Unreasonable, not Impossible

I hear you. There is one job, teaching at an international school, that is consuming all of your time and energy. When you are done, you are exhausted and still far from home; your emotional reservoir is also empty. Learning the language is another, very different, full time job. Even if you apply all of your leftover energy to the second task, you have no hope of ever accomplishing your goal of obtaining fluency. I hear you.

Still, I would maintain that the precious goal of knowing how to listen and speak, the ability to enter a different world and communicate good news heart to heart, should be listed as “unreasonably difficult” not as, “impossible”. The cost should be counted before the task is undertaken. It will cost summer and winter breaks for years. It will cost a certain awkward distance from those in your teaching team – you can not spend as many off hours with other expatriots. It will cost stress on every relationship you have as the very electronic impulse structure of your brain is re-wired. Left over energy will not be sufficient. You must be able to recharge yourself on the spot, start anew and refreshed (sometimes at three in the morning). You will be tempted to give up – especially when others praise your efforts as, “good enough”. Don’t ever settle for that, don’t ever quit, keep going and you will reach that heart to heart connection with others in the local language.

And it will be worth the cost – you will be happy with the investment you have made.