Translating Reality, or my passion for learning foreign languages.
If you were to take a look in my bedroom, it would be hard to tell if I’m an exchange student, my other world flags were lost, or I’m a hopeless romantic for — dare I say obsessed with — a country I’ve only visited once.
The German flag, keychains from Dresden and Berlin, and the fact that the operating systems for my phone and laptop are in German may make you believe the former. Being a quarter German, I may even look the part. Once I speak, however, my strong, confident Midwestern accent is a dead giveaway.
A class trip to several German cities three years ago, the source of this post’s images, remains one of the most cherished and formative experiences of my life. From wandering the centuries-old streets of München to dancing on tables at the Kiliani-Volksfest, I think back to this time with equal parts nostalgia and yearning to return someday. The influence Germany, German culture and the language itself has had on my life began a few years before the trip, thanks to required high school courses.
Although I am now ashamed to admit this, I only enrolled in German 1 my freshman year because all students were required to take two years of a foreign language, and the collective understanding among us uncultured adolescents was that because of identical words, such as der Hamburger or das Smartphone, the class would be a breeze.
It only took a week or two for us to realize that we were sorely mistaken. While vocabulary remained manageable (every language makes one memorize the members of die Familie), finding out that German has sixteen different versions of “the” came as a surprise. Regardless, I came to enjoy the way learning a language challenged me. An idea I’ve heard many times among avid language learners is that one can virtually rewire their brain in the process. While I couldn’t express myself beyond asking where the bathroom is or if I could have the Currywurst mit Pommes, I believe that by learning German, my mind began to operate differently, not only in my understanding of another rich and vibrant culture, but also in my perception of myself.
When the opportunity to take part in the exchange program with our partner school in Würzburg came up, I was ecstatic. We began group meetings more than a year in advance, planning both for my and my classmate’s excursion in Germany, and also for the 10 days our exchange partners would come and live with us a few months later.
Around this time, I began intensive at-home studies, often sitting for hours each weeknight with a more advanced German textbook, fixedly reading the pages and keeping a journal for notes and exercises. What drove this still-unmatched dedication to a craft was the looming goal that, with every verb conjugation and vocabulary word learned, grew ever nearer.
In a matter of months, I was to live with a German family — the ultimate test of my true language ability.
Having stayed primarily with my group for the beginning portion of the trip, the only real German I had used was the occasional Bratwurst order and amiable “Guten Morgen.” As I began meeting my host family the first day, what surprised me most was the sheer mental energy I used, both to focus on and comprehend what was being said to me, and then quickly figuring out how to properly respond. Considering my conversation extent up to that point was ten-sentence presentations before the class, this pushed my mind in a way I hadn’t yet experienced, which made it all the more rewarding.
Soon, I began to realize I was picking up on all sorts of slang, sentence structures, and potential idiosyncrasies of the town I was in. Simply speaking a language for a grade utterly pales in comparison to speaking a language to survive, much less avoiding looking like another lazy American tourist.
This complete immersion served to accelerate my skills to the highest they have likely been. I was able to look at a city and culture through a new language and entirely new perspective. While knowing the language of a different country or area is not necessarily imperative in understanding the society and culture from an objective standpoint, I find it crucial in creating and maintaining true connections.
For me, seeing all the beautiful old castles, historic cities, and striking mountains was not what made this trip the most special. Looking back through the 1000+ pictures I took during these three weeks, this becomes even more evident.
I can look at the above picture of the Brandenburg Gate, and what I remember is our tour guide from the day, the long walks between different sites, and our group growing more comfortable with one another.
The image of Würzburg reminds me of the homestay, having authentic meals with my family and meeting students our age from a very different walk of life, and coming to realize how similar we are.
The Glockenspiel makes me think of the crowd gathered there from all over the world, in that moment sharing the pinnacle of German animatronic entertainment.
The flight home felt eons longer than the initial passage over the Atlantic as I began transitioning mentally back to my normal life, and in a few weeks, senior year. When possible, I kept watching German language videos and reading books, trying now to hold on to a part of the trip to keep with me as I lived my otherwise unchanged existence.
Seeking to satisfy an ever-growing longing for travel and cultures far and wide, I began studying other languages. Starting with Swedish, I found myself able to progress much faster than with German, using helpful connections between the two. Looking toward a relatively warmer climate, Italian challenged me as my first non-Germanic language studied and gave me an opportunity to practice an arguably more pleasant accent. Since then, I’ve begun several of the languages offered on Duolingo, finding in each a gateway to a new understanding of the world, and virtually limitless relationships to be made and experiences to be found.
The memories I’ve already been fortunate enough to create have made all the drudgery, all the memorization and practice worth it. And while I’m not an exchange student here and now, I plan to be in the future, returning to a place that I still cherish. One can appreciate the aesthetic beauty of lands far and wide, but I believe that language is fundamental in truly knowing a place and the people who call it home. In the words of Ludwig Wittgenstein,
The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.
