{"id":2540,"date":"2023-04-13T11:47:42","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T11:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.annika-zang.com\/?p=2540"},"modified":"2024-02-28T09:42:45","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T09:42:45","slug":"can-language-learning-be-a-meditative-task","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annika-zang.com\/en\/can-language-learning-be-a-meditative-task\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Love Languages – And Can Language Learning Be a Meditative Task?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Why I Love Languages \u2013 And How Language Learning Became A Meditative Task<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Summary: Learning new languages allows for a deeper understanding of cultures and more transformative travel experiences. Language learning also has the power to alter our perception and add new layers to our personality. Find out how learning a new language can develop confidence in our capabilities and how we can experience language learning as a meditative task<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I was 13 when I first opened a French textbook at school. French was the first foreign language that I ever learned (apart from English), and the reason why I chose a career in languages.<\/p>

A lot of time has passed since then, and in the meantime, I\u2019ve learned Spanish, Serbian and some Turkish. And, to be honest, I\u2019m not remotely tired of language learning. Actually, the more languages I learn, the more curious I become.<\/p>

Let me break down what exactly sparks this curiosity:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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1) How It Affects My World View: It Allows Me To Travel Beneath The Surface<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Before I spent a year in Ecuador at the age of 18, I thought travelling was all about seeing new places, trying new food and making new friends.<\/p>

Travelling is fun. But speaking a language can turn travelling into a deep, transformative experience that will change how we see the world.<\/p>

Let me explain:<\/p>

Travelling without speaking the language often means that we can only interact with fellow travellers or people who work with foreigners. And they often share a similar, open-minded mentality to ours. Which is fine \u2013 we can still experience a country by trying new food, learning about the traditions and observing how people behave.<\/p>

But living in Ecuador, I soon learned that culture is not only about the visible parts like traditions or food. Actually, the biggest part lies beneath the surface. That part is only accessible if we peel back the layers of a culture \u2013 and learning a language of a country is the most important tool to do so.<\/p>

Because speaking a language gives us the chance to dig deeper, connect to people who might not be able to express themselves in a language other than their mother tongue, and truly expose ourselves to new points of view.<\/p>

The longer I stayed in Ecuador, the more I could see how the way people interact with each other, solve problems and deal with emotions was different to how I had learned it. And by asking myself what makes people act differently, I also began asking myself how my own culture, values and beliefs had shaped my mindset.<\/p>

I began questioning what was right or wrong. Or if there is something like right or wrong at all.<\/p>

And, to be honest, I still don\u2019t have the answers.<\/strong><\/p>

But here\u2019s what changed: As travellers, we often observe behaviours and draw conclusions, without realizing that these conclusions are based on the beliefs that were imposed on us. But speaking a language allowed me get deeper into a culture, to a point where I was no longer an observer \u2013 to a point where I could experience a culture from within and see that there is more than one way of being right. And, eventually, that has given me the chance to understand the world from a less rigid point of view.

By the way: If you’re interested in Latin American Spanish, but are unsure about which accent to choose, click here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>

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2) How it affects my personality: Each language adds new layers of perception<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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There is a great book called \u201cSprache und Sein\u201d (Speaking and Being) by K\u00fcbra G\u00fcm\u00fc\u015fay, a German writer with Turkish migration background. The book begins with a real-life story of how she\u2019s visiting her family in Turkey. Her aunt points to the sea and says \u201cLook at the yakamoz!\u201d. The author looks there, but doesn\u2019t see anything. Only when her parents explain to her that \u201cyakamoz\u201d refers to the \u201creflection of the moon on the water\u201d, she could see it.<\/p>

Because language changes our perception. If we know a word, we perceive the thing.<\/p>

Learning a language means setting aside what we know, but also adding new things, and therefore seeing them. With each new language, we develop a new sense of humour, a new sense of experiencing the world. We\u2019re actually making space for a new side of our personality to emerge.<\/p>

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3) How It Affects My Confidence: It Teaches Me How To Trust My own Capability<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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I\u2019ve always been into languages. But I didn\u2019t always succeed.<\/p>

Actually, most of my endeavours failed a couple of weeks into a project: I tried to learn Italian, and then later some Russian, Farsi, and even Chinese, to just name a few.<\/p>

Now I look back and see why: I was lacking the confidence that I would ever be able to reach fluency. I thought that, in order to make progress, I had to push myself really hard. But that only let to me being overwhelmed and quitting.<\/p>

But having learned Spanish to a high level of proficiency has shown me that success is not about pushing. It showed me that we reach progress with small but manageable steps over a certain period of time.<\/p>

Time passes anyway. And with consistent action, progress comes naturally.<\/strong><\/p>

And that realization gave me a whole other level of confidence. I knew that, if I could do it with Spanish that way, I could also do it with Serbian.<\/p>

So I did. And it worked.<\/p>

And that, in turn gave me even more confidence, so I took some months to learn Turkish \u2013 and though I\u2019ve not reached fluency (yet), it was enough to communicate and get my point across in Turkey.<\/p>

Actually, it\u2019s not even about reaching fluency. It\u2019s about the trust that we build in our capability when completing a long-term project. And if we trust that things are going to work out, there\u2019s no need to push too hard anymore.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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