Even the longest journey must begin where you stand.

Every adventure has a start. Without one, the journey does not exist. I thought it appropriate, before I began this particular blog journey, to share with you a little about myself and how I came to be here.

From reading the title of this blog, you can see that my passion is languages. Passion is quite the understatement. Honestly, languages are an extension of my soul. Every moment I am awake, I am seeking language in all its forms, written, spoken, signed, sung, recited; the list goes on. My favorite form of language is the song. The beautiful marriage between language and music can send me into rising fits of frenzy or plunge me into the darkest depths. To me, although the music certainly helps, it is the words in a particular song that drive these emotions.

In fact, it was music and the words they express that eventually led me to pursue Linguistics. Growing up in the age of the Internet, I was lucky to have the world at my fingertips. Not enjoying the music on the radio, I began at an early age seeking out music on my own. What I found blew my mind. I found music, not only from America, but also from everywhere in the world. It was the first time in my life that I discovered that music does not necessarily have to be in English. Music belongs to all speakers regardless of what they speak.

I was hooked. I could not get enough of the beauty, but at the same time I suffered. I had no idea what was being said in half the songs I listened to! This was what started my frantic attempts as a child at trying in vain to learn every language I came across. I wanted to read what the artist was trying to say on his or her own terms. A translation could only take me so far. To get to the true essence of the words, I had to experience it from its source.

Eventually I found myself at MSU’s Linguistics program. With a thirst to learn new languages I set out towards succeeding during my first semester. However, as I took courses in general Linguistics I found that I also had an interest in the components of a language. What made up a language and how others use it also has its own form of splendor outside of the language itself.

This leads me to this class, Language and Mobile Communication. Again, as a woman of the Digital Age, I have used mobile communication in all phases of my life. I use it to my advantage in order to communicate and learn. Interestingly it was technology that started my journey and as you read this blog, it is technology that is still my ever-valuable companion. The use of my Ipad, given to me as a student in this course, portably connects me to the beautiful songs that still spark the language nerd in me and at the same time it helps me learn even more about new and exciting aspects of Linguistics.

I hope you enjoy reading about my language and technology adventure just as much as I know I will enjoy taking it.

 Extra: Korean is a language that I hope to master one day. Until then, these are some of the beautiful songs that fuel my learning of this language. I hope they inspire you to learn a language as well. Enjoy!

Clazziquai - Choom (Translation: Dance)

Unfortunately I could not find a translation of this song. It seems to have disappeared off the internet since the last time I checked. Nonetheless it is still quite nice to listen to. Along with a Korean version they also made an English version. If you're interested just Youtube "Clazziquai - Dance English Version"

Epik High - Pieces of You

Quite possibly my favorite Korean group of all time. This group holds a special place in my heart. They also do English songs.