Learning languages
I have decided to start learning Estonian, German and Russian simultaneously in my free time. I made this decision after having a conversation with an Estonian before a job interview, wherein I was discussing why I am learning Estonian and why I think it is important to learn languages in general. I made the point that learning several languages is very important in terms of conducting business internationally, and that I am surprised that when I was growing in the UK, it was not a priority for people to learn additional languages (this has since changed). All in all, after this conversation I realised I had made the same points about languages in several conversations with various people, all while not actually learning other languages myself, making me a huge hypocrite. From that moment onward I vowed to myself
to learn additional languages fluently, and chose the aforementioned three.
I've made some real progress with Estonian because I've been practicing and learning it on and off over the last two years, but it's only really the past three months that I've put more focus and attention into it. As a result I'm now able to discuss how i'm feeling, order food and drinks when I go out to eat at restaurants, along with a myriad of disparate phrases and words. It's an ongoing process, and I'm teaching myself. Nevertheless, I think it's going well, and those around me have told me so too.
Since I started learning Estonian, I decided that it would be useful and fun to learn German & Russian as well. I have never studied Russian before, so this is something completely new for me, but it's fun so far and I've memorised some of the letters now. With regards to German, I had previously studied this at high school for 2-3 years and I achieved a poor grade (a D grade) in the finals. Whilst I do remember various words and phrases in German, I did not take it seriously at the time, and as a result, did not learn the language.
For me this is very frustrating because I had a real opportunity to learn another language (for free!) and I didn't take it, because I was a lazy teenager. I was not lazy overall at that age, but in areas such as education I did not make enough effort, and this is something I regret. I was able to excel once I finally invested my time and effort into education, but I still look back at this time and get angry with my past self. I sometimes wish I could back and shake some sense into my teenage self and make him realise the opportunities he is wasting. With all that being said, I am still young and have decided to pursue this endeavor now, with a view to create a structured plan for how I will study these three languages next year. I am feeling confident and excited about it. Learning languages is a lot of fun for me!
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and I wish you a happy new year!
- Christian Reeve
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