, (of course these were phrases I would never use), such as the inevitable; “My wife is a horse, You are a lemon, and My husband committed mass arson.” After about a month of strict Duolingo learning, I started searching for more materials, both for purchase, and
those offered on websites like youtube. I found podcasts and before I knew it, my journey into language learning was in full swing.
Have there ever been times where I wanted to quit entirely? Absolutely. There were times when I felt that the pressures of school and daily life came into conflict with my study times and personal goals. Even the schedule I had made completely fell out of use by the time it had reached 3rd quarter in the school year. I realized that my language learning experience should be fun and driven, not stress-inducing and boring. I needed to make a schedule that worked in favor of my mental health and my school work. I began to freestyle study. Studying in times I was the most free, such as the morning, or late afternoon. I figured if I kept stopping myself from doing school work to language study.
When I started, I also looked for people, who like me, sought careers and hobbies in multilingualism. A big part of being a polyglot is where you start off. Living in the High Desert, and state of California, many of us speak English, and many of us also speak Spanish. Considering these two factors, (by personal opinion) a great start with multilingualism would be French. Because French is made up 25% of the English vocabulary, and is a Romance language (a language originating from Latin or “Roman.”) and thus is also closely related to Spanish. Put these two factors together, and you find yourself in a quick and easy language learning experience. Keep with this in mind, learning languages will be 100% easier, when you choose a language closer to your own.
Keeping in mind what I have just shared with you all, I hope to have inspired you to try and experiment with language learning yourselves. Enriching yourself in foreign cultures and language is so revealing and beautiful, anyone can see the beauty in foreign languages. I hope to write another article continuing this topic and diving into it further. I wish you all good luck, and remember to stay safe!
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