Language Learning?
So I saw those Rosetta Stone commercials on TV, and the idea of learning languages still really appeals to me, so I thought I'd look up the site. Good grief, that stuff's expensive. Still, I smartened up and knowing the internet better than as a simple medium for advertising, I went and found some customer reviews. They're not all good.
Anyway, it got me to thinking about what I want from language learning. I loved learning languages in school, especially English. I guess what really got me thinking about it was explaining the finer points of dependent clauses and adverbs to a friend today. I loved learning Japanese, even when we went there and I realized just how little clue I had about the language. I loved learning Welsh, Irish, and Scottish Gaelic in university. Those classes were awesome and I did brilliantly in them, even in the conversational testing.
So why did I hate French so much?
Well, I didn't. I loved French between the ages of 5 and 9, learning it in elementary school immersion and by correspondence at boarding school. You know why? Because a) it was fun, and b) back then, it was actually about the language like all the other courses were. Nobody in Alberta speaks French. Nobody in Alberta needs French to get a job. Nobody in Murree knew French, except the people from France. I had more French from my Kindergarten and Grade 1 immersion classes in Calgary than 99.9% of the people in Pakistan had at all. Learning it then was something I did by choice, something I did for fun. The difference between all the language learning I loved and how f--king frustrated French made me was the pressure to communicate. French in high school was something that felt forced. We had to learn it to get a good job. We had to ace it, even though the teachers were miserable at being encouraging, or we didn't get the bilingualism certificate and we'd be relegated to kitchen work forever.
I always had the feeling that the teachers were there because they were forced to be as well. Everyone needs to learn French in this city, therefore every school needs lots of French teachers, therefore they hire teachers who aren't really interested in it, who are just in it because they know it's a paycheque.
My Irish/Scottish/Welsh teachers were all the same guy. The Celtic Languages department was one guy. You think he wasn't having fun? He was there because he wanted to be.
None of the French teachers I had in any school in Ottawa were having fun. Neither was I. It was something all of us had to do, and thus, it was a pain in the ass.
All of my English teachers in Ottawa were having fun. How does that work? You know what, I bet the English as a second language teachers were having less fun. I've gotten that impression listening to some interviews. It's a job. Not discovery. French around here is like Math. It's something you need. English around here, at least on this side of the river, is an art. It's like painting. French never had any color for me in school in Ottawa. It was entirely mechanical, and that's... actually really sad. All languages should have color for me. Looking back, I'm actually kind of pissed off that the teachers I had and the system that presented the language to me managed to utterly ruin what should have been an asston of fun. If I'd had fun with French in school, I could be making gazillions as a translator right now.
Anyway, that's kind of not what I originally started this entry about.
So there I was, clicking away at the Rosetta Stone - Japanese site and thinking to myself, I don't give a crap about conversational Japanese. I have no interest whatsoever in communicating with anybody. I am a hermit. I wish to remain a hermit. I do not want to talk to anybody about anything. (This journal's existence is hypocrisy, I know.)
However, what I do want is the art. I did those years of Japanese classes, and we never even got started with the kanji lists. But I don't need to write it. I don't need to create the art. I do not need to be the communicator. I only want to be the receiver. All I want is the decoder ring that will let me see the art of others, and hear the art of others, and comprehend it all. I do not need fluency. I desire solely comprehension.
I have that with French, actually. Maybe that's why I gave up on it. I can read French newspapers and watch French TV. I can read classic French literature, although I do need a dictionary with me sometimes. I don't need any more from the language once I have that. I can order books that I want to read. I can watch movies that I want to watch. As far as I'm concerned, that language is open to me. I have the decoder ring. I can't express myself in that language effectively, heck, at all, but I don't need to. I don't even want to.
I once found a book in my parents' basement about learning Sanskrit. I don't know if I still have it, but that's exactly what I'm talking about. Nobody speaks Sanskrit. Nobody writes Sanskrit, either. It is entirely a language of reading. Of course, I was a little disillusioned with Sanskrit in particular because all of Sanskrit literature already exists, and the majority of its topics hold very little interest for me.
But a modern language? Like Japanese? Where I can open up a site like http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/ or http://www.golwg360.com and read things written today about anything at all? That has its appeal.
But I've been out of high school for a long time now. Where do I start? What level am I at? I don't need to learn the kana or the sounds associated with them anymore. I know them pretty well, still, and I'm sure with only a cursory review I'd be perfectly fine. I've lost most of the basic sentence structure, but I don't need to make the sentences, only to piece them together from what's given. I don't need to know pronounciation or formality. And sentences without subjects make me happy (sentences without objects make me headdesk *coughAtwood*), so all I need to do is... start with the kanji, and find some kids books, maybe. Or books geared towards teaching English people how to read. And sites like Nihongo o narau.
I think the wonderful thing about wanting to learn a language only to read and understand it is that you really do not need an instructor. You can't read it or hear it "wrong". You either understand it or you don't. Well, you could read it wrong, I guess, especially if you mistook one kanji for another, but I doubt that's really the kind of thing a teacher can help with. So I went to Amazon and picked out a bunch of books for my wish list, including a kanji dictionary. I might start to buy them one at a time.
