Hello, everyone and welcome to my blog! I have to admit that it has been too many months since I last posted on here, but I promise that I will be posting more regularly in the upcoming year. I wanted to get back on track by posting about what started this blog in the first place: the concept of switching languages.
Why did I decide
to name this blog Switching Languages and
what does switching languages even mean? Three years ago, I sat on our living room
couch and had a conversation with both of my parents. I remember telling them that I
had the idea of creating a blog about the relevance and importance of spreading
my love for language learning, but had no idea what I wanted to call my blog.
After some reflecting, my dad suggested to call it Switching Languages, because he knew that I had to switch from one
language to another on a daily-basis without even thinking twice.
For me personally,
switching languages is the ability to speak multiple languages without
confusing them, or hesitating when speaking more than one language. You know
that you can successfully do so when you hear your parents ask: “Niñas, están
listas?” and then immediately talk to your friend and say: “My parents are asking
me if we’re ready to leave.” I think of it like a puzzle, or a game. For
bilingual or multilingual individuals, this ability is innate. We don’t have to
stop and think about every single word we’re going to say before saying it. We
simply formulate our thoughts in our head and then say them. It’s really that
simple.
A lot of people
ask me: “How do you not get confused when speaking 7 different languages?” and “Don’t
they get mixed up in your head?” Just like any other human being, I’m not
perfect, so there are times in which I forget how to say a word that is rather
simple in x language that I have known for years, but, aside from those instances, the answer
to both of those questions is no. All of the years of training and changing
personas has led me to where I am today.
In other words,
languages are not just subjects that I choose to take at university and they
are also not just a hobby that I choose to do whenever I have a little bit of
free time. They are much more than that. In fact, they have been incorporated
into my daily routine for years. The friendships I have made and the people I have
met live anywhere from Pennsylvania to Japan, so it is not unusual for me to
send messages to my friends in their native languages to ask them how they are
doing.
Similarly, all
of the notifications that pop up on my feed on my social media are about dozens
of countries in more languages than I can recognize, or speak. My family is
bilingual, so calling them automatically ensures that I will have spoken, or
written in at least 2 languages on that given day. Furthermore, I listen to
music and watch videos and movies from around the world. Now that is what I call
the power and beauty of switching languages.
If you liked
this post and want to keep up with my travel and languages adventures
domestically and abroad, feel free to subscribe to my blog by hitting the “subscribe”
button on the upper right-hand corner of this blog. I’m looking forward to the
third year since the launch of Switching
Languages. Espero que tengan un buen fin de semana!
I have recently been thinking of possible topics for my next
post on this blog, and wanted to give some useful tips on a topic on which I
have briefly touched up: speaking multiple languages and how to go about
speaking them with ease. I recently watched the video that is down below by
Langfocus, one of my favorite polyglot YouTubers who not only posts videos about
language learning, but also about linguistics. Below, I will be giving you 3
tips that he gives in this video and will briefly expand on them to give you
some concrete and practical ways on how to not mix up all of the languages that
you speak. Make sure to read my previous posts about learning multiple
languages titled “How To Learn Multiple
Languages At A Time” in March 2016 and “Taking Classes in Multiple Languages:
My Experience and Advice” in April 2016.
Tip #1: Refine your pronunciation
Although pronunciation may not be many language learners’
number one priority, especially when they are starting to get comfortable in
another language, I believe that it is one of the most important aspects of a
language. Pronunciation is ultimately what distinguishes one language from
another, even languages that are very similar and belong to the same language
family (ex: Spanish and Italian that are both Romance languages). If you speak
many languages, whether they belong to the same language family, or are not
related to each other whatsoever, in order to fluidly and quickly switch from
one language to the next, you should be very comfortable saying the phonology
and words as a native speaker would. This does not mean that having accents is
bad, but should encourage you to continue perfecting your accent as much as
possible. Even though it may not sound feasible, it is possible to eventually
sound like a native speaker. In this case, practice makes perfect.
You may be asking yourself: “How do I refine my
pronunciation? How should I go about doing so?”.That is a very difficult question to answer,
because everyone has different methodologies to go about doing so. I, however,
will give you a few tips that have worked for me over the years. The first is
to speak as early and as often as you can. I have an entire post devoted to
this topic titled “Being Afraid of
Making Mistakes in Another Language” in January 2016, so feel free to check
it out for a more in-depth explanation about this. The more speakers (native
and non-native alike) with whom you interact and speak, the more chances are
that you will be kindly corrected if you ask them to do so, or if they want to
help you improve.
