The saying goes: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

Like most NTU undergraduates, I had never given much thought to the pursuit of a new language. After all, being effectively bilingual was already a delicate balancing act; what more trilingualism? That would seem like a tall order.

Last year, I was introduced to a German film by a friend who felt it was one of the best in German history. That got me excited and piqued my curiosity. Das Leben der Anderen, or The Lives of Others, promptly became my daily staple on YouTube over the next few days.

It dawned on me that perhaps watching a good show without understanding the language spoken by the actors would not do justice to the film’s artistry. Yes, there may be subtitles to aid comprehension, but the nuances of the German language, such as the pauses and differentiation between formal and informal speech forms, are cultural elements that cannot be fully understood without learning the language in a classroom setting.

And so I decided to take up German as an elective. It was unchartered territory for me, as I had never before ventured beyond my comfort zone to attempt a new language. And I soon realised the importance of German as one of the world’s major languages as well as one of the most widely-spoken first languages in the European Union.

Although I’m still miles away from comprehending the complex German used in Das Leben der Anderen, I know I’ve made a small step forward. Auf Wiedersehen (Goodbye) for now!

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