I studied abroad in an unconventional location. And when I say unconventional, I do not mean that I went on a smaller program with other Notre Dame students. No, I was one of four Notre Dame students to study abroad in Russia.
One of the first questions that I get asked about my time in Russia is “Oh, so you are fluent now, right?” After my initial laugh of embarrassment, I find myself at a loss for words to explain this situation. This is a question that I always find difficult to answer, particularly since I do not want to discount the progress that I, and the other students I was studying with, made through our program. The short answer is no, I am not even close to being fluent, despite the significant progress that I made in my language while I was there.
The real answer is much more complicated. Like many things in life, fluency in a language is not black and white. However, we often expect that there are two levels: you either know the language or you don’t. You can either function in a country where the target language is spoken, or you can’t. You can either effectively communicate, or you can’t. While these comparisons can be helpful in distinguishing certain aspects of language learning, as someone who has been studying a foreign language for over half of my life, these dichotomies can be extremely limiting.
For me, language has become much more of a series of spectrums. We all have mediums of expression that are more comfortable than others. You can excel in speaking, but have difficulty reading. You can be great at listening, but be unable to produce more than basic sentences. Within these spectrums there are further breakdowns, as every language learner has skills that they grasp effortlessly and skills that require days or weeks of concentration to achieve competency. Besides our strengths and weaknesses, no one can deny that we all have “off days” where everything they have ever learned seems to evaporate from their brain. Even within our native languages, we are still growing and maturing in our command and grasp of the language.
Each individual has their own linguistic journey that we often fail to acknowledge. When we fail to validate the journey that language requires, we remove the joy of learning a language in the first place. It is impossible to explain the thrill of not only mastering but correctly utilizing and pronouncing a difficult vocabulary word. Or seeing your first linguistic connection between words. Or noticing connections between the language and culture. Although most language students, including myself, would not list these moments as their goal in studying a language, they are what make language learning fulfilling. They mark our progress and give us reason to move forward, even when we feel like we are falling backward. Recognizing and owning your language journey gives you the freedom and permission to fall in love with the language all over again.
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