What can you do when you learn a language? You can take on the world.
My journey learning languages:
On Monday this week I walked onto the eighth floor of the Ministry for Primary Industries, where I have been working for the past 7 months, and into a new role in the Policy and Trade Branch. I heard people having conversations in Spanish, chattering away in French and others working quietly on translations in Chinese. It was just another day in our office. If someone asked me 4 years ago where I thought I would be today, I would never have been able to guess. Languages can take you anywhere and to the most unexpected places.
My journey learning languages started at Otago University. I still remember the words of my Chinese lecturer “you need to be committed.” Learning a language is challenging, it makes you step out of your comfort zone but by doing that, you can open doors that may otherwise have stayed closed. Communication barriers are broken down, linguistically and culturally and the world becomes your oyster. At Otago I studied Chinese and Spanish, majoring in both and completed a Bachelor of Arts. It was a gruelling few years, which involved long days and late nights preparing for “character quizzes” and the endless mispronunciation of words, which at times can be frustrating. However, that is soon overcome by a great sense of accomplishment and pride.
Whether you study science, business, music or engineering, languages and cultures are present in our every day lives here in New Zealand and all over the world. Yesterday, on the Beehives website the Minister for Ethnic Communities announced a significant milestone, half a million calls to Language Line, the telephone interpreting services which offers over 44 languages (1). Opportunities for using your language skills don't only exist abroad, but here at home in New Zealand as well at local police stations and hospitals, in the court room or even when planning and coordinating a high level international delegation visit for the government.
At Otago I was able to fulfil my dreams of learning languages, I had great support from my lecturers and peers. Lectures were fun and the Department of Languages and Cultures often held events to celebrate cultural festivals or special times of the year like Mid Autumn Festival. With the Otago Student Exchange Programme you can go to any corner of the world and immerse yourself for a semester or two in a different culture and language while cross crediting your degree back to Otago like I did, I studied for one year in the bustling city of Beijing at Tsinghua University. After completing my degree at Otago, I worked in Beijing for 6 months at a Public Relations firm working with big brands such as Mars Chocolate, BMW and Mead Johnson and since returning to NZ, I started working in the government. My journey learning languages started at Otago University, and this is just the beginning.
So what can you do when you learn a language? You can take on the world. Sapere Aude. Will you dare?
Reference
(1) https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/half-million-calls-language-line