The year 2023 has been eventful in terms of my language adventures. I started the year studying French and German at Edinburgh College with no particular plan for my future, and I have ended it as an award-winning German speaker who is studying language at university! So, let’s see what my year has been like!
In early January, I got another Polish PA, so I started to learn Polish again. Unlike the last Polish girl whom I had before, Milena has been speaking English for a short time. She, therefore, Is less confident, so I have not only been learning her language but have also been helping her to communicate when we’re out via translating things into Polish and paraphrasing other things from colloquial English to simple, direct English. My Polish is still not that good, so when we get stuck, we either use Google Translate or mime at each other! I am now using Busuu to improve my Polish, but because of my university studies, my progress is slower than expected.
In February, I decided to drop out of my French college course and focus on my German because doing two Advanced Highers and various dance assignments was becoming impossibly overwhelming! Around the same time, I applied to do a degree in German Studies at Edinburgh University, so my original plan was to come back to my Advanced Higher French if I didn’t get into uni. This actually remained the plan for a while after my application to Edinburgh was rejected.
March and April were a turning point for me. I started thinking of becoming a foreign language teacher for people like me so that more non-verbal linguists could arise from society. These thoughts strengthened, and eventually, I asked my French teacher what she thought of me studying language at the Open University. She was very encouraging of the idea, and the morning after this conversation, I decided to take her advice and apply! I remember the excitement of emailing Isobel to tell her I was going to university after all! I was so excited that I wrote the entire message in fluent German!!
I can only describe the month of May as a German emotional rollercoaster! Firstly, I had my final exam for my advanced higher German, which (should have) marked the end of my time at Edinburgh College. I was proud of everything I had achieved in my two years there but also sad because (I thought) it was the last time I would ever see Katzenkönigin. Two weeks later, however, I was proven wrong on both of these assumptions as I was invited to accept the German Student Of The Year award at the college’s end-of-year prize-giving ceremony in June!
After an emotional award ceremony and saying à proper goodbye to Isobel, I wanted a German-language partner; I looked in the open uni’s student community pages, hoping to find someone there. Despite making friends with Aoife along the way, my search was inconclusive…until I stopped looking and literally went on holiday!
In July, I was on a week-long musical theatre course where I met Celine, a young dance student from (wait for it) Germany! Precisely what I was looking for the previous month!! We didn’t take too long to start talking, and by the end of the week, we were (much to the amazement and jealousy of the other people on the course) switching freely between English and German in our conversations! After the course, we decided to keep in touch.
I started university in September. I took to the German side of things like a duck to water, and by the official start date on October 7th, I was already a couple of months ahead in my German studies. In October, I also met my German lecturer for the first time, which shocked the system after spending the last two years with Isobel! I have also been supporting Aoife with her studies, which has felt good because she has been supporting me with general student life.
Finally, on Christmas day, I met my cousin’s Ukrainian friend, Ten. I was not given enough notice to learn Ukrainian independently, but as fate would have it, Aoife speaks Ukrainian, so I got her to help me!
In conclusion, I was expecting none of this year’s events, but I have enjoyed the spontaneity of it. Next year is the year of my 21st, so I can’t wait to see what surprises it holds!
Eemmcg04💜
The Non Verbal Linguist 