The Experience of an Encouragement

Being an Uni student who learns a certain foreign language is just always awesome. When someone ask you, “what are you studying?”. I answer simply, “German Education, Ma’am.” This question is somehow followed by a unique phrase, “wow! So you’ve ever been to Germany, then?” Hmm, “yes.”

A challenge for those who learn foreign language is that they can go to the country which they learn the language, may be for some time or even forever. Of course everyone has their own opinions and goals regarding this case, but surely most of my juniors now do have a big goal to go to Germany due to their lack of understanding about the culture. The gap between German and Indonesian culture is so far and I can relate that since I’ve been learning German for almost 3 years now.

But, what if the learner itself doesn’t have an encouragement in reaching his/her dream? I’ve talked to some of my juniors and when they meet me, they are always curious about my experiences in Europe. “Mbak, is Europe so cold, how many clothes did you wear there?” or “Mbak, you certainly missed eating rice while living there and always having breakfast with bread and cheese, didn’t you?” and many more questions!

Right now I kind of believe and pray as well that they can feel for what I’ve felt before or even more amazingly. Asking someone some default questions like those I’ve mentioned before is actually giving them motivations for themselves conscious or unconsciously. They realize that everything is possible by seeing their close friends, seniors, family or relatives or even anyone whom they know on internet perhaps. For myself, answering about how does it feel to go to the place that they’ve always been dreaming is one of the most powerful encouragement that I can give to them. Then again, it’s true that sharing is caring and sharing is amazing.