Becoming Bilingual

I had 6 months to learn English, a completely new and foreign language to me. Life in Brazil was everything I had ever known, so when my parents sat me down to tell me that we were moving, I was NOT thrilled. Despite my initial reaction, I learned English and it was surprisingly easy.

My backstory: I was born in Brazil and Portuguese was my first language, no, Brazilians do not speak Spanish or “Brazilian.” In second grade I began learning German because I attended a German school. I was supposed to begin English in the fourth grade.

Now, 8 years later, I have no accent when I speak English (or Portuguese) and I am hoping to become trilingual by the end of high school and am always wanting to learn even more languages.

In 2012, at the beginning of the fourth grade, my parents sat me down and told me that we were going to be moving to Utah. For the record, I HAD NO CLUE where that was as I had only been to the East Coast of the United States and Florida, because DisneyWorld, of course.

I was immediately enrolled in Kumon (a learning center) and began my English learning journey. The lessons I had to do included listening to dialogue and then filling out pages and pages of text comprehension, vocabulary and grammar. It was tedious! But those 6 months of hard work paid off.

When it was time to move, I was already somewhat fluent in English, and as soon as we arrived in the States I was already enrolled in a school and had an English tutor. Always being a social kid, I was ready to talk to people and continue learning this new language.

As August rolled around and It was time to start school, I was ready! I always volunteered to read out loud for the class, I read books in English in my free time, watched countless movies and TV shows, and even began using an English word here and there in conversation with my parents. In order for me to not forget Portuguese my parents and I speak strictly Portugese at home, and I talk to family members and friends in Brazil everyday.

Don’t get me wrong, I have had my fair share of struggles when it comes to English and other languages as well. Even now, 8 years later, I say something that doesn’t make sense or mess up a conjugation here and there. When middle school started, the current school I was attending required every student to take a Spanish class. And, although some argue that Portuguse and Spanish are similar, it was very hard for me. I confused the two languages at times and simply could not remember any Spanish vocabulary or conjugations, so I quit, scared of never being able to learn a new language.

As a freshman in high school I decided that it was time for me to conquer my fear and jump headfirst into a new language. I picked...drumroll, please...French! The language of love, and quite literally a romance language that shared some words with my native tongue.

My journey learning French has had its ups and downs. I personally struggle with remembering irregular conjugations and when to use a certain verb tense. In the comfort of my classroom (or Zoom calls, at the moment). I am more comfortable speaking slowly and constructing sentences comes more naturally to me. When I visited Paris in the summer of 2018, I was able to converse with waiters, understand street signs and posters posted on the walls of the metro. But, it was still difficult and intimidating. I definitely have room to improve and hope to continue speaking and learning French when I graduate next year.

My amazing teacher uses songs, movies, and current events as a way to not only teach us how to speak French but also understand context clues and immerse us in the culture.

Lately, I’ve found myself wanting to learn Italian, get back into German, or brave through Spanish again. I am an explorer and a traveler at heart, and I can’t wait until I can safely get into an airplane.

My goal in life is to become a writer in the United States, which means for college I need to major in communications/journalism and take A LOT of English classes. The English language has become a huge part of my life obviously because I live in the US but now I want to learn even more and pursue a career in writing. This makes me think back about times where I felt discouraged while learning or was angry at my parents for moving me to a different country.

My advice for learning a language: Be consistent. Don’t give up. Don’t half ass it, if you don’t understand something, keep trying and don’t move on until you do.