By Camden Crook, Staff Writer
You’re sitting in Spanish class, struggling to get through the ominous conjugations. As you’re zoning out, you catch a bit of the conversation next to you. The words are unfamiliar, more unfamiliar than Spanish. As you listen more, you realize it’s Russian being spoken, by the quiet girl up front.
Freshman Paulina Goping is one of the few multilingual students at First Flight. She and her older sister Karina grew up speaking both English and Russian.
“Russian was my first language as a baby because that’s all my mom spoke but it quickly became English because that’s what everyone spoke at preschool,” Paulina said.
While the Goping sisters have grown up in the United States, they enjoy visiting Russia to see family. Unlike most American tourists, they are able to communicate with the locals.
“It’s really cool to communicate with a bunch of different people you wouldn’t get to talk to if you didn’t know their language,” Paulina said.
The Goping sisters are not the only students at First Flight who have experienced the benefits of being multilingual while traveling.
“Speaking more than one language makes traveling easier and it’s kind of a cool thing to show off when you’re talking to other people,” freshman Colin Tran said.
Tran is working on becoming trilingual. He’s fluent in both English and Vietnamese and is learning Spanish. When it comes to learning a new language, Tran says:
“Surround yourself with people that can speak the language you’re learning. Really just immerse yourself in it.”
Sophomore Dominic Marino has experienced firsthand what it’s like to immerse oneself in a different language and culture. When he was 7 years old, his family moved to France where he was forced to overcome major cultural and language barriers.
“I went to an all-French school and I barely knew how to speak French. Teachers aren’t afraid to call you stupid there. My first grade teacher, he was the worst. He called me stupid and I think I cried,” Marino said with a laugh.
Learning a new language is no easy task, it takes hard work and determination. However, despite the challenges they’ve faced, the Goping sisters, Tran and Marino all agree that in the end, it’s more than worth it.
“Speaking more than one language is just a good life skill to have. It allows you to talk to different people and it teaches you so much about different cultures,” Marino said.
Senior Camden Crook can be reached at crookca0109@daretolearn.org.
