(2025)
2025 was my last full year of formal language studies! This might surprise you because I went to the Open University to study German and Spanish in order to become a modern language teacher… well, that dream wasn’t going to work because of the lack of opportunities for German teachers in Scotland so I have decided to trade my sombrero for a judicial wig and study law next year instead! (more on that later). My journey as a linguist this year has been quite interesting despite many challenges in my personal life. I have worked with totally awesome fellow linguists, advocated for the education of people with additional support needs and really upped my German study game! As per The Non Verbal Linguist Hogmanay tradition, I’m going to summarise my linguistic adventures of this year.
The year started off with the best point and the lowest point in the same day and looking back, I am very pleased that they happened in the same day because the best bit made the worst part survivable. I was invited to share my story as an OU student who has additional support needs with a selection of staff from the departments of Languages, Education and Health in my uni. This part of the day was really fun because I got to advocate for people like me while sitting next to my favourite OU person Sylvia. Unfortunately I also said my farewells to another non-verbal powerhouse on the same day 🌻 which totally broke my heart but despite the grief, I really enjoyed the roles being reversed and me teaching the lecturers for a change…and of course sitting next to the nicest German ever for 2 hours added to the enjoyment. For some years now I have been doing something similar in the world of dance so perhaps teaching inclusive teaching could be something that I do as my main job in the future.
In March I went to my penultimate OU Language and Culture Day (although at the time I just thought it was my penultimate OU German Language and Culture Day). Last year I had basically met all of my OU people at the event so it was like a big happy reunion! Moreover, I had so much more confidence compared to last year so I was able to really express my passion for the German language without fear of being seen as “too enthusiastic”, ìn fact Chloe and I sat in our matching EAT SLEEP DEUTSCH REPEAT tops and were adored and admired by everyone! I have reached the conclusion that such events are my favourite time of the whole uni year because not only do you get to speak your favourite language all day but you also get to hang out with totally awesome people like Chloe, Kim, Sylvia and Lilian!
After Language and Culture Day I had a lot of personal stuff going on and I was struggling to process everything so I decided to read the PhD work of my then tutor Kim to take my mind off everything. Kim’s first reaction when I told her what I was going to do was to tell me to go ahead but that her work wasn’t particularly interesting…I have known Kim for almost 3 years and this was the first instance since meeting her where she was totally wrong! Although the work was based around the rather dark theme of East German prisons, it was fascinating. Reading this made me think about writing my own phd someday because since I met her, Kim has really reminded me of myself (another Scottish curly-haired sarcastic German superfan) so if she can do it ‚ why can’t I put in the same effort and work and achieve the same thing?!
With this new dream in mind, I set off to Germany for the second time! First of all, I spent a few days in Berlin taking in the sights and the culture. My Sylvia used to live in this beautiful city so I felt really connected to her while I was there! Despite the cold, wet weather, I really enjoyed getting to know more about the history and culture of Germany through my extensive museum and monument visits and also discovering my passion for Wiener Schnitzel! After spending 3 days in the beautiful capital city, I then returned south to my “German home town” of Jena to take part in the same course that I took part in last year… and, as it happened, to eat MORE Schnitzel!! Even though the trip was awesome last year, I joined last minute so it wasn’t really geared up for wheelchair users. This year however, I signed up when applications opened which meant that the week was designed with wheelchair users in mind so I could participate fully in the activities. I enjoyed the whole thing but one day stood out for me. I don’t know if Germany is just a really small world or if some kind of fate is making me retrace her footsteps but for the field trip this year was to a town called Halle where, rather unbelievably, Sylvia studied! The thing is – I had known about her connection with Berlin pretty much since I met her but I only found out about her connection with Halle when I told her about the field trip so it was a huge coincidence that not only allowed me to walk where she had walked but even find out about another chapter in my treasured friend’s life!
One Friday night in late August I had a bit of an opithany! I had been feeling sad and uncomfortable about starting the Spanish part of my degree pretty much since Language and Culture Day because I love German so much and didn’t think Spanish would give me the same feeling. As I stood at the bus stop on my way back from swimming, I overheard a couple speaking Spanish and – as Angelica Schyler says in the musical Hamilton – realised 3 fundamental truths at the exact same time! #1 as I have gotten older, my extensive interest in foreign languages has been streamlined into an intensive interest in German. #2 if I were to become a traditional modern language teacher, my life would be very frustrating because I would have to teach Spanish forever as German lessons are dying out of the Scottish school system! Last and by no means least, #3 if I’m going to write a Ph.D. I will be more “valuable” anyway with or without a formal teaching license, so my studies don’t have to be restricted to just languages. At first, I was dithering between History and Law while leaning slightly towards Law (I had seen the German and Law course 3 years ago when I first joined the OU family and was VERY tempted!) but it was overhearing my aunt stressing over my grandma’s will that made me realise that the family could benefit from someone who has a little legal knowledge and ultimately pushed me over the edge and convinced me to change my degree to German and Law! If I have learned anything from the death of my friend, it is that life is short so although being a lawyer would be very cool, I am focusing on the journey instead of the destination and just going to enjoy my studies (especially telling everyone that I am a law student😀) and just see where they take me! Sometimes a lack of a plan is the best plan!
