While I would love to talk about my strengths, today I’m choosing to talk about my weaknesses. I’m learning German, and as I write this, I can proudly say that I can speak it fairly good at this point. Of course, I make a lot of grammer mistakes and use English words to fill gaps in my German vocabulary, but I still feel very good about where I am right now. Learning a language feels like a wild experience—the struggle is real. By the end of the blog hopefully you will know why!

This blog stems from some random thoughts I had during a train ride, which I noted down. Learning German, especially the challenges that come with it, reminds me of my school days. One of my painful memories from that time is having to learn different languages, especially Sanskrit. I’m not sure if it’s an obligatory subject in all schools, but I studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya, a school well known for its quality and reputation in India. Despite my complaint about it, I feel proud that I can read, write, and even speak it to some extent. But oh dear, was it not a pain to learn!

I remember Sanskrit being a compulsory subject until grade 8, and I was so happy when I no longer had to study or prepare for Sanskrit exams after passing my 8th-grade finals.

My entire school history reveals a lot about my struggles with languages. After 8th grade, I no longer had to study Sanskrit, but I still had two language subjects: English and Hindi. If you look at any of my report cards, you’ll see that while I was scoring 100% in Maths and Science, my lowest grades were always in English and Hindi. Until 10th grade, English and Hindi were mandatory, and I remember getting a 10 CGPA in Maths, Science but the subjects that dragged me down were English and Hindi, with 9.8 CGPA each. While adult me laughs about losing just a few points—9.8 is still pretty good—young me was devastated for not getting a perfect score. Hugs to my younger self!!

And let’s not forget, Hindi is my mother tongue, yet somehow I always struggled with languages during exams.

They say bilinguals find it easier to learn a new language. It hasn’t felt any easier for me. I am fluent in English, Hindi, two local Indian dialects, I can read and write Sanskrit, and I can speak German at a B1 level. That makes four languages or six if you count the dialects. But still, it’s not easy for me.

I’m starting to realize that perhaps it’s because I don’t really enjoy learning languages (excluding programming languages, of course!). But regardless, I think learning German has become very personal to me at this point. I’m really looking forward to speaking it fluently someday! Maybe one day I’ll even write a blog in German. I can already tell that will be an amazing day!