Native Speaker and Foreign Writer? A story of my rejected language.
English

Native Speaker and Foreign Writer? A story of my rejected language.

by

language learning
lifestyle
daily life

Hello everyone!

I must confess this is my first time Journaling so I'm not quite sure how this is going to come out. Some time ago I tried to keep a journal on a notebook but I never knew what to write about - It was kind of an uninspired period of my life - however, I feel more motivated lately to write. Also, I think this place is awesome because we can help each other a lot and that is absolutely wonderful.

Currently, I'm studying in Chile to become an English Teacher so I'm always trying to improve my English skills. I have discovered that language learning is one of my greatest passions so I also started learning French, sadly I haven't had enough time to keep up with it so I basically just know how to greet someone, introduce myself and the word for cheese (very important, it's Fromage btw). The third language I'm interested in is German which is kind of strange because I speak it fluently but the thing is, unfortunately, I can't say the same about my writing skills.

I think sharing part of my story could be useful to someone and also I would like to know if someone lived something similar.

When I was a little girl I used to live in Germany, I even went to Kindergarten there but around the age of 6 my parents decided to move to Chile. I had learned both languages as a baby so Spanish wasn't a problem. Nevertheless, I encountered a problem that aroused from the curiosity of others and it was that they were always asking me to translate random words or, just asking me to speak and when I asked about what, the answer usually was "I don't know" or "whatever you want". I think for a 6-year-old girl that is kind of stressful and even traumatic, especially if your mother at home insists saying you should teach the other children. As a kid I rejected my German language because of that and though I kept talking in German with my father I'd always avoided books in German and preferred to speak Spanish with bilingual people. Therefore, nowadays although I can speak German fluently and even have a native pronunciation, my writing skills are very poor and my reading skills quite average compared to my Spanish and English. Can you believe I'm even more comfortable writing and reading in English than in German?

Nowadays, I'm trying to boost also my German skills but sometimes I still feel that kind of feeling that I had as a kid... has anyone lived or felt something similar?

I would really like to know from your experiences and really appreciate the feedback!!

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