Fluency

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A year to become fluent in a language really isn’t enough time. There are just too many words and too much to learn. Language learning is like jumping into an ocean and attempting to drink it all up. Doing so will not only make you ill but it’s also a completely unrealistic goal.

Emily laughs when I tell her that I’ve given up on learning English. For years my goal was to have the best English possible. In high school my prized possession was my pocket Oxford English Dictionary. In fact, one year I asked for an updated edition for my birthday. Happily, my parents obliged. But, I’ve given up on English now. I’ve let go of progress in my mother tongue. So, today in my reading when I came across the word craven, I laughed to myself and then looked it up. I laughed because here sat a word in my language that I didn’t know. I looked it up because, well, something in me still wants to know. (A craven, by the way, is a coward.)

This year I’ve crossed the ocean that separates my mother tongue and the tongue I’m learning. I’ve dived (dove? doved? diven?) headfirst into a tongue, if you will. The awkwardness of that mixed metaphor fits well the awkardity of learning another language. You dive. You change tongues. You look like an idiot. You learn. You make friends and you move on.

I often think about that day at the end of the year when I’ll take the fluency test. I picture myself doing decently, getting the marks I need, walking outside and then to my horror seeing something I do not know the name of in the language I’ve been studying for the last year and for which I’ve just taken a fluency test. I’ll laugh and then I’ll look it up.

2 responses to “Fluency”

  1. JW Avatar
    JW

    Is that the dictionary still in the closet of the TR??? Oh how I remember those “dictionary” moments.

    1. Drew Avatar
      Drew

      Yes! What fun memories!

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