My Journey with Languages, in 2019

This post was written before: published & then deleted… Let’s try again!

I started learning languages while I was in an English-speaking Welsh secondary school (USA: high school). There are two types of schools in Wales, one that teaches in Welsh, or in English. They are both very well established but it depends on the student & parent whether they want their child to speak Welsh well/fluently at home. My mother decided to choose an English speaking school as neither I nor my family can speak any Welsh. This worked out well for me, as I never liked the language anyway.

FRENCH:

My real journey with languages started when we had the option to learn German or French in the 3rd year of secondary school. Up until then I was learning French, took 1 German class and hated. I choose to take French as a GCSE class & loved it. In the 3rd year we travelled as a big group to France and being in the country I loved it but had a bad experience with the people I went with (don’t ask – arguments).

After leaving school at 16, after GCSEs, with 7 decent results including a C in French, I decided not to carry on learning. This was a bad move, as after 10 years I have lost most of the grammar & words I learnt over 5 years. French is still a big part of me & I still want to learn the language 15 years on from my original GCSE choice.

As of 2018/9 I have missed learning French & in 2020 I hope to go to classes & re-learn my French, then get back to the level I was at 10 years ago. If I had the chance with a close friend or family member I would love to travel to France again to see lots of tourist sites, speak the language & meet others. So far, I have bought reference books to practice at home & use Apps on my phone.

ITALIAN:

Roll on to 2017,

I decided 10 years after leaving school, I wanted to learn a language again. I didn’t want to re-learn French. I wanted to start from scratch. Many people recommended Welsh (which I never liked) or Spanish (the most common language in the world) but I choose a different path. I choose Italian – or should I say it choose me!

Italian started as a hobby to learn a new language. Both the tutor and class I was in, were amazing. I took weekly classes in Italian for 2 years & enjoyed them. We all got on, helped each other, laughed, cried together & spurred each other to reach new goals every term. The tutor I could not praise enough, she was brilliant with us. A real Sicilian lady who promotes our progress constantly and tells us of real life and celebrations in Italy/Sicily & how the language works.

I learnt Italian for just under 2 years and then choose to stop. On the European guidelines for languages, I would say our class were coming up to the A2 level (A1-2, B1-2, C1-2).

I would love if I could one day get up to B2. The tutor said she was happy to have taught us for as long as we would like her to. But unexpectedly changed her mind and left mid 2019.

Long term GOALS:

My ultimate goal is to be multi lingual – English, French & Italian.

I want to be able to talk, read, write & able to watch real foreign films & TV.