On ''Barriers'' by Rolando Niella
When I started to read I didn't know where Niella wanted to go with his description of learning to play tennis. What got my attention was his comparison from learning tennis and a new language. He says his problem is not learning tennis now but ''daily conversation with people […] I am a foreign student, and in playing tennis as in speaking English, I am still in the learning process.'' I was a foreign student before in Canada and am now in Korea. Before I was learning English and now I am learning Korean. Luckily I don't clearly remember my times learning English and struggling like Niella did. When I came to Canada I was relieved and astonished on how much I could already understand and that talking wasn't that hard. But it did took me a few days to get into the language. Especially understanding my host mother who had a strong Korean accent in her talking. Now with learning Korean and with any other subject I had that wasn't easy for me I can relate to Niella. Actally, I used the words ''forget it'' so many times before. Not to someone I was trying to explain something to but to the person trying to explain to me. I stopped trying to understand because it was frustrating seeing myself and the other person struggle. Trying to communicate but not getting anything out of it, just the stress and anger of not understanding, not knowing the right words. It is hard to learn anything new and there will always be points where we just want to give up because we feel it's too hard.
Like Niella said in the end, ''[…] in the long run there will be a reward […]''. I strongly believe so as well. I experienced getting a reward a few times before and I must always remind myself again, when I feel like giving up.
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