For the past few years of my life I have taken up a serious fascination with language. After learning French my mind totally opened up to a different way of thinking and it's a feeling that is indescribable. I've come to the point now where I realize that language is something that I am going to pursue for the rest of my life. I'm not just going to wake up one morning and decide that I don't want to speak French or Spanish. And the thought that I need to be forever taking classes to keep up with the languages is also crazy because these languages have become part of my daily life.
I feel a great stress lifted off of my shoulders now that I have applied to college. So I've decided that I would embark on a new goal for myself. It's not really a new goal as much as it is embracing the goals I had already set out. Language is going to be my life for the rest of my high school career. I have dreamed about being a polyglot since I was in middle school, and now that I am only a language away from being one, I decided to learn a new language. Actually, I've decided to learn two. Dutch and German are beautiful languages. They are perfectly in sync with what I have already been learning, and the similarities between the two, and with english, is incredible. I don't expect to become fluent in these languages between now and the end of the school year, but I hope to create a strong base to work and live off of after. French showed me how learning language is about personal dedication and fun. Spanish taught me how living the language works so much better than memorizing vocabulary. Spanish is easy for me because I don't have to put much effort in practicing it because my family is always speaking it. French is all about me putting myself in situations where I have to use it. Yesterday I was texting a family friend in Switzerland about my plans to travel to Europe this summer. Everyday I listen to hours of French music just because that is what is on my playlists. I even talk to customers at The Bakery, where i work, in Spanish just so that I can practice.
What does language have to do with art? In my mind, art is another language that people can understand. We use art to communicate what language cannot. Art exists because language in itself is flawed. If I say, "Hi my name is Julian" all you can get from that is my name. If I showed you one of my self portraits or a short story I wrote about myself, you are able to understand who I am through that work. There is no phrase in any language that can do that like art.
