During my undergrad, I attended a lecture for one of my French classes about the benefits of learning multiple languages and the language learning perspective of Indigenous Peoples. Unfortunately, the guest lecturer, who can’t remember his name, had so many insightful points about learning languages, but one that stuck out to me. He used the metaphor of windows to state that the more languages you learn, the more windows open and the more you can see from other perspectives. When I thought about it, I realized how true it is; languages are the windows into the millions of perspectives of the world and open up our minds to be able to see them. I have been fortunate to have three windows open with the languages I already know (French, English, and Spanish), and now, I have a fourth with Yoruba. I am still at a beginner level, so the blinds are starting to open up. Still, Taking on learning Yoruba for my free inquiry project has accelerated the development of my Yoruba knowledge. I learned the culture and language of someone I care about and even surprised him with what I learned through my research for these posts. Having all the resources and technology support I found has given me a foundation to continue my Yoruba learning journey because it is nowhere near over yet!
For the last time, the word of the day is òkun, which means ocean.
Ó daàbọ̀/see you later👋🏼
Leave a Reply