Hi everyone! Last month in France, it was cold and rainy. However, I was in hot and desert-y West Africa, in Senegal to be exact. The difference between 5 degrees Celsius and 45 degrees Celsius has been a difficult readjustment, to say the least. However, this is not a weather blog, it’s a language blog, so let’s talk about why I was there.

As I’ve mentioned, I am spending a year in Dijon, France, studying naturopathic medicine. As part of our studies, we took this trip to Senegal to study massage and learn a bit about traditional African medicine. Having the opportunity to go on this trip and study while traveling is definitely a big perk to studying at this school, as I would never have thought to travel to (a mostly rural part of) Senegal by myself.

However, since I am studying at a French school, with French teachers and students, and because we traveled to Senegal, a French-speaking country (of course there are also Senegalese languages like Wolof, but French is the official language), I spent the whole two weeks completely immersed in French. And wow. Let me tell you, it was intense. It was also an incredible learning experience. By virtue of having no English safety net to fall back on, I was forced to push myself even harder in French than I already have, and it truly paid off. By the end of the trip, I felt more fluent and easy in my speaking than I did when we arrived. I also learned so many new words! Because we learned two different styles of massage while we were there, we learned a lot of new terms for techniques, terms which I don’t even know the names for in English. I guess I’ll have to look those up at some point.

I’ve heard so much about how complete immersion in a language is the best way to learn quickly, and I have experienced these effects before, but this trip was a whole new level of immersion for me. Technically, while in Dijon, I am immersed in French all day long at school, except that in the evening I get to go home and talk English with my boyfriend. In Senegal, while I could make a phone call and talk in English for a few minutes, there was no going home at the end of the day, and this level of immersion and constant stimulation for my brain was very helpful (albeit very tiring). My thinking in French has become clearer, easier, and more effortless; my subconscious is more easily integrating French, meaning I have more dreams in French and more unconscious thoughts in French.

While I was busy immersing myself more fully in French, my classmates made an effort to connect with me through English in a few ways, whether that be through singing some English songs, asking me to lead them through yoga practice in English, or spending five minutes practicing their English with me. I felt so grateful for the acknowledgment in these instances that it can be very difficult to be the only non-native speaker of a language in a group full of native speakers; my classmates connecting with me a bit through my own language created a new bond between us and helped me feel more comfortable. There is an important lesson here, I think, for everyone to remember because it is likely that we all have met, or will meet, people who don’t speak our language or who are learning our language. Even if you cannot speak their language and connect with them in that way, spending time helping someone who is learning or showing them that you support them can make all the difference in that person’s journey. It’s incredibly motivating.

I’ll leave you with one last thought that’s not connected to language. Traveling through rural Senegal opened my eyes more than ever to just how lucky I am, and how lucky most of you reading this are. During this trip, our group was told a few times how lucky we all are. And that is so true. We stayed in a place that only had running water for about an hour a day, we had to buy clean water to drink, and we had to pay attention to make sure our food was safe to eat. But we were still luckier than most of the people we met, who didn’t have running water, easily affordable drinking water or safe food. Yet every person we met was incredibly kind, happy, and gracious, proving that it’s not what we have that creates happiness or even real “luck”, but what we do with it. So if you have the basic necessities to live, if you are reading this, if you have the time and resources to spend learning a new language, take a second and appreciate how lucky you are, and let that influence your outlook on life and learning.

With that, happy language learning to you!

If you’ve had the chance to do a language immersion course or trip, I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments below.

Until next time,

Shannon