So really, the only thing stopping me is just how much time I want to invest. And that... I'm really not sure about. :) If I actually decided I wanted to speak or write, I'd take a class, but until then, I can do it by myself.
Anyway, it got me to thinking about what I want from language learning. I loved learning languages in school, especially English. I guess what really got me thinking about it was explaining the finer points of dependent clauses and adverbs to a friend today. I loved learning Japanese, even when we went there and I realized just how little clue I had about the language. I loved learning Welsh, Irish, and Scottish Gaelic in university. Those classes were awesome and I did brilliantly in them, even in the conversational testing.
So why did I hate French so much?
Well, I didn't. I loved French between the ages of 5 and 9, learning it in elementary school immersion and by correspondence at boarding school. You know why? Because a) it was fun, and b) back then, it was actually about the language like all the other courses were. Nobody in Alberta speaks French. Nobody in Alberta needs French to get a job. Nobody in Murree knew French, except the people from France. I had more French from my Kindergarten and Grade 1 immersion classes in Calgary than 99.9% of the people in Pakistan had at all. Learning it then was something I did by choice, something I did for fun. The difference between all the language learning I loved and how f--king frustrated French made me was the pressure to communicate. French in high school was something that felt forced. We had to learn it to get a good job. We had to ace it, even though the teachers were miserable at being encouraging, or we didn't get the bilingualism certificate and we'd be relegated to kitchen work forever.
I always had the feeling that the teachers were there because they were forced to be as well. Everyone needs to learn French in this city, therefore every school needs lots of French teachers, therefore they hire teachers who aren't really interested in it, who are just in it because they know it's a paycheque.
My Irish/Scottish/Welsh teachers were all the same guy. The Celtic Languages department was one guy. You think he wasn't having fun? He was there because he wanted to be.
None of the French teachers I had in any school in Ottawa were having fun. Neither was I. It was something all of us had to do, and thus, it was a pain in the ass.
All of my English teachers in Ottawa were having fun. How does that work? You know what, I bet the English as a second language teachers were having less fun. I've gotten that impression listening to some interviews. It's a job. Not discovery. French around here is like Math. It's something you need. English around here, at least on this side of the river, is an art. It's like painting. French never had any color for me in school in Ottawa. It was entirely mechanical, and that's... actually really sad. All languages should have color for me. Looking back, I'm actually kind of pissed off that the teachers I had and the system that presented the language to me managed to utterly ruin what should have been an asston of fun. If I'd had fun with French in school, I could be making gazillions as a translator right now.
Anyway, that's kind of not what I originally started this entry about.
So there I was, clicking away at the Rosetta Stone - Japanese site and thinking to myself, I don't give a crap about conversational Japanese. I have no interest whatsoever in communicating with anybody. I am a hermit. I wish to remain a hermit. I do not want to talk to anybody about anything. (This journal's existence is hypocrisy, I know.)
However, what I do want is the art. I did those years of Japanese classes, and we never even got started with the kanji lists. But I don't need to write it. I don't need to create the art. I do not need to be the communicator. I only want to be the receiver. All I want is the decoder ring that will let me see the art of others, and hear the art of others, and comprehend it all. I do not need fluency. I desire solely comprehension.
I have that with French, actually. Maybe that's why I gave up on it. I can read French newspapers and watch French TV. I can read classic French literature, although I do need a dictionary with me sometimes. I don't need any more from the language once I have that. I can order books that I want to read. I can watch movies that I want to watch. As far as I'm concerned, that language is open to me. I have the decoder ring. I can't express myself in that language effectively, heck, at all, but I don't need to. I don't even want to.
I once found a book in my parents' basement about learning Sanskrit. I don't know if I still have it, but that's exactly what I'm talking about. Nobody speaks Sanskrit. Nobody writes Sanskrit, either. It is entirely a language of reading. Of course, I was a little disillusioned with Sanskrit in particular because all of Sanskrit literature already exists, and the majority of its topics hold very little interest for me.
But a modern language? Like Japanese? Where I can open up a site like http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/ or http://www.golwg360.com and read things written today about anything at all? That has its appeal.
But I've been out of high school for a long time now. Where do I start? What level am I at? I don't need to learn the kana or the sounds associated with them anymore. I know them pretty well, still, and I'm sure with only a cursory review I'd be perfectly fine. I've lost most of the basic sentence structure, but I don't need to make the sentences, only to piece them together from what's given. I don't need to know pronounciation or formality. And sentences without subjects make me happy (sentences without objects make me headdesk *coughAtwood*), so all I need to do is... start with the kanji, and find some kids books, maybe. Or books geared towards teaching English people how to read. And sites like Nihongo o narau.
I think the wonderful thing about wanting to learn a language only to read and understand it is that you really do not need an instructor. You can't read it or hear it "wrong". You either understand it or you don't. Well, you could read it wrong, I guess, especially if you mistook one kanji for another, but I doubt that's really the kind of thing a teacher can help with. So I went to Amazon and picked out a bunch of books for my wish list, including a kanji dictionary. I might start to buy them one at a time.
So really, the only thing stopping me is just how much time I want to invest. And that... I'm really not sure about. :) If I actually decided I wanted to speak or write, I'd take a class, but until then, I can do it by myself.