Why You Should Learn a Language in Quarantine
By: Regina Phalange
Tags: Funny, Quarantine, Hobby, Language, Covid 19

And how fun it can actually be

Image credit: MYCROFT AI

Along the long list of ridiculous hobbies I decided to drive up during this painfully-too-long of a pandemic, I thought, “Why not reteach myself French?”

Like most Americans, I took a language in grade school because I had to, not because I wanted to or was talented enough to use it. I took it in high school through college and when I walked across the stage for that diploma, I was thrilled to say goodbye to the conjugation of French verbs and the embarrassment that followed trying to pronounce that elegant language in an southern American accent.

Language was always difficult for me. Those beautiful words flew in through one ear, and clonked out the other. The conjugation of the verbs, putting adjectives behind the nouns and and learning when to use the different forms of the same pronoun were my biggest battles in my young academic life. Math was as easy as one, two, three for me, why was French as difficult as un, deux, trois? By the end of undergrad, I was happy to say, au revoir.

So you may ask me, Why in hell would you submit yourself to something you so truly despised?

The answer is simple my friend; why, the hell, not?

I have been so tired of the countless Netflix series and movies I’ve binged since March, I reread all my favorite books, and had too many recipes go wrong. Working from home hasn’t been what I first thought, “Gosh, all the time I will have!?” Gosh all the time I have is right, past me. It has become too much time. It has become a painful bore.

I realized what I missed was the exciting challenges my everyday life faced pre-Covid. Challenges at work, challenges in my personal life and challenges beyond my little world were then interesting, rather than a trigger to my anxiety.

So I thought, why not?

I found those dusty old french textbooks in the back of my closet (I know right, I thought I threw them out too), downloaded some language apps and joined a few French pen-pal websites (I did find some creepy international websites but I will save that for another article, for another day).

What comes to my shock probably more than yours, it was actually coming back to me. I didn’t realize how much I remembered, which I thought was only how to count to 10. Since my start, I have made so many flashcards (for fun), understood how to create common French phrases (for fun) and read some articles in French (for fun).

It was fun to teach myself French again. I had embarked on a new romance, with an old enemy.

I didn’t realize how beneficial learning another language was for you. Learning a new language actually gives your brain a good workout. Like literal exercise, it makes your brain stronger. According to science, learning another language is one of the most effective ways to keep your mind sharp, improve your intelligence and to literally keep your brain from aging.

I realized too that communication with pen-pals, watching French films and reading in French has made learning and understanding another language tremendously easier and more entertaining (plus it is fun to say I have friends in France).

Now I have something that I look forward to as these quarantine months continue. Download a language app, pick up a how-to language book, annoy your family by responding in another language they can’t understand and walk out of the room; be a better you.