I was born and raised in India. Growing up in the state of Gujarat, the first language I learned was Gujarati. Later, I went to an English medium school where I studied in English. Hindi is the national language of India and, since I was raised in India, I am more familiar with Hindi than other beginners are. I can watch Indian movies and understand at least eighty percent of the material. My goal for this semester is being able to read, write, and speak proficiently. As of now, I am aiming to reach the elementary level of Hindi.
I am both an auditory and a visual leaner. I prefer lectures because I learn from listening to others. I take notes when I listen so I have something to look back at. I study for tests using my written notes. I write in a colloquial language to make the notes more interesting. Using informal language helps me study easier when I have to go back and learn the material for a test. I also take informal notes when I have to read articles or read stories in that language. Informal notes that help me concentrate when I have to refer to the reading again. When I am learning a new language and encounter words that I have a hard time remembering, I try to find the similar sounding words in Gujarati. This technic helps me broaden my vocabulary in the language I am learning. For example, diez in Spanish became dus in Gujarati. I like to save all my notes from the classes I take; this is especially true with languages. I like to look through my notes every once in a while to make sure I don’t forget the language.
When I was India, I started learning Hindi in school. I took classes for approximately two years. I learned the alphabet and the very basics of the language at an elementary level. However, when I moved to the United States, at the age of eleven, I slowly started losing all the Hindi I had learned. I did not have any notes and, at that point, my attention shifted towards bettering my English instead. Over the next few years, I lost all the elementary Hindi I had learned in school. I do not want to repeat this again and, therefore, I will be taking good notes to keep with me for years to come to ensure I don’t forget the language again.
Throughout high school, I took Spanish. After coming to college, I took the intermediate level of Spanish to satisfy my language requirement. Whenever I have questions for the teacher/professor, I always prefer staying after class and talking to them one on one. I learn more from one on one interaction than class room surroundings. According to the FIRE Model, I am an evaluative learning. When I study, I prefer to study in comfortable surroundings rather than sitting at a table and a chair. I love talking to people and hearing about their experiences in a particular country. I like to learn from people’s experiences. I hope to learn more about Indian culture from my language partner.
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