Just as a baby mimics his parents’ mouths and the sounds
that they make, you should do the same. By making mistakes, you will learn the
difference between two words whose spelling is similar, but whose pronunciation
is different, and will be able to distinguish right from wrong. Bad, or flawed
pronunciation could lead to accidentally insulting someone, or to a frustrating
miscommunication, so make sure to get as much exposure as possible. On the
other hand, if you ever find yourself in either of these situations, do not
panic, ask for clarification if possible, and laugh it off. Not saying
something correctly can, in most cases, lead to more good than harm, because
you are reminded about what you should have said differently. I also have an
entire post devoted to improving your accent called “How to Improve Your Accent in a Language” in April 2016.
Tip #2: 100% commitment
The next tip is just as important as the first. If you are
not 100% committed to each individual language, or have not put enough time
into your studies, you can easily become discouraged. Just as professional
athletes who want to eventual compete in the Olympics train for years, you
should have a positive mentality when tackling more than one language. You
should constantly remind yourself that you if you surpass a certain level, that
you will eventually be able to read a short chapter book, or effectively
communicate with your German friend. In other words, you should try to stay
motivated. Feel free to read my post titled “How to Stay Motivated When Learning a Language” in March 2016.
When having to speak more than one language at a time, or
instantly, you should close the door behind you. Whichever language you were
speaking before is no longer as relevant as the language that you are now
speaking. You should make a conscious effort to tell yourself “Now it is time
to speak (language).” By doing so, you are mentally preparing yourself for what
is next, and do not become as frazzled trying to make do with the few words
that you can remember in the next language. This helps you turn on a signal in
your brain that will make it easier for you to effectively communicate in
another language.
3 Tip #3: Imagine scenes that remind you of that language
The third tip that he gives is by far the most abstract, and
is the hardest to explain how to do, but I will try my best to give you a
detailed explanation of this type of scenario. One of the most effective methods
to not only learn vocabulary and improve your pronunciation in another language
is by imagining scenes that remind you of that language. I have already watched
countless videos of polyglots who have used this method, and who have learned
much faster than the majority of their acquaintances by doing so. Associating
scenes with a language is a great way to think about cultural nuances and norms
that are different and that distinguish a language from another one.
The most classic example that he uses, and that I have heard
many times, is imagining a café in Paris when speaking French. You usually
picture the pouring of a coffee, and eating a fresh baked baguette. Many locals
go to cafes with other friends, or alone and work on their laptops. Those who
go with friends tend to discuss how their families are, and how their jobs are
going, just to name a few common topics of conversation. If you personally have
been to Paris, you may remember the voice of your waiter at the café, and you
may distinctly remember his Parisian accent and talking to you so quickly that
you had to ask for clarification. Whichever scene you can vividly envision will
help you to be in the mindset of a local. In other words, you will no longer be,
say, your American-self, but rather your French-self.
As I mentioned in my post “Personality Changes When Speaking Multiple Language” in February 2016,
you become a new you for every language that you speak. You cannot roll
your tongue the same way that you do in Spanish as you do for English, and you
should pay attention to how you use your throat to pronounce words in an
authentic French-sounding way. Getting in the zone and taking control of your
perception can make you more excited to be a new you and pay attention to the
world around you through new lenses. Your world perception can change
remarkably by being culturally aware and willing to pay attention to different
languages’ nuances.
I hope that all of you language-lovers found this post
helpful in some way, and that you learned a few tips that could help you be a
little less anxious speaking multiple languages.
Now that I have been
keeping up with this blog for over three months, I decided that I would write a
more personal blog post of what it has been liking taking advanced level
courses in 4 different languages. I wanted to share my current schedule, so
that I could inspire others to do so, showing that even busy, tired college
students can successfully reach a high fluency and level in more than just one
language. As a disclaimer, I had already taken 3 languages at once for 3 years
in high-school, so it was not as hard of a transition for me as it could have
been if had I not done so.
From 9:30-10:20 am, I have
Russian 102, which helps me wake up in the morning. Since Russian is by far the
most difficult language that I have ever studied, I love having it first thing
in the morning five days a week. I have noticed that I have made leaps and bounds in terms of progress with Russian this semester. We have already
reviewed all 6 cases and have slowly, but surely been hearing less and less English
in the classroom. Since our professor is a teaching assistant from Russia, we
have been able to gain a lot of insight about Russian culture, Russian norms,
and about the Russian mindset. Our professor has been very patient with us when
making mistakes, but expects that we put the work in in order to do well in the
class. This has pushed me out of my comfort zone, making me want to truly understand
what we have already learned and what we are learning in class. I love the
emphasis that she has on speaking, especially because that is the skill that is
most important to master when you are a beginner.
