They say you’re not fluent in a new language until you dream in it. Whether it’s up high on your bucket list, or you drunkenly claimed learning a new tongue for your new years resolution, everybody dreams of dreaming in a different language at some point. There are a few challenges you'll face to get you there, but as with most good challenges, they come with benefits.
Five Challenges to Learning A New Language
1. The Ten Pound Tongue Phenomenon
When learning a new language you literally have to train your mouth to learn words it’s never spoken before. This may sound like a piece of cake, but the human tongue can be stubborn sometimes. You might stumble on a tricky word and find out that your tongue has given up before your brain. Brain farts are common knowledge, but a ten pound tongue is talked about less. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that talking with a weighted tongue isn’t the easiest thing in the world. When you come across a word your tongue refuses to speak, you literally have to train it to not be a dud.
2. Taking The Time
The most important part of learning a new language are the triple-t’s. Setting time out in your day to go over what you’ve learned is something most students are familiar with. The difference is, it might feel a little silly to sit alone in your room teaching yourself to say “tonight we are having rice and vegetables" in a different language. If you’ve spent twenty minutes trying to learn a simple phrase, and truly get frustrated with yourself for not being able to figure it out, take it as a sign that it’s probably a good idea to take a study break.
3.Only Knowing Part of What to Say
If you’re lucky enough to be learning a new language in a country that speaks the language, then putting it to use makes it all the more exciting. However, you may run into problems when you realize you only know half of what to say in the interaction. Let’s say you’re like me, learning Swahili in Kenya. You know how to ask how much the bananas are, “mandizi pesa ngape?” However, the problem comes when you realize you haven’t learned prices and numbers yet. Then you kind of look dumb when you have to ask them to say it in English.
4.Similar Sounding Words
Very little is more embarrassing than a lingual faux pas, but when you’re in the process of becoming bilingual sometimes new words can sound similar. In Swahili "nakupenda" means I love you, and to order your food take away you say "nakuenda". Every time I go out on the street to get food to take back to the house I panic a little bit, because I don’t want to accidentally tell someone I love them when I’m ordering my beans to go.
5.Words Sounding Made Up
It makes sense that words sound mad fake sometimes, because all language is made up. We all know how it feels to say a word over and over again until it sounds alien to us, but this becomes more of an everyday thing when you’re learning a new language. This rings true for the language you normally speak, and the new language you’re trying to learn. Sometimes the new word you learn makes more sense than the English word you’ve been saying your whole life. Talk about an existential crisis.
Five Benefits To Learning A New Language
1. Keeps You In The Habit Of Studying
If you’re anything like me, you might keep skipping out on the whole school thing so you can spend time in a new country. By learning a new language, you never really fall too out of line when it comes to study habits. It’s always a good thing to keep your mind busy with good habits. Plus, if you have something to study you never have to panic too hard about forgetting how to use your brain, which would make returning to school a whole lot less stressful.
2. Not Lying On Your Resume
We all fib from time to time to make ourselves look good when it comes to getting a job. The cool thing is, if you’re actually at least semi fluent in another language that’s just one more thing on your resume you don’t have to stretch the truth on!
3.A Secret Language Among Friends
After learning a new language you then have the ability to speak a somewhat secret language among your peers who taught you how to speak/speak your newfound language. This is extra nice when someone who doesn’t speak the language is around, and you can have secret conversation about them. It doesn’t have to be negative. Maybe you’re just planning their surprise party. Either way, they won’t know what you’re saying, and that feels pretty bad ass.
4. It’s A Cool Party Trick
If you’ve done some traveling to learn your language, then your ability to fit into new social surroundings is already a well-learned skill. On top of being able to quickly adapt you can also teach everyone dirty words, how to hit on someone, or how to order drinks. Outside of Swahili speaking countries, not everyone can order an ice cold beer in Swahili. Just hope they don’t get too fancy with their drink order. You can speak the language, but it’s new. You’re not a Swahili genius yet!
5. Imagining Scenerios
Your new skill is exciting! You get to imagine yourself into all kinds of bilingual scenarios. Really, this all comes from vanity. You kind of just want to show off the fact that you learned a new language. Go for it, honestly, because that is definitely something to be proud of.
