Language Q&A: Probably Learning a New Language

Hello, everyone and welcome back to my page! After taking a few months off of blogging, I decided to post a language Q&A answering some of your most common questions. If you want to get to know me and learn more about my polyglot identity, then make sure to watch this video.

Below are the questions that I answered and the time frames in which I answer each question, so that you can skip over to a particular question if that's what you want to do; however, I highly encourage you to watch the entire video if you think that these questions are of interest to you.

1. DEUTSCH: Wie geht’s? [1:19-1:44- Deutsch] [1:45-1:59 - English]
2. ESPAÑOL: Como comienzas a aprender un nuevo idioma? Tienes algun recurso que nos recomiendas? [2:00-5:11- Español] [5:12-7:37- English]
3. ENGLISH: Does learning one language make it harder to learn and/or remember another language? For example, Latin makes it easier to learn the Romance languages because of some similar vocabulary, but are there languages that have the opposite effect because of different vocabulary or rules? [7:38-12:22]
4. ENGLISH: How do you effectively approach getting back into using a language you haven’t studied in a while? [12:23-15:51]
5. ENGLISH: How do you keep all of the languages and different grammatical rules straight in your head? [15:52-18:14]
6. ENGLISH: When you are abroad and you are focused on the language of the country that you are in, do you find it harder to remember the other languages that you do not have to use and are not your primary language(s)? [18:15-20:37]
7. ENGLISH: Which language did you find most difficult to learn, and why? [20:38-22:01]
8. ENGLISH: What are the language(s) you would like to learn next? [22:02-25:28]

Thank you so much for reading this post. I hope that you enjoyed reading it! Don't forget to follow me on all of my social media accounts to be notified every time I post on this language blog and to keep up with my language studies and travels abroad on my Instagram page and to see interesting content about foreign language learning, multilingualism, and anything I like in other languages on my Facebook page.

Facebook Page: @ Switching Languages 
Instagram Page: @Switching Languages

Link to LingoDeer Language App Review: https://switchinglanguages.blogspot.com/2019/02/

Los quiero mucho! // I love you all! 

- Laura 

Sharing my First TED-Style Talk "The Power of Language"

Ciao a tutti e bentornati sulla mia pagina! (Hello, everyone and welcome to my page!) I wanted to start off by apologizing for not writing on here for a few months. I have to admit that senior year has been much busier than I originally thought, so I hope that you understand. Despite my inactivity, I’m happy to start regularly blogging again for the rest of the year. Though I’m still unsure as to what the future awaits me, I know that this year will be filled with many new adventures.

For today’s post, I’m sharing the links to part 1 and part 2 of the TED-style talk that I gave on Thursday, March 28^th titled The Power of Language. The name of my talk was inspired by my favorite post on this blog with the same name, because the feedback that you all gave me about it was so incredible that I felt that I had to share it with all of you a few years later.

Are you curious about how my bilingual upbringing and bicultural identity have influenced me throughout my life? Do you want to know how I have managed to reach conversational fluency in 6 languages and an advanced level in a 7^th language at the age of 22? If you answered yes to any, or both of those questions, I highly encourage you to watch both parts of my talk.

Once again, I want to thank each and every one of you. None of this would have been possible alone. In fact, most of what I have been able to achieve has taken years of unending love and support from my friends and especially my parents and my sister, Carolina. Espero que sepan que los amo con todo mi corazón. Gracias por siempre apoyarme en todos mis empeños y por ayudarme a realizar todos mis sueños.

Thank you for everything! // Muchas gracias por todo! // Je vous remercie pour tout! // Danke für alles! // Grazie di tutto! // Спасибо вам за всё! // Obrigada por tudo!

Yours,

Laura

Book Review of "Through the Language Glass", by Guy Deutscher

Hello, everyone and welcome back to my blog! For those of who you are new, my name is Laura and I’m a polyglot. Throughout my life, I have studied and spoken a total of 7 languages. In fact, I love languages so much that I’m a college senior majoring in Italian Studies and minoring in French and Russian Language. But even so, as much as I enjoy what I study, I acknowledge just how urgent and important it is to preserve all languages and their respective cultures- not just those that are commonly studied and are considered “dominant cultures”, or “world languages.”

Given my passions, my mom gifted me a book titled Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages, by Guy Deutscher for Christmas. As I first started reading it, I was a bit hesitant as to whether or not I would like it, but decided to push through. I’m so glad that I did.

Despite traveling for 20 days total over break, I finished this book in about a week, which is fast for a slow reader like me. I simply enjoyed what the author had to say and could not take my eyes off the page. 

