Learning to love language: Why is Cultural Immersion So Important?
Why do people travel? For the food? For the beach? For the cute guys on said beach? Whatever the reason, millions of people are drawn to it. It’s a demon that takes over and drags our bodies on a plane. That’s the only explanation. Or is it deeper than that? Perhaps people love to travel because they find a home in whichever place they go.
I love everything about travel. The plane rides, the different foods, the interactions with people, even the waiting for things! Each time I get on a plane, before I take off I take a deep breath to absorb that feeling. It will never get old. I will always crave it for the rest of my life, but why?
The experiences a person gains when traveling is the answer. Right now in our world we have the power to reach every part of the globe in a matter of hours. We could explore the places we’ve only seen in our dreams. We could climb the highest mountains or swim in the deepest oceans. The world is literally ours for the taking.
My excitement with the trip to Costa Rica started with a love of traveling passed on from my family, but it really took flight my freshman year of high school. I walked into my Spanish classroom on day one and could already tell that year was gonna be different. I will never forget my Spanish teacher; he was so inspiring and I attribute a lot of my growth in Spanish to him. He always had fascinating stories of his travel experiences and would drop little cultural facts about countries randomly.
One country in particular was Costa Rica. He loved its eco-tourism and people and encouraged us to visit. So when the opportunity in my school came to travel to Costa Rica, I jumped at the chance. Charlemagne famously said, “to speak a second language is to have a second soul”. I’m looking for my Spanish soul and I intend to find it in Costa Rica.
My special connection with traveling and language is how I’ve fallen in love with speaking Spanish. I can talk to native speakers comfortably and confidently and communicate with intention and feeling. It’s all because I am absolutely head over heels with the language. Every time I’ve traveled, it further enforced my love for learning Spanish. I talk to waiters at restaurants, I speak with my mother, I make comments to my friends — much to their aggravation. I simply cannot stop. I couldn’t if I tried. It has now become a part of me just as much as the other things I love.
That is why cultural immersion is so essential. It’s not just the learning of a language, it is learning an entirely new way of life through language. Learning a language in a classroom is useless if not used in the real world. Language is the gateway to understanding an entirely different form of identity people can have.
Additionally, by learning the identity of another culture, people gain a greater understanding of their own. I never get homesick because when I visit other places and experience their cultures, languages and food, I find a piece of myself in everything I see. It is crucial for people to go out into the world and learn about other cultures, you never know what could resonate with you. If you can experience how another culture interacts, you can compare and contrast as well as reflect on your own. It is in this way that cultural immersion fosters priceless personal growth in people.
Once you enter a new environment that is foreign to yours, it can be scary and jarring. You’ll wish for a friendly face to guide you and help you understand. Having that experience, a person will understand more when others experiencing a new culture or place may feel alienated. Being able to relate to others in such a way provides a way for people to access an open way of viewing other cultures.
Cultural Immersion is an outlet that gives people the space to develop love for a language and culture other than their own. It makes them curious and excited. A classroom is great but a city market is real. This is why it’s so important to go places and leave the town you grew up in. Meet new people, eat something new, dance on a random beach at midnight.
It’s your life, now live it.
Northern lights appearing in southern Wisconsin
Image of cocoa beans in the DR in local plantation where you learn how they make chocolate
Frontal view of the London Clock Tower from a double decker bus
This is only the first chapter of Molly’s journey; as part of her scholarship, she’ll be writing a second installment after she returns from Costa Rica this summer. We’re already looking forward to hearing about the ‘Spanish soul’ she finds while exploring the local culture and building connections that go far beyond the classroom!