Looking back: four years learning Swedish

Hello guys!

As I looked at my new year's resolution for 2017 and reflected about it, I thought of creating the series "Looking back". Today I'm writing about my experience learning Swedish, the ups and downs, the people I met and the things I got to experience, and just thanks to a language! As a linguist, I still cannot believe on the little importance that some people usually give to learning a language and find myself usually thinking "How can they feel that they evolve without learning a new language?" I think that a person changes completely with every language that they decide to learn. Not only because they expand their knowledge, but because their mindset, their opinions and elements regarding one's personality also change, giving them a new identity or adding something new to their personality. And that is one of the things that Swedish gave me.

One of the things that learning Swedish has given me is that it has helped me in finding and rediscovering myself. It has re brought out that adventurous side I used to have once, allowing me to go further and improve.

Another thing that Swedish has given me is experiencing new things, such as travelling solo, with my sister, hanging out with people that I've met over the internet, collaborating in projects, having my own blog or even creating new dreams. The first time I went to Sweden I was seventeen and it was the first time I travelled by myself. There might be people who were younger than me when they travelled alone for the first time, but this was a big deal for me; at least, once the plane landed in Göteborg. I also got to meet a lot of people who have helped me to learn Swedish over all these years and that I talked about in my inspiration post, especially Martin Arvebro (TheSwedishlad). In fact, by meeting him, I got to collaborate on his project, Youtube World Project. It is an amazing international project where people from every country record themselves in a typical landscape from their countries and they introduce themselves in their own languages.

These years learning Swedish have definitely been a journey. A journey that has not been easy sometimes and that I didn't know how to start at first, but that little by little, and with patience and determination it is taking form. I still remember when I decided to learn Swedish by my own and I didn't know how or where to start. Or when I used to repeat the same word all the time in order to improve my pronunciation of a certain vowel or consonant. This actually helped a lot and now I know how to focus on a particular skill and what kind of exercises work best for me.

After these reflections, I feel so grateful, impressed and that these four years have been amazing. Something definitely changed the day I decided to learn Swedish. Which are your experiences with languages and which ones are you learning? By the way, don't forget that today is 13th December, which means: Glad Lucia!

~ Love, Ana ~

Photos: by Ana Ramírez