"The Mountain of Language Learning" by Mallory Slucher

Yesterday I went on a hike. Now, I am not an avid hiker by any means, but I always enjoy going out into nature and seeing what she has in store. It was beautiful, as the Moroccan countryside always is. But, about three-quarters of the way through… it was so hard. The difficulty sprung up on me, and suddenly I was running out of breath and I could feel the heaviness of my legs. I looked at the trail behind me and thought, “how did I even get here?”. Then I looked before me and saw the steep mountain ahead, heaved a sigh and put one foot in front of another until I made it to the top.  

As I have studied Arabic, I’ve come to learn that learning a language is really similar to taking a long hike. At first it's exciting. Everything is new, and your body is getting used to the journey ahead. Then, as you walk deeper and deeper into the trail, you continue to notice and learn new things along the way. The trail has easy parts and hard parts but it is manageable. Then, you find yourself halfway up the mountain, looking up at the rest thinking, “how can I ever get to the top”. But little by little, maybe even taking a breather in between, those persistent steps get you to the top. Learning Arabic has been one of the most rewarding and difficult experiences of my undergraduate career, but I am so thankful for the little steps that have gotten me there along the way. As they say, drop by drop the ocean gets filled!

نقطة بنقطة كيحمل الواد

The trail near La Ferme Du Lac. Photo credit: Slucher, 2024.

Mallory is participant from the University of Louisville in Kentucky studying on Amideast’s Area and Arabic Language Studies Program in Rabat, Morocco.