On August 26th my grandma unfortunately passed away. Ella as she was known was the only other linguist in the family and she shared my particular interest in the German language. The funeral was held on the day before the new uni year started. Although this was the first funeral that I had been to since the wee girl in January and was therefore quite triggering, I learned a couple of new things about my grandma! The first thing I found out was that she did a German degree at Edinburgh University… I found this a bit funny because as my long-term readers may know, I actually applied to do German at Edinburgh three years ago before I came to OU instead! In the last few years of her life, Ella’s health was very poor so we never got to discuss this and therefore I had absolutely no idea that I almost followed in her exact footsteps! The other very cool thing that I found out was that she used to work as something called a dramatourg. The job description of a dramatourg, as I understand it, is very cool – when a play goes to a country with a different language from the one that the one which the original play was written in, it is the job of a dramatourg to translate the script! Once again I wish I had known about this when Ella was actually alive because this sounds like one of the most interesting jobs ever!
Even though the events of the previous 9 months had left me truly worse for wear, I started my last year of German on September 5. It had been previously arranged that I would be working with Lilian (who I still maintain is the smiliest person ever) but what I hadn’t planned for was basically meeting another one of my kind! People say that I have a unique passion for language, that I describe things really poetically, that my mind works in a different way to everyone else and I get very upset if I witness someone make a mistake in German! I am very proud of these quirks but it turns out that I’m not the only one in Lillian’s group who fìts this description!
This year I joined my uni’s “German Club” to increase my exposure to the German language and culture and to mix a bit more with the OU community. Along with Chloe and a few people who I knew from my studies in Jena, there was one member who stood out to me. Right from the beginning, I could tell that Pascal was special! He regularly contributed such interesting things to the group and sparked many intelligent and often amusing discussions! We interacted a lot in this club in the month leading up to the start of term but I was too shy to ask him what module he was taking this year. It was therefore such a lovely surprise when the website for my module opened and his unique way of speaking appeared on the main module forum and even better when we got allocated our tutors and that brilliant mind of his popped up in my group!
At the start of the year, we interacted a lot on the tutor group forum but then we both became too mentally exhausted to post. I started to miss my new friend, when, just as if he had read my mind, he found my academic email address and sent me a message asking if I was still on the module. Even though he started his note by apologising for intruding, I was absolutely delighted to hear from him! Since then we have had quite the pen friendship and -we have both noticed this- it often feels like we are writing to ourselves because not only have we got a very similar writing style but we have also gone through similar things this year which have affected us similarly! I can’t believe that both of us have landed in the same tutor group!
Compared to my previous modules, I have taken a much more in-depth approach to my current module. Not only do I do almost all of the exercises but I also take notes! While I have been working on this module I have also mastered skills that I have never been able to master in English such as paraphrasing and language analysis and I often catch myself thinking in fluentGerman! My notebook is definitely the thickest it has been at this point in the year compared to both my previous years at OU. Studying has been like a haven or a respite for me this year so even though it is only halfway through the academic year, I’m already 80% through the module!
Although my language study time is mostly taken up by German, I have also started learning Russian on Duolingo! I have no concrete reason for this other than wanting to experiment to see if I can learn a language with a different alphabet (people have experimented with worse things at uni 😀). Even though the Russian lessons are few and far between, when I do practice, I regularly achieve perfect scores and I’m getting to grips with reading the new alphabet!
So what are my linguistic hopes for 2026? Well, the first thing that I would like to do is get my third OU distinction for my final German module and leave the language department on a high. It would also be cool to go back to Germany again at some point over the years and also perhaps delve deeper into the Russian language. However, I have a few other things that are going to take precedence next year so my focus is going to be less on the linguistic side of things and more on the persoal side.
In conclusion, 2025 has been a year of big decisions. I have realised that a more streamlined path is better than trying to copy Isobel exactly! I have realised more of what I want from my academic and professional life and I have done that with a bunch of lovely, supportive people surrounding me. It is no secret that I have had better years (understatement of the century) but despite that, I feel much more relaxed about my linguistic journey, whatever shape it’s going to take… it is the journey not the destination!
dedicated to Ella Wildrige
The Non Verbal Linguist 