Without Spanish, I never would have been able to connect with communities in rural Nicaragua through my work with an organization called Global Medical Brigades. Without German, I would not have been able to roam the streets of Munich and chat with shopkeepers and baristas. Without Arabic, my mind would not have been opened to the beauty that exists in people and places across the Middle East. As the quote by Charlemange goes, "To have another langauge is to possess a second soul."
Though my passion is lanaguge learning, I certainly have struggled in acquiring new langauges. I remember when I first moved to Jordan in 2012, and I tried to take a simple trip to the grocery store. I realized that while I could say "My father is a translator at the UN" given the vocabulary from my Arabic textbook in college, I could not tell the taxi driver where I wanted to go or how to get there. Or the phrases that I thought I knew somehow turned out to be wrong! "Ureedu an ath-haba ila..." sounds silly when used to ask a taxi driver to take you somewhere and "3rabiyya" means car in Egyptian Arabic only! My first few weeks in Jordan were difficult, and I remember feeling stupid anywhere I went. But as time went on, and as I forced myself to try to use phrases no matter how stupid I felt, I learned what made sense for what settings, and I learned how to get around. And while getting across town or being able to provide exact change when a cashier announced the price of my groceries may sound simple, I don't know if I have ever been prouder of myself!
In the end, I would urge my fellow langauge learners to take the risk and try to use the language as much as you can.
