Having studied the French language for five years before college, it only seemed logical that I would continue with the language to satisfy the intercultural communication general education requirement. Last year, however, after taking a French course during my first year, I quickly noticed that I was not challenging myself. Instead of using the requirement as an opportunity to expand my global horizon, I was simply satisfying it with a language I already knew.
In order to truly reap the benefits of Emory University's language classes, I realized that I had to embrace what was hard. So, when Fall 2025 course registration arrived, I elected to push the boundaries of my comfort zone and enrolled in an elementary Mandarin class. However, as I left my first class in Mandarin, I was engulfed in a realization that I had failed to respect the true difficulty of language learning.
This new experience prompted a serious bout of self-reflection. Overwhelmed by an unfamiliarity that I had not experienced since beginning French nearly six years prior, I considered turning away from my new endeavor on multiple occasions. However, learning a vocabulary so unrelated to any language I have studied before in an entirely new writing system reminded me of how wonderfully lucky I was to even be in such a class in the first place. Never again would I be surrounded by such a multilingual community or in an academic setting that fosters such a connection through language. Emory students must approach language learning with an open and intentional mind, ready to confront the challenges it poses. In shifting our perspective in such a fashion, we can transcend the requirement, connecting on a far deeper level with language and with our community in an exceptionally active form of cultural engagement.
It is no wonder that Emory requires language study. Although our brain’s capacity to form and understand foreign sounds and grammatical systems declines sharply after we turn 10, we are uniquely poised to overcome this psychological barrier as Emory students living on a campus brimming with linguistic diversity. For Emory students who take a plethora of other time-consuming courses, it can be easy to see language classes as needlessly difficult, work-heavy and even irrelevant requirements. This perspective, while understandable, fails to account for the true purpose of learning a language. By diminishing these classes to simply barriers to graduation rather than valuable opportunities to expand our cultural understanding, many students do not give language learning the chance it deserves. If we do not understand the diverse communities in the world around us, we will be significantly disadvantaged when trying to make an impact in that world.
Taking a language class only because Emory requires it is a disservice not only to the language but also to yourself and your time in college. By offering courses in 17 non-English languages and admitting a linguistically diverse class of students, Emory is investing in a rich multilingual community both in and outside of the classroom. We should be treating language courses as a way to connect with the Emory community, while simultaneously recognizing and respecting the sensitivity and dedication required to fully engage with a language. In that, we can transform the requirement into an opportunity for self-reflection, connection and personal growth.
I have experienced the transformative process of language learning, and, although it has proved an immense challenge, it has changed my worldview immeasurably. My journey to bilingualism began in an eighth-grade French class. Excited by the opportunity to learn a new language, I fought my way through the complicated spelling and difficult pronunciation in introductory classes. As the years and classes progressed, vocabularies unfamiliar to me transitioned from gibberish to words with real meaning and consequence, and I found myself seeing the world differently.
I began to understand cultures far removed from my own. In my very first French class, I learned that “bonjour” means hello. Then, as my experience with the language developed, I applied that vocabulary in a cultural context. The greeting holds immeasurable importance in French culture, and failing to acknowledge the presence of a shopkeeper or cashier with a simple “bonjour” is extremely disrespectful. This cultural misunderstanding forms the backbone of an extremely pervasive stereotype — that the French are rude, specifically to Americans. In reality, when Americans fail to greet French shopkeepers, cashiers or hosts, they are beginning their interaction with open disrespect, which is unlikely to be met with amity. After learning French words in their cultural context, I was able to draw real connections between language and cultural norms, thereby breaking down my previously stereotype-founded beliefs and building an intimate understanding of Francophone culture only accessible through language and direct cultural interaction.
My experience with language changed my life. It changed how I view the world around me in ways nothing else ever could, catalyzed by approaching language with an open mind. So, with spring registration on the horizon, consider investing time and energy into learning a new language, perhaps even one with which you have no experience. Not because you have to, but because you can. I promise it will change your world, too.
Contact Will Carraway at will.carraway@emory.edu