This book is about more than just linguistics and language. It’s about the beauty and power of celebrating cultures different from your own. If you read all 239 pages of the book, I can guarantee that you will have a better understanding of how culture influences our thought processes and way of life and vice-versa. You will ultimately have a better grasp on how we think and why we think the way we do.

Guy Deutscher explains these phenomenons primarily through the following concepts: the perception of color, the perception of space, and how gender influences how we view the world around us. He is by far one of the most well-read and clever linguistic authors I have come across so far, as he combines bits of history and culture to formulate his thoughts about and draw conclusions on how diverse and rich languages are on all corners of the planet.

This book’s chapters are quite long, but I didn't mind them, given that each chapter has a very detailed analysis of the study of linguistics and how it has evolved over time. I especially enjoyed the examples that he gives of languages that I have studied, as I was able to understand the cultural and historical context behind certain words, or sentences without having to look up their English translations.

However, I must admit that my favorite passages were those that mentioned tribal languages and “non-world-languages” about which you rarely learn in school. After finishing this book, I realized that though we are more similar to each other than we would think, we should not discount the millions of ways in which we can perceive the world. It’s not always black and white, or as standard as you would think. For example, many languages don’t have cases, two genders, and nouns. Some languages don’t even have a past, or future tense.

When thinking about these examples through a western lens, it may seem odd, but once we break down cultural and linguistic nuances of certain languages, we often find ourselves questioning how our own mother tongue functions and why it functions the way it does. These are the kinds of puzzles and mind-games that you will be able to solve if you get your hands on this book. I promise that you won’t be disappointed.

Until next time! // Hasta la próxima! // Jusqu'à la prochaine fois! // Bis zum nächsten Mal! // Alla prossima volta! // до следующего раза! // Até à próxima!

Love,

Laura

Celebrating 3 Years of Switching Languages

On January 16th, 2016, I made the bold move to create a language blog called Switching Languages. Though I had been contemplating about whether or not I would go through with this idea, I convinced myself that it was something that I wanted to do. It has now been 3 years since then and I have no regrets. In fact, I am beyond blessed by all of the love and support that I have received over the years to keep up with this blog. I truly believe that blogging is an art-form that can unite us despite any differences we have. 

The main purpose of this post is to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. Those of you who have been reading this post have stuck with me, even when I doubted myself, or lost inspiration to write more for you. Though I was not very active on this blog from 2017-2018, I have taken time to reflect about my purpose and what makes me happiest in life over our long Winter Break. I knew that something was missing in my heart, so after some reflecting, I realized that it was this very blog that could fill the void in my heart.

As you can see, I am back healthier, stronger, and happier than ever before. Of course, this does not mean that my health is at its very best, but I do know that this year will be my year, as it can and will be yours, too. I have so much exciting content ready for you in the upcoming months, but I am also always willing to take suggestions from you: anything from a language question that has been on your mind for a while to a blog post idea that you would like to see from me this year.

As a preview, this year, I will be writing language book reviews, documentary and film reviews, app and podcast reviews, and will be sharing some of my personal experiences about the benefits of majoring and minoring in languages in college, of the beauty of having a bicultural identity, and about why I love to travel around the world. These are just some of the many ideas that I have ready in store, so make sure to stay tune for them!

I will also be traveling extensively this year. In March, I will be going on my graduation trip to Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmö, Sweden. I will also be studying abroad in Moscow, Russia for 5 weeks during the summer, which means that I will be sharing some of the highlights of my experience with Russian and Russian culture after taking Russian for 4 years in college. Aside from that, I will also be auditing a Portuguese 200-level course during the Spring 2019 semester, because, as you already know, I could not resist working on my 7th language.

Again, thank you for all of your kind messages and for all of the conversations that we have had about the impact that this blog has had on you. I hope that you have gained some knowledge about languages along the way and that you have gotten some inspiration to make languages an integral part of your life. If that has not been the case up until now, then, no worries, 2019 will be filled with many surprises!

I am hoping to post every Saturday, so that I post more regularly this year. This semester seems to be looking up for me compared to last semester, so I should have plenty of time to share my passion for languages with all of you. Stay tuned for a language book review this coming Saturday! I am looking forward to growing our Switching Languages community and to seeing what 2019 has in store.

Thank you very much for everything! // Muchas gracias por todo! // Merci beaucoup pour tout! // Vielen Dank für alles! // Grazie mille di tutto! // Большое спасибо за всё! // Muito obrigado por tudo!!

Nos vemos pronto,

Laura