Second time around for language training
If asked for an ideal employment situation, I would offer up the case where personal interest and professional opportunity run on parallel tracks. Preferably, close together. My own history has stayed on this course, for the better part of a lifetime.
Without getting specific (as in, having to change names to protect the innocent), I decided at an age when I still had control over my choices, to learn a second language. Lots of folk do it. And, once the roots had set on my effort, the opportunity to be employed in the field came up. I did what I wanted to do, and put in the next fourteen summers with my interest and my income tied to the same pony. Close to half of my working career, actually. This before changing over to the other profession, parenting, where second language acquisition came as part of the package.
Now, I’m working on another second language. Yes, you can have more than one, without erasing another. This time around, I want to improve my skills in Irish (or Gaelic). Happily, the Internet provides more material than I have time to use, so I’ve had to choose according to my personal interest and professional opportunity. Do you see a common theme here?
Music is an excellent learning tool, and my admiration grows for the efforts of the many students in Ireland who embark on the path offered by Coláiste Lurgan. Strong parallels with my own time in a “second language program”. In particular, the genius of the musical group Seo Linn leaves me breathless!
