Learning a foreign language is not just about being able to speak it, but to understand and immerse in their culture and world.
It feels surreal to go back to memory alley of the day when I joined my first lesson in Chinese in Beijing back in the Nineties together with some friends. Barely into our teenage, we were free and taking on the first steps towards adulthood, impression of the city was immense, and beautiful. Although we could not understand a word initially, the unspoilt version of the city back then was the China people can hardly see these days. I mean not just in terms of buildings, infrastructure, developments and so forth, but the people, their smiles, friendliness, curiosity felt genuine, uncorrupted and humane. Through gestures and noddings we hardly got by, but were enjoying the hospitality and looking at the local life from up close without any filter or pre conception. So every day was adventure unknown.
As I started to pick up the language and be able to make simple conversations, the world started to slowly open up, and started to reveal China that the world talks about, the culture, people, music, ancient palaces, alleys, food markets, Tian An Men, all the monuments and objects suddenly started to resonate with their true identity, flavour and history. You basically are no longer just observing from touristy eyes, but from inside, with connections starting to form as you understand the characters, history and meanings in their names. Its like being in the Pyramids in Egypt and suddenly starting to understand those cryptic letters and characters of the Pharaohs. Its suddenly a dawn slowly opening to lights and wow moments. It all paid off when we went to the White Pagoda built by a Nepalese architect and could read the characters telling the story of the artist, Araniko, or A-ni-ke, as the Chinese call him. We were so proud of the fellow Nepalese enshrined in the Middle Kingdom(中国). It was no more just a visit to a popular site, it was witnessing and tracing back the routes of your ancestors, someone from your own land and culture making a mark in a faraway land.
As I look back, as my language started to grow more fluent and confident, as the interaction grew with the local people so did my appreciation of the local culture, people, history, architecture and traditions. The more you interact, the more you realize their world, their point of view. You also start to see the similarities with your own culture, language, folklore and even the connection between their legends and travellers back to your own. You will start to see the mutual influence of cultures, the perception of the worlds other than your own and how the locals internalize it all, from their eyes and senses. It opens up and unlocks the understanding you never imagined. As you start to understand their poems, songs, stories, artists, writers, legends, Gods, you start to realize how vast, deep and rich their past is.
While travel is an entry to the new worlds, language is an insight that lets you slowly grasp the other side, the true nature and beauty of where you are and what you are observing. Language opens up the worlds for you that you never could realize existed and see for yourself that all human cultures are essentially built with similar core ingredients, needs and evolutions. You will slowly start to see a lot of your own world in theirs, the subtle differences, and a lot of their world in yours.
Ravi Tandukar 