Language Log 1

My entire life, my parents taught me the value of being multilingual. Learning both English and Polish simultaneously growing up, I was exposed to my Polish culture through language and different approaches to every day problems based on my culture. Simply knowing a language exposes so much about the culture behind it. For example, the Polish language uses many consonants and sounds very harsh, exposing the tough nature of the Polish people. My learning of Polish at home inspired me to learn more languages. I began speaking Spanish in first grade and continued to take it throughout my education. There are many Spanish speakers in the town that I live in, so it has been very useful in my everyday life. In addition, it has been very helpful when traveling to different countries.

For this weeks language log, I decided to write about a personal experience revolving around the importance of being multilingual. Throughout my high school career, I have taken many trips with my brothers around the world, including many Spanish-speaking countries. In February 2019, I traveled to El Paredon, Guatemala with my brother Krzysztof, a small surfers village on the western coast of the country. Since my brother knows little to no Spanish, he relies on me to do all the communicating. On the second to last day of this vacation, we decided to travel to the center of the country to visit a lake located in between three volcanoes. My brother was using Google Maps for directions. However the app brought us to many sketchy locations and rough roads. We ended up spending most of the trip driving on mud paths located within many plantations. However, arriving at one gate that led to the next plantation, a man with a shotgun approached our car. He started yelling "porque estas aqui?" at my brother and I in Spanish. He was stating that the road was private and strictly used by the government. Thankfully, I was able to communicate with the man and he respectfully told us to turn around and use a different route. If I had not been able to understand and respond to the government official yelling at us that day, I don't what would have happened. It is important to at least be familiar with a native language when traveling to a new country in order to understand and communicate when emergencies happen.

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