I really love my mother tongue. I love that I can speak almost anywhere using my native language and it’s unreal if someone understands it. It’s like a secret or coded language, and it’s easy to hear from pronunciation if the speaker is not a native speaker even if they know the words.

I have always been keen on learning languages, it has been quite easy for me, if I can use written words. If I only hear the words, it’s difficult to remember them. My memory is based on visual things. For example I can remember a graph on a page but I can’t remember the name of a person whom I have just met. Because of this the traditional way of teaching/learning languages fits me perfectly. And here’s where some people struggle. You need to learn your own best way of learning. It’s unique to everyone.

It’s interesting to learn languages also because in that way you also learn about other cultures. For example in Finnish language there are no feminine or masculine words. And the same goes with all the Scandinavian languages. Do I need to say that the same goes with society? Also the variety of words on certain things tell how important that thing is for those people. Often they tell about words for snow in Inuit languages, but the same goes with Finnish language. With one single word you know if the snow is wet and heavy or a fluffy beautiful flake.

Another interesting thing about languages is how they are related. How ancient connections can be detected via words and structures. After all, languages are only there for communication. And an old connection may remain in language for generations after the actual meeting was forgotten long time ago. I can remember the first time I really heard Greek language in spoken. My first idea was that why can’t I understand this Spanish? I had studied Spanish for 5 years at that time. Boy, I felt so stupid but also enlightened. After realizing all of that I could find certain words that I knew from other languages. Knowing other languages is always useful.

Eager to learn more

Joana