Why We Struggle Learning Languages| Gabriel Wyner | TEDxNewBedford(4)🎞

I retained, maybe, 40 words,

and I came to the conclusion

that this whole language thing was not for me.

And then I made a poor decision.

I was always a science nerd.

I loved science and engineering;

I wanted to be a nuclear engineer,

focused on plasma physics

so I could make fusion reactors.

That was my thing as a kid.

But I had this hobby,

and that hobby was singing.

I sang musical theater and opera.

And as I was applying

to engineering schools for college,

I applied to one that had

a music conservatory, and I thought,

“Wouldn’t it be weird to study opera

and mechanical engineering?

Wouldn’t that be out there?”

And so I did.

One of the side effects of that

is that I needed to take language courses.

For that opera degree, I needed

German, French, and Italian.

And a French friend of mine

came to me and said,

“Hey, you know, you can get

two semesters of credit in one summer

at this school in Vermont.”