Language holds a very special place in my life. Although I was born and raised in the United States, my grandparents and most of my extended family reside in Delhi, India. When I was very young and we’d travel to India, I would often feel disconnected from my family. I always felt as though the truth was written on my forehead: “Not from here.” A major source of this discomfort and outsider feeling stemmed from the fact that I couldn’t speak Hindi. I needed to constantly rely on tugging on my mom’s sleeve for help, and reading english subtitles during all the movies.

In elementary school, after one particular summer vacation to India, I made the conscientious decision to learn Hindi. I set out to watch every Bollywood movie (it helped that I already was very fond of these films!) and told my parents to primarily speak Hindi in the house. I wanted to go back to India and feel connected to my family, regardless of the lands and oceans that separated us.

And that is exactly what I did. Becoming fluent in Hindi has been one of the most impactful decisions I have ever made. Every subsequent trip to India, every phone call to my grandmothers greatly benefitted from the breakdown of this language barrier. Knowing Hindi allowed me to speak to locals, and engage in meaningful conversations with my cousins, connecting me to both my family and culture. It opened my eyes to Indian concepts and customs that were otherwise not available to me.

Language is one of the most powerful tools we have. It has the ability to bring two individuals, with completely different backgrounds, together on the same plane. It gives us the opportunity to understand the differences between populations and cultures, instead of becoming divided because of them.

Gaining skills in Hindi and Spanish has given me the chance to interact and learn from so many different people. In Peru, my host family solely spoke in Spanish (which originally terrified me!). But because I made every effort to converse and spend time with them, we were able to establish meaningful relationships. Two years later, my host mom Cathy and I still facetime every month!