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 28th
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 7th 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!
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!
The title of this blog post may sound a bit odd, but I have recently been thinking about why language is so powerful and what distinguishes it apart from other aspects of our everyday lives. The response of which I kept on thinking was how language carries the power of bringing people together who would otherwise be strangers. There have been countless times in which I have found myself in a situation next to, or near an individual who I have never met. If there were a language barrier, the most amount interaction that I could have with a person would be by making gestures, or by trying to make out words in an unfamiliar tongue. If you decide to take on a lifelong journey around the world, you will be bound to end up in this kind of situation at some point, but one cannot deny the awkwardness, or perhaps frustration that one feels when that happens.
Let's imagine the opposite scenario by using myself as an example. Before coming to Germany and deciding to study at an institute, I could barely formulate coherent thoughts when it came to being in emergency-type situations, such as asking for directions at the metro, otherwise known as the S-Bahn. As I slowly started learning more vocabulary, speaking more with my classmates, and gaining more confidence, I knew that I could get myself out of almost any kind of survival situation in German. Words such as "go straight and then make a left", or "we have not reached that stop yet" started to become familiar, and important everyday verbs, such as "to hop on", and "to hop off," became part of my everyday vocabulary. By saying "Excuse me, could you help me find [insert]. I am trying to get to [insert]," I found that every person that I asked was friendly and did not hesitate to answer my questions, even if I had to wait a few seconds for a response.
Now let's talk about more meaningful ways that language impacts not only my life, but also the lives of billions. I will use the example of studying at an institute, since the common goal of everyone who studies at one is to speak the same language. Although having classmates from around the world is appealing, it oftentimes means that you cannot speak the other person's native language. For example, I cannot speak any Asian language and there are many students who are not very comfortable speaking English. That ultimately means that the language that unites us, or our common language, is not English, but rather German.
German is the language in which we joke with one another, in which we laugh, in which we complain, and in which we celebrate. We question in and respond in German and have a complete and authentic immersion experience in the classroom, which not only forces us to speak to each other in German, but that also makes us want to actively use it to continue improving our skills. We learn from each other and ask each other for clarifications, because, ultimately, we have all learned different material, vocabulary, and grammar throughout our lives. Since we are not perfect and still have a lot on which we could improve, we build a community within and outside of the classroom. I now trust them and want to continue strengthening those friendships in the future.
Because of my study of many languages, I have connections and friends in virtually every continent in over 40 countries. The obvious advantages of this gift are that you can visit friends in different parts around the world and that you have the opportunity to learn about other countries and cultures from individuals who belong to them. On the other hand, one of the most beautiful gifts that you can have is having compassion for others and having a willingness to understand individuals who are different than you, either by speaking to them in their native languages, or by speaking to them in a common language. No matter where my life takes me, I know that more than a handful of my international and different-minded friends will have my back and that I will be able to count on them. Better yet, I will always have language partners and friends who I know are willing to help me improve my language skills and to push me to ultimately reach my maximum potential.
If you gain anything from this post, I hope that you realize the power that language has in making groups of people, and communities stronger and more open-minded. Language allows two strangers to eventually become best friends. Without barriers, you are unstoppable.
Starting at a young
age, I have been fortunate enough to be exposed to different kinds of people
and places around the world. I will admit that, at the time, I did not think
much about it and simply embraced it as an important part of my everyday life.
Over a decade later, I am sharing my personal experiences and stories of what
has arguably been the most powerful gift that I have ever received, and, that
is the power of language.
Language is what I look
forward to as soon as I get up in the morning and before I fall asleep at night. It
is what keeps me motivated and what gives me drive in everything into
which I put my energy and in everything that I want to accomplish. Language is
what allows me to reach to communities and individuals that I otherwise would
simply pass by without having any kind of interaction.
Language is what allows
me to be flexible, curious, independent, and a good teammate. Language is the
glue that holds my family together. It is what keeps us alive, healthy, and
positive. It gives up hope for a better tomorrow, hope that we will someday reunite
despite the distance that separates us.
