The beauty of language

Sitting in intensive French lessons has me thinking a lot about learning to swim, because in both areas, I feel very heavy. It seems that diving into language is like learning to swim, according to those I've talked to, both require immersion, practice, training, and, most importantly, patience.

A friend told me that the most important thing about learning to swim is to remember not to fight the water. I think the same is true with language. You can't fight it, you have to accept it. Once you've done that and you let it wash over you, you can appreciate it's beauty, flavor and nuance. And only then can you swim, and swim well.