When given the opportunity, I have always tried my best to learn a new language. Growing up I had a lot of Indian friends who spoke Hindi. I watched a lot of Bollywood movies and overheard a lot of their conversations with their families, all which facilitated my understanding of Hindi. I also read the Quran when I was younger, allowing me to grasp the Arabic letters. In middle school, I began taking Spanish classes, and after seven years of taking Spanish classes, I can successfully communicate with and understand Spanish speakers. Although I enjoyed learning all the languages, I have always had difficulties speaking the languages. I believe that speaking a language really allows one to fully understand it, but it has always been difficult for me. From the different experiences, I enjoyed how much diversity and culture there are in each language. It was interesting being able to see how language has great control over the daily lives of people. Different languages can help express different desires and feelings. Every word has its own tone and gesture in each language. I have always been interested in learning different languages because it is a unique way we, as humans, can communicate with one another. One of the main aspects that differentiate us from the rest of the animal kingdom is our ability to form strong bonds through our unique way of communication. For these reasons, I desire to learn even more. I feel very disappointed not being able to speak Bengali, even though both my parents are from Bangladesh, so I hope to successfully grasp the basics of the language this semester.
From the FIRE model, I can relate to the insightful category, specifically 2 and 3. A lot of my successful studying sessions are due to planning out my work beforehand. I am also very organized, and I need to ensure that I have organized all my work before beginning. In addition, I relate to the evaluative category, specifically 1 and 5. I learn the best by having a comfortable environment in which everyone can have a discussion and share ideas. After testing my learning style I have learned that I am a highly visual learner. I learn the best by reading and seeing pictures. Through the multiple intelligence tests, I have learned that my three intelligences are self, social, and nature. I thought it was interesting how my score for self and social was equal. I personally think my intrapersonal intelligence is higher than my interpersonal intelligence. Although I enjoy working in groups, I highly value the time I have to reflect on my ideas and work on my own.
From personally evaluating all the results, I believe that I will learn best through watching movies and videos, making flashcards, and talking to my learning partner and other Bangladeshis. Although I think these techniques and activities would benefit me the most, I think I should still try to expand my learning by incorporating auditory learning techniques. I have gathered a lot of Bengali music on my Spotify account, and I am excited to transition my daily playlist to those. It may be a bit difficult since there is not a visual representation of the music, but I hope this new technique will still benefit me in reaching my goal.
Overall, I am very excited for my journey. In the world, there are so many different languages spoken by people. Even in a country, there can be different languages that can cause difficulties understanding one another. I am excited to learn Bengali and hopefully travel to the country many times to test out the new skills.
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