Reflection Paper # 1
I was born in Afghanistan and raised in other countries, like, Pakistan, and American. All through, my life I have been struggling on learning new languages, and understanding new cultures. The first language, besides my native language “Farsi” I learned was Pashtu, which is also a national language in Afghanistan. Learning Pashto was not very hard, since I had always listened to the people around me, and heard it on TVs, Radios, and etc. Then I started learning Arabic when I was in elementary school. Arabic is widely thought in public and private schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan because everyone needs to learn it, in order to understand and read Quran.
As a language learner I found Pashtu, and Arabic very interesting because they share the same alphabet and some common words. Arabic was a bit confusing because it has a very complicated grammar, especially when it comes to the usage of masculine and feminine words in sentences. The thing I did not like about learning these two languages at the same time were the confusion on the usage of some words that were the same in both languages but had different usages in sentences. I was still struggling in learning Arabic that, all schools started teaching English as a mandatory language. I started learning English when I was in High school, and as a high school student, learning a new language was not only hard, but also full of challenges and competitions.
Learning a new language has never been easy for me, but I found it always interesting. As far as my past experience with learning a new language, I really enjoy and like to learn new things and learn more about different cultures. Beside these languages that I already know, I always wanted to learn Urdu which is spoken in Pakistan, India, Kashmir and some other South Asian countries.
The ways I learned these languages involves a lot of practice and having conversation with the people who can only speak them. After practicing for so many years, I found that when I learn a new language I don’t learn it by reading books, articles, and/or memorization. But I learn it more when I listen to other people, and then practice speaking with someone.
Even though, I learn more by speaking and practicing with someone else, I would also like to practice reading and writing on my own. This way I would be able to be self-dependent and learn more things about the language and the culture. I am also planning on reading some literature books on Urdu poetry, and I am sure by the end of this semester I will be able to understand a lot more then what I expect.
In order to know what learning style or activities suites me best, I have to practice different ways and techniques and find the best one. Because it has been awhile that I have stopped learning a new language, I feel like it is going to be a bit more challenging. However, I will try every possible way to reach my goal. I do not only want to learn the language, but the importance of this language in the countries where Urdu is spoken, the culture, the people, the literature, and how people like and perceive this language in other countries. I also would like to know about the history of this language and find the similarities and differences with the languages I already know.
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