I tend to be very ambitious when setting goals for myself. Especially in recent years I’ve adopted a ‘shoot for the moon’ mentality when writing down my dreams. In the word of an Emmett Smith biography I read in grade school, “Goals are just dreams until you write them down.”
Here are a few goals I would like to accomplish within a the next few years in my life:
– Complete a master’s degree in Spanish
-Complete a Ph.D in Linguistics
-Be fluent in 6 different languages in 6 years.
-Publish a novel within the next 3 years.
This is the first step in becoming a linguist. I want to master my native tongue at the level of an academic in order to better communicate with other Latinos, have better marketability in the job market and for personal peace of mind. I’ve always wanted to be fluent in Spanish and have made leaps and bounds in learning the language as an undergrad. I would like to eventually travel to Latin America when my Spanish skills are developed enough to get around by myself. This will open the door to my next two goals. I would like to enroll in a New York City based college or university by the Fall of 2014 for an M.A. in Spanish.
-Complete a Ph. D in Linguistics.
I’ve always dreamed of speaking mulitple languages, and using this knowledge to travel the world. I figured there’s no better way to study language than the field of linguistics. I see it like this: I’m a musician and in order to learn how to play any instrument, one must have a working knowledge of music theory. Linguistics is the music theory of language. This goal may take a while to complete but rest assured it will happen eventually.
-Be fluent in 6 languages in 6 years.
Although it may sound very challenging on paper, this goal will work hand in hand with the first two. I’ve picked up different languages while studying abroad very fast and have learned that full blown immersion is the best way to learn a language. I want to be able to speak, write, read and understand Spanish, French, Japanese, Cantonese, and Arabic apart from already knowing English. With any of those three languages mastered, I could land a job translating, pehaps even for the U.N. That would be amazing. I figured I have 6 years and change to master 5 languages, 2 of which I have studied before and one (Spanish) I already know pretty well. My goal is to be fluent in all of these by the time I’m 30.
-Publish a novel within the next 3 years.
My lifelong goal has been to become a published author. Techinically I have many published works already in the field of journalism, but I would like to take my authorship a step further into the realms of fiction and non-fiction. I would love to write any and every kind of novel, and already have a few solid ideas and short stories to build on. Although many may say print is dead, that is not the case at all for the written word itself. The way I see it, like many industries the publishing industry is being changed by recent technological progress we have acheived as a society and will continue to grow albeit in a slightly different avenue from that of the traditional. Whether it’s in print or if it’s on a Nook or Kindle, my goal is to become a bestselling author at some point in my life.
Hopefully one day I’ll look back at this post and reminisce about my journey toward accomplishing all of these. I guess until then, I’ll have to take it step by step and hope, and work for the best outcome. Peace -RSM
Rubén Sebastián Muñiz | ∞ 