I have had two very different experiences learning a new language, and I have realized that everyone’s language journey is different. One person may perfect a language in a year and another may take five years. Not every student learns at the same pace and that is okay.
When I was just 20 years old I lived abroad in Spain, and I was able to speak Spanish everyday with my friends and host family while I was attending university too. It was a wonderful opportunity to be immersed in the language, and I felt at ease learning at my own pace and practicing as much as I wanted without a lot of pressure. I had lots of free time to read in Spanish, talk to local Spaniards, and attend classes.
Later, I became a teacher and a mom, and I moved to Italy to be closer to family. When I first arrived in Italy, I attended Italian classes three times a week and my confidence was growing. After six months, the pandemic broke out, and I couldn’t attend class anymore. Less than a year later, I was pregnant with my second child. I had very little time to study. During the pandemic I had to go to hospital visits unaccompanied and there was an intense pressure to be fluent. I often felt nervous if there was a technical word that I didn’t know, and I was very hard on myself. One of my best friends was fluent within a year. Why wasn’t I? At first I felt embarrassed when I made a mistake. Later, I noticed there were other moms at the hospital who knew less Italian than me. It was when I started helping others that I realized how useful my Italian was, and it was okay if I wasn’t fluent yet. It was okay if I made some mistakes. I could communicate and that was something to celebrate!
One thing I learned throughout my language journeys was to not compare myself to others. Everyone comes from a different situation, but we can all learn even if we learn at a different pace.