In the Spring? When you’ve saved up enough money? When you have no other commitments or distractions?
Here are my top 5 reasons why I personally don’t think there is ever a best time.
- There is no finish line! So, what are you waiting for before starting?
As someone who likes to see the start and finish of a project, in hindsight maybe I haven’t chosen the best area of interest to pursue! Learning a new language is an ongoing work in progress. My Arabic tutor told me this last week that as a non-native speaker getting to 90% fluency would be exceptional and she doesn’t know anyone who has reached beyond that point even after years of living in the region. This was honestly a little disheartening as I am investing my time and money into something that I’m told I will never truly master….! She of course said it to encourage me and let me know it’s OK to make mistakes and to have to keep going over the basics. 18 months in and I find the numbers so hard! The goal is not perfection but communication. I have a choice with this knowledge: Do I just give up? Or do I embrace the challenge and persevere? Not simply to achieve a goal and tick it off the list but to see learning about different languages and cultures as an integral and enriching part of my life and not simply a means to an end.
- Focussing on the start or destination takes away from the fun and lessons learnt on the journey!
From what I’ve discovered so far, Arabic is a particularly nuanced and poetic language with many implied cultural layers. It is right on the other end of the spectrum from the direct nature of speaking German that I had learnt at University and experienced whilst living in Austria. It will be a long, long time before I would be able to follow and participate in everyday conversations in Arabic with native speakers at a normal pace. So should I wait until I feel like I am at that point before I move to the region or initiate conversations with Arabic speaking friends? I want to! I don’t want to look foolish and get embarrassed if I can’t understand something. I hate feeling misunderstood. But the truth is I will continue to make many errors linguistically, socially, culturally. And no-one would expect otherwise from an English girl learning a totally new language from scratch. It’s the effort which is respected. Learning a language is teaching me so much more than just vocab. I’m learning to try and not take myself too seriously. It is very freeing to just laugh when I’ve poured my heart and soul into trying to express something and my teacher looks at me with a confused face and says: شو؟ What?! I am probably building up a novel’s worth of stories about awkward miscommunications but with some humility and humour they truly can break down more than just a language barrier. Care to share any of yours?! It is true that children soak up languages so easily…maybe because they don’t care about getting it wrong! If you’re willing to step out of your comfort zone in these ways and be childlike in learning a language, you’ll avoid some pain and frustrations and you might just be ready to start lessons.
- Learning a language requires trusting the process!
Maybe I would have been more suited as a builder or cook or someone who starts and finishes their working day seeing tangible results. Like my Dad. I was watching him build a wall last weekend whilst I was sitting studying vocab. In many ways as people passed by and saw me sitting there with a cup of tea and a notepad and him shovelling wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of soil and lugging rocks from A to B…I probably look like the rather lazy daughter. He’s working his body hard and I know my mind and brain are being stretched and challenged. But you can’t see that from the outside! Comparison truly is a killer. I respect what he does and how he has the skills for that and he also respects me and when I offer (albeit rather reluctantly) to help, we both agree it’s better for me to focus on what I’m doing and he kindly tests me on the new words I’ve learnt while he takes a breather for a coffee. At the end of his day he can see a finished product. I can only hope (and put into practice various vocab learning techniques…) that some of those new words I’ve stared at, repeated, rewritten, made random associations with have lodged themselves into my long-term memory and will spring to my mind when required and come into use one day. If you’re after quick results you might be better off not starting language lessons at all!
- There will always be something to put in front of personal or professional growth!
I kept putting off learning a new language for about 2 years. Me: ‘The next time I meet up with her, I’ll ask her to teach me some basic phrases.’ Also me: ‘Hmm I don’t want her to think I’m just wanting something out of this friendship, I’ll leave it for a bit.’ Me: ‘Next week, once I’m less busy, I’ll sit down and start learning through some YouTube videos.’ Also me: ‘Now I’m aware I’m less busy, I’m so tired the last thing I want to do is sit down and study. What’s on Netflix?’ The dialogue goes on and on and there are lots of legitimate factors which have an impact- finances, health, commitments. I had lost my job and didn’t think investing into language learning was sensible even though I was fortunate to have the opportunity to. Was it a good enough use of my time? Will it really make a difference towards where I’m hoping to go in life? I can’t remember exactly what made me finally take the dive and enrol in online classes. I do remember it felt risky and I wasn’t sure if I was making a good decision. Would I enjoy it? Would I have a good tutor and would it be worth the money and time? I am so glad for my weekly lessons and homework and they were a saving grace during Covid restrictions in 2020 when I was feeling a little stuck in limbo. The sense of fulfilment and increased confidence from those lessons gave me hope for the future and assurance that I was working towards my dreams and potential. It felt good to devote my time into something that I am passionate about. I finally felt proud to respond to the question, ‘What are you doing these days?’ which had filled me with dread as I faced more job application rejections. Now I had an answer. ‘I am studying Arabic.’
- If you delay starting, you might be delaying opportunities and connections that could transform your life.
In an upcoming blog, I will write in more depth about the times when I have really deeply recognised how powerful languages are and how you can miss out on so much without them. One of my dear friends, a young mother of two died last year. I met her whilst working in Greece. She was very sick and couldn’t attend language classes. Most of our verbal communication needed to be through her husband interpreting. (Not ideal!) I longed to be able to chat freely with her and connect from the heart. We shared hugs and looks that showed a level of understanding and care but I was missing out on getting to know her better. I wanted to learn her mother tongue and unfortunately didn’t get round to committing time to it. The last time I saw her was on a video call. In desperation to connect, I sat and played the piano for her and read something from a book we both love which her husband translated for her. These were special moments and yet I wish we could have communicated more together. Her death spurred me on in my language learning and also to set up teaching English online so that I can reach out to and empower women like my friend who have obstacles to learning a new language. I’m working on getting grants for scholarships for anyone who cannot afford a course of English lessons with Elsie. I’m so glad for the opportunities and connections I have had as a result of speaking another language. Those moments when you catch yourself in a flowing conversation in a language you once upon a time thought was a bunch of scribbles or completely incomprehensible. For that fulfilment it is worth starting something new! Or for the first time you catch yourself thinking in that language or even dreaming in it or being able to translate for someone in an emergency situation? For me, it is definitely worth the perseverance and discipline. There are many ups and downs. And I’m thankful to my language teachers over the years who have encouraged me.
In my opinion, there will never be a ‘best’ time to start learning a language. There will of course be more convenient times. Maybe when there is less ‘going on’ in life, or some savings that can be directed towards it. The thing is if I only studied when I felt like it, which is what I was trying to do on my own, I would not get very far. There are too many distractions. Now I know I have to study because if I turn up to my lesson having not prepared it will be frustrating and I would not be making the most out of my opportunity to engage with my teacher and reach my potential.
English with Elsie 