Because this is my last language journal ever, it has made me reflective on what this program means to me and how much that has changed since I began it. I originally began SDLC because I wanted to be able to communicate with a research collaborator that only spoke Portuguese and Spanish. I wanted to be able to create a foundation in Portuguese similar to what I had in Spanish. I was just talking with Leticia the other day about being connected with her and having no idea what to expect or how we would work together to create a learning environment that was conducive to both us. I remember Michael talking about how when it is two students working together it can truly become an exchange of language learning that is mutually beneficial. I had no grasp of what that meant or how it would manifest, but I look back and see how much Leticia and I have unknowingly grown toward that aim of this program. My senior year would have been wildly different without her and Portuguese in it. I truly think it has helped me grow so much as a learner, a cross-cultural communicator, and someone who understands more about the world. I came into this program equipped with my practical reasoning for why I needed it and came away with so much more. My mind quite frankly being blown by the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, so many delicious brigadeiros (a Brazilian desert made from condensed milk, chocolate, and sprinkles) and an amazing dinner with good Portuguese friends (thank you Michael!!), as well as so many good memories of laughing until we cried with Leticia over things that just did not translate well from Portuguese to English.
Reflecting on SDLC is also making me look forward to my next year. I recently received a fellowship for a year-long internship in Laos. The first two months of the program are completely dedicated to language learning to make it a truly immersive program. I hadn’t thought much about it before joining the SDLC program, but if I continue to do international work, language learning is going to be a constant challenge that I will have to navigate and be able to adapt to. It is so amazing that I was able to be a part of this program not only for the Portuguese skills I have built, but also for the general language learning skills I have accumulated. They are tools that I know I will be using for the foreseeable future, which is encouraging!
I am also traveling to Kenya for a grant I was awarded before I travel to Laos. However, for Kenya, I only know very basic Swahili and likely will be relying on my minimal skills and translators. It will involve a lot of on-the-fly language learning that I think this program has prepared me for. I know how to extract necessary vocabulary to learn and how to be resourceful with just a few sentence structures I know in a new language. I am excited for all of these new experiences and my ability to bring SDLC with me through all of them!
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