What Learning A New Language Has Taught me.
By: Liz C
Tags: Learning, Language, Language Learning, Culture, Japanese

For a while now I have been trying to self learn a new language. Over this period of time I have come to realize something. I truly grasped how small my world was. For the first time I finally understood how big and diverse our giant rock truly was. Here I am thinking I was an open understanding individual when in reality I was naive to my surroundings. I was naive to cultures, why people sounded different than me, why they dressed different, why don’t they like the same food, and other things I didn’t comprehend.

By attempting to learn Japanese I began to broaden my social circle and started to truly grasp the diversity of not just personalities but cultures, mannerisms, etiquette, traditions, foods and so on. I was raised in New York where it is as diverse as it can get on the east coast but apparently it wasn’t enough to unveil the filter I unintentionally grew up with. Mind you I am a bilingual Latina and in school I took four years of French. So language learning was always an interest but I never thought to myself that knowing these languages was essential to not only develop personal growth but to widen my horizon in career opportunities or even something as simple as travel.

I began to understand that people dressed differently because of where the country was located and the materials available in their areas. Influences from conquest and trade all took a part in the fashion. It was the same for food. It whatever was available to them. Not everything in crops can grow all over the world. Instead different regions and can only support certain kinds of seeds. How close one is to the water also determines how fresh or available seafood is and other kinds of animals. Everything relied on everything else to morph into what we now call languages, culture, tradition, and fashion. Yet growing up in a melting pot I only saw the aftermath. The product of those individuals that already had ingrained in them these differences. So I couldn’t understand why?

Sure you could say, “Well didn’t you learn geography in school or history?” Of course I did, but lets be honest most of us didn’t truly pay attention in class. We did what was enough to pass and kept it going. I understand that might have been the case for everyone and maybe that’s where I was at fault as well. However, in school your only taught war, treaty, struggle, and conquest. Rarely are you taught diversity and its importance. So again, my mind remained closed in a sense that I knew of the existence of the outside world but never truly felt the need to experience it. It was almost as if I had a tug in the back of my mind saying not to stray too far from the flock.

Had I realized then what I know now, I am positive I would have gone a different route in college. However, at the end of the day, here I am and its truly never to late to follow a new path. We as individuals truly never stop learning so why not chose the new things we learn. Did I get a decent amount of side eye for my new found interest. Absolutely! I don’t care though. I simple look at those individuals as the past version of myself. I’m not saying I am woke or anything but more than I was before.

The new people I have met in my Japanese circle has really opened my eyes to wanting to be the key to communication. I suddenly felt this urgency to want to learn the language so I could be that link that connects two entities that wish to communicate but cant. I want to bridge two completely different cultures and bring a level of understanding into any situation. With this thought came the idea of being a translator/interpreter. Is this the path that I was meant to take all along, honestly I don’t know but its definitely the path I want to take right now.

So what exactly did I learn? What did I gain? Well, I gained my sense of purpose I suppose. I understood something about myself that I never knew before. I feel grateful for my current experience. I am excited and anxious. I learned how something that started so simple was enough to break me out of this certain bias and racism that Latin cultures tends to imbue. I broke out of a mold that was set out for me and now I roam free.