Personal Bucket List: Learn to be fluent in a foreign language

This one has always been a bit difficult for me. I have taken two “years” of Spanish but really only know enough about the language to understand bits and pieces here or there. My ability to speak Spanish is so rough that it’s practically embarrassing to attempt. It reminds me of that scene from “Inglourious Basterds” where Brad Pitt’s crew is at the movie premiere, pretending to be Italian and failing miserably.

Having said all of that, I would one day like to learn to speak Spanish, and perhaps Russian fluently. Spanish for practical reasons as Spanish is the second most common language spoken in the United States, and I have friends and relatives who speak the language well. Russian because I have always found Russian language and culture to be fascinating. I’m given to believe that Russian language is extremely hard to learn, much as I suppose English is for some, but I would like to give it a try some day.

I think in the past, one of the reasons that I found learning the language so difficult is because my ability to learn was always linked to a grade. If I didn’t pass, I couldn’t graduate. This creates a whole slew of issues in trying to learn, and I don’t want to learn simply to pass a class. I want to learn in order to effectively communicate.

That’s a cop out to be sure, but it’s how I’ve come to view it. So one of these days, I’ll probably get Rosetta Stone, and give it another try.