What's in your mind about learning a foreign language? Perplexing? Confusing? Or even fun? Everyone has a different opinion. Someone found that learning a foreign language is easy and fun. But someone else thought that learning foreign a language could make his/her head becomes very dizzy because that’s difficult, complicated, and only add the burden of study.
Ah, almost forget! I, who love French culture so much, am Fiki Muhammad Ridho. All my friends call me Fiki. Having some hobbies is fun, but one of the most exciting hobbies is learning a foreign language. When I was in elementary school, the subject I liked most was English, which most even hated by my friends. So what exactly I need first to learn a foreign language? It’s passion! Yes, I found my passion when I got the first time in junior high school. At that time, or more precisely about five years ago, I acquainted Korean (actually, I just can write and read Korean alphabets) and Japanese (I even can’t speak Japanese right now). Well, from that moment, my passion getting stronger. Exactly two and a half years ago, when I first entered high school, I started knowing French and German. Also, I began to learn Spanish a year ago. Many people think, "Why do we learn a foreign language? Isn’t English enough?". That’s right! But unfortunately I've had a passion in learning a foreign language, and I think that’s like a daily meal for me. We know that learning a foreign language does require high effort, so I think passion is a kind of a very powerful fuel for learning a foreign language.
Don’t think that I’m a rich boy who can learn a foreign language at the language center, courses, or studying at university (by the way, I’m still a high school student). No! I learn foreign languages just autodidact. I learn from anywhere. I mean, there are plenty of books, materials on the internet, and learning language apps. If I had money and there’s an interesting book, so I would buy it. If there was material for learning language on the internet, then I would read it. I learn French and Spanish from books borrowed from the library or bought in bookstores. Whereas English and German, I learn from books and also in my school because in my high school there are two subjects, English and German, that are compulsory. Then practice! Yes, language is a skill, not like physics or economics. I practice quite often a foreign language in front of a mirror. I think it's a more effective way to simplify how the position of the lips when pronouncing a word. Maybe you think I'm weird. Yes, even my elder sister often calls me a madman because often talking to the mirror, but I don’t care at all. In addition, I utilize Facebook and email account to practice my language with native speakers, because I believe that practice makes perfect. Some of my English partners come from the USA, Canada, and Australia. My French partners are from France, Switzerland, and Belgium. My German partners are from Germany and Austria. Then, my Spanish partner comes from Colombia. From there, I began to realize that learning a foreign language can also add foreign friends. Maybe others think that it’s not important. But for me, isn’t it so much fun? We can share our cultures each other, language exchange, share anything with them, and even share the problems that I had to them, and those certainly made me to think more broadly and learn to appreciate the differences.
Many people believe that learning a foreign language is troublesome and useless. That’s too bad if there are still people who think like that. There are many advantages in learning a foreign language. One is to add knowledge and insight. I can and have repeatedly read information, scholarships tips, books, magazines, articles, announcements, and so on which are written in English, French, or other foreign language, and aren’t translated into Indonesian. Also, I can watch an English language movie without subtitles, and it’s really cool, isn’t it? In addition, I learn a foreign language to enrich myself. Learning a foreign language is not only able to speak a foreign language, but can learn other things more interesting by using a foreign language. My acquaintance friend from Colombia told me that language is a window to see the wider world with a different perspective. That’s true! I think, when I learn a foreign language, it can open insights and see if there are differences with our cultures. So, it can enrich myself and can be open minded.
Up to now, I am still active enough in learning and continuing to deepen four foreign languages, those are English, French, German, and Spanish, and will soon begin studying Japanese or Italian. Besides, I also quite active to discuss about many foreign languages and cultures on the language lover groups and on the polyglot groups on Facebook. From there, I keep looking for something interesting and impressive in learning foreign languages. And the end, for you who will learn or are learning a foreign language, keep going and good luck! Thanks. ;)