Languages are becoming more important

Languages are becoming a bigger interest to me with the passing of time.  I remember very vividly despising language class throughout my entire years of middle school.  This is no exaggeration.  I was admittedly a clock watcher during seventh and eighth grade French class. In sixth grade, French class was less about clock watching, but more about a lack of actually diving into the depths of the language.  I was learning verb conjugations in sixth grade, which to me, made no sense as I couldn’t figure out how to apply these many conjugations I’d learned into real sentences.  

This summer, I learned french with Coffee Break French.  I think this summer marked my nascent enjoyment for languages.  In Coffee Break French, one of the units was filmed in France, and I got to hear real French conversations between Mark [teacher for Coffee Break] and people in France.  For example, with people who worked at the Concierge at hotels or the vendors at supermarkets.  

However, it’s really Andover that has brought a greater enjoyment and care for languages to my life.  At Andover, there are so many kids from all over the world.  I’ve met kids who speak every sort of language, and for me, that’s impetus to take the languages I know how to speak more seriously.  For French, I met a girl from France and I like to simply talk with her in French. She’s fluent so she helps me with words and phrases I do not know how to say.  She also helps speaks to me in French, which is more listening practice. For Chinese, I know a girl from China whom I speak Chinese to, so I can continue practicing the language.  My parents always speak Chinese to me when I’m home, but now that I’m boarding and don’t take Chinese class, it’s difficult to find time to practice else where.  

But there’s a fear for me.  When I was younger, I quit Chinese class. My mother continuously warned me that I would regret not learning Chinese now when I forgot all of it.  When I was 8 years old, that concept was hard to comprehend.  I remember saying that I would not regret not learning Chinese and forgetting it.  Truth is, I’m already regretting it a little bit.  I can still speak very fluently and understand everything, and at this point, my fear is that I will lose this as well.  I’m doing everything in my power to maintain my connection to the language.  For French, it feels so nice to be able to communicate with someone who speaks a language I’m not native to.  For both Chinese and English, I learned these languages through my environment since I grew up in a Chinese speaking household in an English speaking country.  I’m learning French through work. Seeing that seemingly pointless work turn into communication with people from different places in the world is something I value deeply.  So here I go, practicing French, Chinese and English.