Learning Languages

I'm processing a lot lately and need to write about it to sort it out a little.

Lately I've had a renewed love for languages.  We have some new friends, the parents of our older friend, that only speak Cebuano, a Filipino dialect.  The Dad speaks more English than the Mom, but they both just speak a little.  He may speak a little better than he lets on, but he's very shy to speak it, and I sadly have a hard time understanding him.  I want to be able to communicate with them--so I've started trying to pick up some Cebuano.  Besides wanting to be able to communicate, I also just want them to know and feel that they are important and people care to get to know them.  Language barriers are a frustrating thing and I don't think I've ever been around people so often, that I am unable to communicate with.

All of these feelings are reminded me that in high school, I felt that I wanted to be fluent in 5 languages in my life, and the equivalent of fluent on 5 instruments.  I haven't worked on those goals, and they never really became actual goals, but I am relearning, that I have a love of languages.....and the people that speak them.  I have a desire to experience different cultures, and to help my children develop a love of people and cultures as well.  I realized yesterday that the love of languages is a gift of the spirit, a version of the gift of tongues.

I feel like it's a complication that I was just getting motivated to start teaching my family Spanish (which I need lots of refreshing on myself) and then this desire to learn Cebuano started growing.  This is my challenge often.  I kind of want to do and learn everything.  I think I just need to move forward with teaching them Spanish and refreshing and studying my own Spanish, while still learning some Cebuano.  It can be done.

I think I was raised to love Spanish.  How could I not love Spanish?  I was born in Arizona, lived in California until I was 10, and then lived in Texas until I was 19.  There was always Spanish around me.  That's a beautiful thing about our country-how much influence there is from Central and South America.  You feel that more when you go somewhere else that doesn't have that influence, like New Zealand. :)

In New Zealand most everyone speaks English.  There's English, some Maori and some Samoan.  Beautiful languages and beautiful people and heritage.

So there we have it.  I need to make a plan to start teaching Spanish to my family.  Part of my motivation is that we sponsor a little boy in Peru.  I want the kids to feel more connected to him.  We get little notes from him and his mom occasionally that they write in Spanish and that get translated to English.