Where were you 91 days ago?
91 days ago I picked up a course in Duolingo to learn a new language.
Along the way, I discovered that I really needed a tutor, so I hired one through italki and have been meeting with him twice a week for an hour to practice my vocabulary, grammar, and conversational skills.
Last week I was out of town on a combination of business travel and a short vacation to meet with family and friends.
And yesterday in our tutoring session we spent the first twenty minutes talking about my trip, discussing the family members I met, where they live, their ages and occupations, the places I visited and the people I saw, the food that I ate and the drinks that I consumed (along with more than a few jokes about that).
Was it rough and did I stumble? Yes!
Did I have to search in my mind at times for that missing word or grammatical construction? Yes!
Did I make some mistakes about certain word forms or tenses? Also yes!
But you know what—91 days from the start of my journey I’m able to have a conversation, and I think I’d be able to have a similar one with a native speaker. Just as rough. Just as hesitant.
Just as fraught with the terror of not knowing the right word. But I’d be connecting at a level that I could not experience had I kept to my monolingual language skills.
I’m stoked, as they’d say in my lexicon from the 60s. (I’d say it’s copasetic, but let’s not push the envelope too much.)
I can’t stress highly enough how much this means to me and how much it has brought me a new joy in living.
I’ve met some great people along the way, had some good conversations, and I’m ready to go for the next 91 days to see what happens!
And you know what? You can do it, too.
91 days from now you’ll be exactly where you are, or you could be deep into the study of a language and ready to begin having those conversations that you never, ever thought you’d be having.
Take a chance, and come along with me!
#people #languages #communication