Letters

Youth Talk

November 14-20, 2018
1309 views

When I first got to university, I was quite excited about the prospect of doing my minor in French on account that I might be able to do a semester abroad. However, when I asked around about other students’ experience studying it, I found out that many had graduated still not able to speak it!

I see that a lot of people attempt picking up another language in their lives, but few actually manage to see through with it, and that makes me worry about whether my efforts at learning languages will end in vain.

I have since been told that this is subjective, all up to the individual and how determined he or she is about learning the language.

Since I feel like it is the minor best suited to me, I decided to go with French anyways, and so far it’s been good (although pronunciation is a toughie, and I think  always will be; it’s French!). 

It seems to me that the best way to successfully pick up a new language is to reside for some time in the country whose language you’re learning. That way you are forced to put your howsoever-little language skills to the test. But what if this is not an option?

Luckily, we live in a time that is quite conducive to picking up a second language. With the internet, you can supplement your time in the classroom with plenty of ‘after school’ TV, video and audio that makes the learning process even more fun.

There are also plenty of useful apps, websites and YouTube tutorials and channels dedicated to helping you on your quest to speaking a new language.

What keeps me going studying Korean, besides the fact that I find the language to be incredibly charming, is that they’ve got a great entertainment industry through which I can get more exposure to the language. I am sure I can find the same for French.







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