From 11:30-12:45 pm, I
have Italian 231 on Mondays and on Wednesdays. The Italian course that I am
currently taking is a writing-intensive course, but has also been
vocabulary-intensive. We have already watched La Meglio Gioventù(a six-hour
long Italian film) in clips and have had to memorize up over 100 words a week. I
can now comfortably use idiomatic expressions, and more technical vocabulary
when speaking and writing. Our class is also a hundred percent immersion, which
has kept me in an Italian versus an English mindset, helping me not only to feel,
but also to talk like an Italian. What has been most helpful about this course
is the fact that we have learned a lot of idiomatic expressions and vocabulary
that you cannot find in a textbook. We have learned how Italians truly think,
feel, and speak, instead of only learning the grammatically correct way of speaking
it. We have started mastering colloquial language and can more comfortably talk
about historical and cultural events that happened in Italy, as well as talk
about abstract and difficult material. From 3-4 pm on Mondays, we have an
Italian lab, which has helped us review grammatical concepts from last
semester, while expanding and deepening our knowledge about Italian grammar.
From 1:30-2:45 pm, I
have French 246: Introduction to Francophone Cultures. Since I did not have the
opportunity to take a French course last semester, I decided that I would
communicate with a French professor and ask her if I could skip a few levels of
French in order to take this course. After taking the placement
exam, I found out that I could take this course, as long as I had the
permission from the professor and got an override. Despite the fact that I did
not take several courses that are required for the major and for the minor, I do
not have any regrets taking the last 200 level French course offered at my
college. I went from struggling writing 10 perfectly grammatically correct
sentences in AP French as a senior in high-school to being able to write 7
pages of an analytical paper about colonialism in French. In this course, we
have already watched over 5 films, have read 3 novels from three different
countries, have had 3 presentations, but, most importantly, I have learned how
to think critically, how to think outside of the box, and how to elaborately
write about historical events in a language other than my other tongue. Another
way of thinking about what I have been able to accomplish so far is that I no longer
have to stop and think about every grammatical point in my head: I now know how
to think in French and can easily switch into that mindset when writing,
reading, speaking, and listening to my professor talk about controversial, yet
important historical and cultural events in Francophone-speaking countries.
Lastly, from 1:30-2:45
pm on Tuesdays and on Thursdays, I have Spanish 295: Introduction to Latino
Studies. This course has been extremely rewarding and has been the most
personal course that I have taken so far. Before this semester, I had not had
the opportunity to take a course taught completely in Spanish since fifth
grade. I had not realized how much I missed having a native Spanish instructor
and having to read and speak with others in my mother tongue. I am beyond
blessed that I am in this course, because it has allowed me to meet several
other students whose mother tongue is also Spanish, as well as students who are
passionate about Spanish and Spanish-speaking countries. We have already talked
about Hispanics in the United States and have extensively talked about Mexican-Americans,
Puerto Rican-Americans, and Cuban-Americans in the American context. We have
read 3 novels, have presented, and have had intellectual discussions and
conversations about these topics. I have also been able to rekindle my love for
my own culture, as well as learn about others who have similar, yet completely
distinct experiences from my own. I have also been able to strengthen my sense
of worth and my identity by taking this course.
Now that I have shared
my experience taking 4 intellectually challenging courses, those who are
currently taking, or who are planning on taking courses in more than one
language (whether that be courses in your mother tongue(s), or in foreign
languages), I have already written a post that gives you several tips on how to
successfully learn multiple languages at once. Feel free to read my post titled
“How to Learn Multiple Languages At Once” if you want to gain some words of
wisdom about what I have personally noticed works and what does not when approaching language-learning.
The most important
piece of advice that I can give you is to not let what others tell you that you
cannot do get in the way. Besides my parents, I have had many people tell me
that it would not be feasible or healthy for me to take courses in more than
two languages, but have never let that affect me. Instead, I have surrounded
myself with positive influences and with supportive friends and family members
who are there for me no matter what. I try to be as involved in all of the
language departments of which I am a part and have many international friends. There
truly is no secret formula. The only secret is perseverance. Passion. Never giving up and following your dreams and never letting anyone, or anything, get in the way from achieving your goals.
