ENGL 101 Prof. Boyton Sebastian Salvatierra The benefits of learning a new language Many doctors, as well as researchers, argue that during the first years of our lives, we are very capable of learning not only movements but also different languages, and in some cases, how to distinguish between them. As a trilingual person I believe this is somewhat true, but most importantly, learning a hard language first will ease the process of learning more languages. When I was three years old, I started learning German along with my native language (Spanish). This was because I was in a German School and thus, one of the eye-catching features was the teaching of a third language apart from Spanish and English. By the time I reached 7 th grade, they started teaching us English and although at first, it was difficult, nowadays I can say that learning German benefits me when it comes to learning another not-so-complex language. Because I learned German from a very young age, many experiences I have had have been in German and I must say that they were not positive. Unlike English, German has a neutral article and together with the "umlaut", they make German a complex language, especially when writing. Nonetheless, those experiences trained my brain to be able to write thinking in the language instead of translating which is beneficial when trying to communicate. One of the most challenging experiences I have had when writing was my last year of high school in which I had to write an extended essay for the IB DP. For this essay, I decided to analyze the speeches that, Donald J. Trump, gave during his time as president. It was challenging not because of the language but instead because of the extent of the project which had to be 4,000 words. Another challenge of this experience was the topic because I had to analyze the political rhetoric and the use of certain words. This project represented a challenge in terms of volume and content, and after completing it I can say that I feel more confident in my writing skills and especially because it was in English. This project was interesting at the beginning when I was figuring out what I wanted to research and talk about. Since the Extended Essay is meant to take more than 40 hours, it is recommended to start early and then read it again to catch mistakes or to see if it is clear enough. Because of this, like most of my classmates, this essay took about 3-5 months to complete, and even though at the beginning I was excited, I ended up being more than tired of the topic and reading multiple times the speeches to find something to analyze. Another factor to take into consideration is that English is not my native language and thus, it presented a challenge because I had to rely on my professor, classmates, and even grammar software to double-check for spelling errors. As I mentioned before, I was in a German School, and this meant reading German. As obvious as it may sound, the reading process between German, Spanish, and even English is very different. One major difference is that in German you almost have to be one sentence ahead to better understand the idea of the text and to read it in a way it makes sense. This is because, like English, German only uses the ending exclamation, unlike Spanish which uses both opening and closing exclamation marks. Another factor is the different times in which sentences can be written and that is because many words are the same between passive and active pasts. During my high school years, I had multiple professors but there is one that even though very strict, thought me how to start paragraphs and essays in general. His name is Joaquin Bernardo Porras Bustos although in confidence we call him “Joaco”. He is really important because not only do we cheer for the same soccer team in my native country (Saprissa) but he also knows my older brother and in general, we have a good relationship so I would consider him really important since he was one of my first experiences writing in Spanish. This professor is important to me not only because we are good friends but because the way he explains Spanish and how connection words ease the flow of ideas really helped me when writing. They say: “Practice makes the master” applies when it comes to language. The more you read or write, or even listen to it, the better you will get with that specific language. A practice that I used to do when I was learning German was reading a book and even though it was a little bit childish, it represented a good exercise to practice the different times and combine words that exist in German. The book is in German and its name is “DER KLEINE PRINZ” by Antoine de SaintExupéry. The first time I read it was in school in my German class in which the professor in an attempt of teaching us a bit of German grammar made us read it. After that, I just read it but instead of grammar, I would focus on other characteristics of the German like the composed words, and finally, before the pandemic started, I went and saw a theater action about it. It is important not only because it was the first book in German that I completed but the story of the boy and the flower is really interesting. Another important factor when communicating is the language we use. As the prompt for this assignment says, art is very important because is a way of communication. Unlike words, art can be present in different forms. It can be through paintings or even music which is considered art. Personally, as a flutist, I do consider music very important because even though it uses words, there are situations in which words are not present like in classical music or jazz, and instead, the beat of the melody or the instruments used determines the message and purpose. There is one song I like since I played it a couple of years ago. Its name is Syrinx by Claude Debussy, and it represents the story of a man that was in love with a tree since they could not be together, he chose to kill her lover and make a flute out of it. He used the sound of the piano to represent himself and the pitch of the flute to represent the women along with the suffering of the love he could not achieve. This experience with music as a way to transmit a message, not only today but over time because most of the classical music was written more than 30 years ago, has affected me positively because it represents the importance of language and how communicating with people can be through different forms. In conclusion, the message we have is important but the way we communicate it, either through writing, talking, music, or paintings, is also important to minimize language barriers and have a greater audience if we so desire.
