Words written down, are far easier to understand than words spoken at times. It took me quite a bit of time to understand the Scottish accent. Accent meaning the way the Scottish pronounce their words with their pitch and tone. Scottish English could also be considered a dialect due to the different grammar and pronunciations of words and such. Actually I've never really thought about it, but Scottish is just a different form of English. Just like the Southern Accent/dialect is another form of English. Well anyway, learning to understand the Scottish accent was a bit harder than I first imagined. In the end however I got it down. Until I left for my holiday.
I left for a 9day holiday in Berlin, Germany. First I had to learn that in Germany everyone speaks German. I honestly knew that, but I didn't fully understand it, until I got there and couldn't really understand anything. Thankfully most Germans knew some English, and together with my microscopic amount of German and their lil English we were able to communicate and I was able to survive.
Germans when speaking English have an accent as well. It took me only about a day to adapt to it. I credited this to having already had to adapt to the Scottish accent. The longest conversation I had was simply with an old German man who was forced into the army. It was interesting to hear not only about a different world. It was interesting to have to fully understand what he was trying to say with the language barrier sitting there directly in our face.
When I returned to Scotland. It was HORRIBLE! Not just because I loved Germany, but my ability to understand the Scottish accent had disappeared with my knowledge of the German one. In the end I relearned it quickly, but it did take me a day. I was soooo confused. It seemed funny to me, that this is English, but it is different in so many ways all over the world. Even in the United States.
In the end. I felt lonely in Germany. It was hard to be in a place where I would have to hope that there would be an English Menu, or someone could speak just a bit of English. It was intimidating. Don't get me wrong though. I loved Germany. I had some good pints with the Germans, had good nights, had good food. There was always the threat though, of an inability to communicate.
I couldn't help but think about the Spanish speaking Americans. Is this how they feel at times? Are they intimidated to even go to a grocery store for fear of no one knowing English or no food products being listed in Spanish. It really put things into perspective for me. The Chinese, Japanese, African, and many other immigrants, is the outside world as intimidating to them? I know other countries are smarter than the U.S.A, they all have requirements for a second language.
The one thing this trip has done is made me want to learn a second language in detail. Not just the two years that were required to graduate highschool. I am torn on which language though.
Spanish? German? French?
These are the only three I really have an interest in learning. Spanish and French are similar due to their relation to Latin. German is its own field in that respect! However, I'm leaning towards Spanish or German. German because I want to return to Germany for an extended period of time, and not feel so 'outside looking in'. I want to learn Spanish, so I can communicate with only Spanish-speaking Americans, and help them in my profession I've chosen, without having to worry about the language barrier.
In the end I don't know what I'll choose, or if I'll even have the capacity to learn it due to being, dare I say it, old! At least old in the aspect of learning another language.
All I can hope is that my experiences with language barriers and such will help me to grow, and maybe take that step into learning something new. That I can take action to be more connected with others. I hope I'll succeed. Actually I know I'll succeed I just have to try.
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