Back after the Summer Holidays!

This is the first post on this blog that is not related to the After Babel course. I completed this course with a 9.0, which is the highest grade I have ever got during my time in Maastricht. This might be an indicator of the joy I had taking this course, so much that I even considered studying multilingualism in Groningen. However, in the end I chose to go to stay in my beloved Maastricht to enroll in the master’s programme of Public Policy and Human Development. In this last week before the courses start, I wanted to start writing on this blog again. Me still being interested in languages and language policies wants to try to continue this blog from a language perspective.

Once again the study programme I am enrolled in is an EMI programme in the Netherlands. It is a cooperation between Maastricht University and the UNU MERIT. I am looking forward to be able to compare the ways of instruction in the bachelor’s and the master’s.

But first things first. The studies didn’t start yet, meaning that I have nothing to say about that yet. My summer holidays, on the other hand, were full of languages and language problems. I went to the South of Spain, Almuñécar to be exact. We stayed there for almost two weeks. It was beautiful: the sea was blue, beach was close, and the temperature was hot. Problem here is, I don’t speak a word of Spanish, besides ‘hola’, ‘qué tal’ and ‘muy bien’.  On the other hand, the locals did not speak a word of English (let alone Dutch), thus, verbal communication was impossible.

This might seem like a regular situation for someone who does not speak more than one language. For someone whose friends and family describe her as a language fanatic, this is a different story. When we were young, my parents always went on holidays to France. Hence, I learnt French from about four years old. I remember me and my brother lending french books from the library in order to practice some sentences like ‘l’addition s’il vous plaît’ and ‘je m’appelle Lotte’. By the time we were a bit older, French was just the natural holiday language. We played with the French kids on the campsite and ordered out own food.

When we were about 16, my parents decided that they wanted to see Italy. This was in the same year we had a school trip to Florence and Rome. In preparation for this trip, I took Italian lessons. These extra classes were more centered around Italian food, since my teacher was a true Italian woman who loved to make us food (pasta, pizza, tiramisu) but the basics of the language were taught in between dinners. In the end, I could at least find my way around, order my food and have some small talk.

Now Spanish. People always tell me ‘once you know French and Italian, you know Spanish’. No. Simply no. I mentioned in one of my previous entries, that the main part of my friends comes from Spain. I am surrounded by Spanish sounds at least once a week, but I cannot produce one single sentence in Spanish. Understanding in the context, à la, for the rest, niente siñor(a) (I am not even sure whether that is written correctly).

I felt like those people I used to look down upon a litte. My motto used to be, if you go to visit a country, at least know the basics of the language. But as it turns out, I can’t learn this language, at least not as easy as other languages. Sitting at the dinner table and looking up the words on my phone. Pointing at the menu or at a product I wanted to buy. This was not me.

Therefore, I want to apologise to all the people that I have looked down upon because they are unable to learn a language. If you make the effort and you can’t, I know how much it sucks. Keep trying and one day you’ll manage to learn another language.

Adios!