Learning a Language. Just Because.

While taking three courses this term is doing wonders in helping me recuperate after burning out last term, I’m beginning to itch for more.

Now, weekday summer courses and distance education courses don’t really fit in with my plans for this year, and I was wondering what I could possibly entertain my brain with over the summer when I hit upon UBC’s Continuing Education language courses. Bingo! They have 17 languages for me to choose from and best of all, none of them are for credit. Try as I might not to make grades the focus of my academic career, it’s pretty hard not to worry at all when midterms, papers and finals roll around. A non-credit course will let me learn something new, just for fun, and without any stress. Can we say “deal”?

Learning a new language just for fun. Haha, I’m excited just thinking about it.

People are always learning languages because they’re useful, because of globalization, et cetera. Me too. I learned English by default (useful move on my parents’ part, it being the international language of communication and all), and I’m currently working on my Chinese because I’m conditioned to feel I should, being Chinese and all. I took French for four years in secondary school because I thought it was more useful than Spanish or German (my other options), being Canadian and all. Not that I’d lived in Canada at any point that I could remember back then — nor can I remember any of my French. Oh, wasted years.

So this is the first time that I’m going to be learning a language just for the heck of it. It’s got nothing to do with my cultural identity, I don’t know anyone who speaks the language (but I will!!), I’ve never been to the country, I can’t foresee how this is going to be of any practical use to me in the future — and I am completely and utterly pumped for it.