Learning Language and Growing Globally by Katherine

Learning Language and Growing Globally by Katherine - August 2016 Scholarship Essay

The academic subject I learned the most from in high school was Spanish. Taking Spanish led me to grow as a scholar and a global citizen. Throughout the experience of learning a foreign language I found similarities between Spanish and the other academic subjects I was studying. My Spanish class gave me the opportunity to host a student from Spain, who reciprocated my family’s hospitality and invited me to visit her in Valencia. And because of my persistence through high school and onto college I was able to study abroad in South America, allowing me to develop my understanding of culture and diversity.
The subject of Spanish forced me to grow as a student in general﹣ to seek patterns in the language of a subject. I realized that other subjects have words and phrases that are unfamiliar (like the technical terms of chemistry and biology) and I had to decode or translate what their specific texts were communicating. Like Spanish, which requires focus, repetition, and persistence in order to memorize and learn it well, other subjects also required intense focus and their own requirements of repetition, such as completing countless algebra exercises free from outside distraction. The way Spanish was taught in my high school emphasized an equal base of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Other subjects, like my AP Literature class, followed a similar path for overall success. Ultimately I learned more about the English language in general and learned to appreciate the complexities in both English and Spanish, coming to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a direct translation that can capture the nuances of language.
Studying Spanish taught me to think differently about and appreciate the struggle that others face when communicating in and learning a foreign language. By hosting a student from Spain, I learned that the way I spoke English was difficult to understand for an English language learner, and probably even for native English speakers frankly. I had a tendency to mumble and blend my words together and in order to communicate more effectively, especially with non-native English speakers, I needed to enunciate better. I learned to patiently explain the words, phrases, and ideas I take for granted from my daily life. Things I normally viewed as mundane were totally new to someone visiting from another country (who would have thought I would ever need to explain what carpet is, how it was made, and why we had it in our home!). Sometimes I even ran the risk of over-explaining things. I quickly learned that the best way to avoid insulting someone’s intelligence is to ask them a lot of questions. I learned even more when I went to visit the student in Spain. We talked about how the specific cultural differences between our lifestyles was neither good nor bad﹣ it was different, and that was all. I was struck by how different her life was from mine, but I never would have realized it if I had not visited her. Most importantly, I gained an appreciation for where I came from and the experiences I had unique to living in the US that I could compare to my experiences abroad. I had a whole new appreciation for the difficulty, fear, wonderment, and daily epiphanies my friend, and other foreign peoples, experiences in a world so far removed from their own.
Through the academic subject of Spanish I was given an opportunity to grow by meeting many individuals from all over the world. Thanks to the foundation laid by my high school Spanish classes, I continued on to get a double major in both Spanish and Psychology at my university. Because of my drive to challenge myself, I decided to apply to study abroad in South America, where I went to school in Argentina and visited Uruguay and Chile. All this travel is a far cry from what I thought my forays into Spanish-language communities would look like﹣ imagining I would make use of it in Mexico, maybe Spain, but not South America because I believed it was too far away and I would never visit there. When I arrived in South America, I experienced the differences and similarities between and even within countries in regard to their specific dialects, vocabularies, and cultural habits. My high school Spanish class made me more sensitive to cultural appropriation and cultural insensitivities and what diversity does and does not look like. Because of this burgeoning awareness, I selected Hamline University for my higher education﹣ further emphasizing themes of diversity, inclusion, and challenging set beliefs. Looking back on my high school experience, I had no concept of just how useful the skills I began to develop would be in the broader contexts of higher education selection, travel, interpersonal relationships, and cultural competency.
Taking Spanish in high school was one of the most important decisions I have made in my academic career. My study habits in Spanish impacted my ability to learn in other areas﹣both in and out of the classroom. I learned how to communicate and relate on an interpersonal level with a diverse group of individuals. So not only did I grow as a scholar, I grew as a global citizen. Learning another language gave me the opportunity to challenge myself, meet people from diverse backgrounds, and has had an impact on how I view the world.