Language is what has
set me apart from most of my classmates. It is the tool that I have used in
order to hear others out in times of distress and in times of hopelessness. It is what I listen to whenever I am teary-eyed and miss my parents while at college.
Language is what keeps me alive and what allows me to think about situations
through different lenses. It is what could allow me to talk to over 1.4 billion
of the world’s population. Now, that, is incomprehensible, powerful, and
unique.
Throughout my life,
and, especially now that I am an adult, I have had a hard time coming to terms
with what I consider to be my identity. The United States considers me to be
Hispanic or Latino, but, when someone asks me who or what I am, I respond that I
am Colombian. As much as I want to fully consider myself Colombian, I have
never lived there and mostly know about my homeland through my parents’ stories
and through the trips that I have had, yet I do not completely feel American,
and do not completely feel Colombian-American. One day, I talked to my mom
about my confusion and asked her for advice. She said “Laura, if you do not
consider yourself any of the above, you can tells others that you are a world
citizen.” Although I only heard those words once, they completely changed my
life. Whenever I feel lonely or frustrated with who or what I am, I say that I am
a citizen of the world. I can say that because of my gift to communicate with
many people around the world.
Now that my freshman
year of college is almost coming to a close, I have never felt more like myself
or happier than I do now. I no longer have to hide part of myself, or pretend
to be someone with whom I do not feel comfortable. I have enjoyed
going to German and to Russian Table on Tuesdays, to Italian and Spanish
Table on Wednesdays, and to French Table on Thursdays. I have watched films, have eaten
meals, have written, spoken, and read in 7 languages. I have written essays,
read novels, have analyzed, and have had to think critically in 4 languages,
and continue to keep in touch with my friends who live in over 20 states and 20
countries in 5 continents.
In high-school, my family hosted students from New
Zealand and from Thailand, and have childhood friends from Puerto Rico, Colombia,
Mexico, and Venezuela. I am blessed to have gone to a bilingual elementary school
for Spanish and English and to have studied 3 languages in high-school and 3
new ones in college. I have also become closer with the teaching assistants and
professors from different countries by speaking to them in their mother tongues.
It is what gave me a scholarship to college, it is the reason why I was
recognized for academics in high-school, and it is why I am who I am today.
As the video above
says, language is what bridges gaps in communication and in cultural exchange. Precise
meanings of what you are trying to convey oftentimes get lost in translation,
but feeling and thinking in another language can help you get beyond that. Language
is what reaches to other people’s hearts and what allows you to have another
shoulder on which to cry. I cry, ponder, question, respond, and react in a
different language depending on the situation in which I am and with who I am.
The
beauty of it all is that I do not have to rely as heavily on someone else to
get out of a situation, or to understand what is happening around me. Whenever I
am in a diverse city, I overhear fragments of conversations around me, allowing
me to have the world at my hands.I, along with other polyglots, are nowhere
near perfect, but we do share something in common: the ability to reach out
to others no matter what their needs are.
Now, more than ever,
we need people to live in peace together, but we cannot even begin to solve our
world’s problems if we cannot communicate with each other. Communication is what
has bridged gaps and has taught me the importance of being patient and
respectful of individuals who practice, believe, or think differently than I do.
Over the years, I have learned to become more tolerant and adaptable to almost
any kind of situation. Even a simple “have a nice day”, or “I hope that you
feel better” can make all of the difference in the world and can brighten up
somebody’s day. It can make someone who is homesick feel loved and welcomed, or
can help someone escape his or her country. It is hard, time-consuming, and
requires patience, but that is what makes it rewarding and worth it.
Language is by far the
most powerful tool that my parents gave me and that I have fostered. It is not
only a part of me, but it is also what I embrace. For better or for worse, I know
that I can continue to bring individuals closer together and avoid confusion
and misconceptions from taking place. I believe that this world can become a
happier place and know that we can change our lives and the lives of others by learning
to respect each other. Language is what will ultimately make this dream become
a reality. Dream. Believe. Achieve. Now, that, is the power of language. I will end this post with my all-time favorite quote by Nelson Mandela: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."
