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My gap year has been crucial to a deeper understanding of my country and its culture


muskanshrestha 3 / 5  
Nov 5, 2017   #1
Any suggestions are welcome :)

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

A Language Barrier



My visits to my grandmother during the summers consisted mainly of me sitting on a hard wooden bench as she would chatter away excitedly in Newari, our ethnic language. For an hour or two, I would sit there, smile, and nod along, unable to comprehend most of what she was saying, because despite belonging to the Newar ethnic group, I did not speak our language.

I spoke Nepali at home, English, and Hindi at school, and I even started to learn Spanish at some point. I was adept at swiftly moving between these languages, navigating multiple cultures and gaining access to the worlds that each of the languages opened up. I was able to engage with meanings that transcend simple definitions and play with the subtleties that only come with intimately knowing a language--from reading books to bargaining at the local market to sharing jokes with friends.

Most of the elders in my family spoke Newari, including my parents, but despite hearing it all around me, for some reason, it was a language I never learned. During the summer of my gap year, I began to feel curious about why this was the case. It seemed to me that for the younger generations, Newari as a medium of communication was becoming increasingly rare. I quickly learned that parents are hesitant to teach their children Newari because they do not think it will prove to be useful in the long run--few communities speak Newari in a small geographic area--and because of globalization, parents would rather teach kids English as that would give greater access to education and employment prospects. Parents also do not want their children to develop a Newari accent. Knowing this, it did not come as a surprise to me that Newari has been labeled an endangered language by UNESCO.

Like many others, I had hoped to gain new experiences by traveling or volunteering during my gap year, but I came to realize that I did not have to go far to find this -- the opportunity to learn Newari was right at home.

However, this was not as straightforward as it first appeared. The main challenge with learning Newari was that I did not have a formal teacher, nor someone to break down the grammatical structure of the language. The Newari script has become almost obsolete, and there are very few people left who can read and write in it. Given that Newari is for the most part an oral language, its phonetics cannot be expressed accurately by any other script. To learn, I was solely dependent on listening in on conversations between family members and a few online resources. I had to listen attentively and observe more carefully than in any other language. Slowly, I started to gain familiarity with the sounds, and the sounds themselves started to gain meaning. I realized that this process was not only opening me up to a new language but a completely new form of learning as well.

Cultures and traditions are established over time, and so are languages. When a language dies, so does the importance and meaning of the traditions and works of art and literature. Moving away from indigenous languages and traditions in order to assimilate with the dominant culture leads to cultural loss and dilution. The Newars may be a minority, but our culture is rich. I no longer want to be an exemplification of why my language is endangered.

My gap year has been crucial to a deeper understanding of my country and its culture. I have spent these months traveling to different parts of Nepal, visiting historical sites, and trying to immerse myself in Newar culture. While I am not yet fluent in Newari, I can now proudly say that I can follow most of my conversations with my grandmother!
phyllis 2 / 4  
Nov 5, 2017   #2
It seems that you know exactly what you want to do and understand the situation fully. Therefore, you develop a proper way to achieve your goal. I guess that you are majored or interested in language and culture. What you have done is meaningful and cool since the problems you are addressing exist all around the world. I believe that you will make great personal growth through this work. The secret to happiness is to keep setting new challenges.
Holt  Educational Consultant - / 14,767 4770  
Nov 6, 2017   #3
Muskan, this is a highly enlightening essay. You have shown the proper development of your interest in the Newari language, its connection to your family, your background as a person, and why this realization is important to you. However, you should have a stronger reason that just a curiosity about the language. The question should be one that connects to the person you are today. What sparked that interest in the language? You did not really need to understand your grandmother, and you did not need the language at school. So why? Aside from the UNESCO declaration about the language, what was the pivotal question that sparked the realization that you need to learn about and speak Niwari? I read textbook responses to those questions in the essay. I want to read about the personal journey that you went on in order to come to this realization. What happened during the gap year that helped you realize the importance of learning a mother tongue when one does not speak it? How did you feel when you found out the language is dying? Have you done anything to help promote the language aside from learning the language on a personal basis? The effect of the realization is not really clear in the essay. This essay has the potential to be highly effective as a realization instrument. It just needs to be more specific about certain aspects, and less textbook in most, in order to achieve that.


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