The Language Itch

That familiar itch...

I've had that oh-so-familiar itch for a while now. Every time I went into a bookstore, I would find myself slowly gravitating towards the language section, my finger slowly hovering over the different titles. "Ooh, they have Russian!", I would say as I pick up a tiny dictionary about Russian and look up random words. I have no need to learn Russian nor any desire to. I just want to stop the itch. That oh-so-familiar language itch.

The language itch is basically when you just want to learn another language for nothing but the heck of it. I get this all the time. I have taught myself Japanese for 7 years, and over the course of those 7 years, I have tried nearly every language in the world. Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien), Thai, Vietnamese, German, Italian... the list goes on. Each time I tell myself I will stick with the language and actually learn it. But I never did. I get three pages into a textbook and lose all interest, or I spend a whole day enthusiastically ordering new books, making flashcards, bookmarking websites in that language; all the while telling myself I am going to become fluent in it, this is my third language, my journey with this new language begins here, then the next day I completely forget about it. I glance at all the books I ordered and wondered why I even did it. I have no desire to learn the language.

It sounds like a problem, and it probably is. I am addicted to language learning. I will be the first to admit that. I think what entices me most is being able to communicate with someone in their own language. Then I daydream about being able to buy books written in different languages, and being able to watch programs in that language. I get all motivated and excited from a few seconds of daydreaming. But then the next day reality hits me, and I realise I haven't the motivation or interest to actually pursue the language. Don't get me wrong, it is a dream of mine to be able to speak multiple languages, and I believe that one day I will be able to. I just need to pace myself and not going rushing off onto Amazon, buying every book I lay my eyes on as soon as I get hit with the tiniest bit of motivation.

Any way, as I was saying, these past few weeks I have had the itch but this time, for a different reason.

Translation. I have always been interested in translation. I have saw myself eventually, one way or another, getting into Japanese translation. Which I successfully managed, I am a sort of freelance translator at the moment, if you can even call it that. I do the odd job while I'm at University for some extra cash and for some experience. It's fun, I enjoy it and it is a great test of both my Japanese and English skills. But, the other day, I was looking on my University's website. They often post up jobs, a lot of them being translation jobs. There has been jobs posted up for Japanese (and unfortunately, I've missed every one) but I did notice that there was a magnitude of jobs for European languages being posted up. French, Spanish, Swedish, Dutch. Some job postings required you were native, while others just required you were proficient.

So it got me thinking.

I am at a pretty comfortable level in Japanese. I can understand most things I listen to and read. My writing and speaking lack, but if I put my mind to it I can say pretty much everything I want to say. With enough practice I will be at a very comfortable level. So much so I don't really have to sit down with a text book (although I intend to sit down with many textbooks in preparation for the JLPT) and study it. So, I thought, why don't I start studying a language which is a bit closer to home? Like an European language. I have been down the beaten track of language learning, I have been there, done that, got the t-shirt. I know exactly what works for me when it comes to learning a language, so I thought, if I set aim to be higher intermediate in an European language by this time next year (August 2014), I should be able to do it.

But what language?

I spent a lot of time mulling over this. I know I wanted to do an European language, something relatively easy and close to English. So, in my mind, that gave me...

• French
• Spanish
• German

French... I studied a tiny bit of this in middle school. Well, 2 years worth. With a teacher I couldn't stand. I spent a lot of my French lessons ignoring the teacher and talking with my friends. All I can remember from her lessons is "J'ai habite tu..." and even then I am not sure if that is correct.

Spanish... I did this in high school for 2 years, thoroughly enjoyed it! Teacher was great, but around this time I was studying Japanese so I took languages very seriously, and loved studying Spanish. Can still remember quite a bit.

German... I have no experience with this language other than when I used to watch my cousin do his German homework. Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

I asked my boyfriend on what he thinks I should learn, and my ultimate goal is to get into video game translation, or at least do translation jobs like that on the side, and he recommended German because the video games market is huge there. Which it is. But, I think I already had my heart set on French. I ended up watching a few videos of people speaking French, and I think I realised today how much of a beautiful language it is. It has a certain charm to it. 

I also listened to some German videos and it sounds awesome. But French stole my heart. I did do a lot more research and a lot more thinking and I think French is a good place to start. German, we will be together one day!

The verdict

So as I wrote just up above there, I will be learning French! I am quite excited to start learning this beautiful language. And at last, the language itch has been scratched. I think it is only a matter of time though before it starts again... and if it does, German is next on my list.

I am motivated this time as I want to be fully functional in this language, so much so I can start translating in it. I also want to be able to play games in it, and there is so much French literature I want to read. I am really excited to start my new journey with français! 

If you are thinking about learning a second language

Ask yourself these questions:

1. What do I want out of it?
2. What is my end goal?
3. What interests me about it?

Learning a language can be costly and time consuming, so it is always good you go in there with a goal and know exactly what you want from it. I will be writing a blog post on how to get started in the near future so keep an eye out for that.

This has gotten ridiculous long and I apologise. In short, I'm learning French!