Okay, right here and now I want to extend apologies and sympathies to any student who has ever had to learn English as a second language. I've taken French and Greek so I know firsthand how difficult a foreign language can be. And that's just with a language that makes sense. The way French and Greek works is fairly normal and makes logical sense.
But English is the language that realizes you're trying to learn it, and mugs you in the middle of the night with words that can't be real and grammatical conventions that make no sense. Plus all of the exceptions to the exceptions of the rules decide to lie in wait until the day before a test andthen spring out at you with bull horns and strobe lights.
Now you're dazed and confused and blind. This is what learning English is like. This is what learning English is like just for a native speaker. My major is English and even I sometimes look at the language and go "What were these people smoking when they came up with that?" Like silent gh. In what world does that make sense? Were they just desperate for a way to win at Scrabble? Points to anyone who knows the reference.
Plus, English has the most vocabulary out of the 5000 or so languages in the world. No really, I read it in a textbook so it must be true. Besides, English is a langauge that lurks in back alleys, nabbing other languages, beating them up, and riffling through their pockets for spare vocabulary. Most of our words are no our own and often have roots in other languages. That's a lot of vocabulary to try and learn/use when the rules are like semi-solid quicksand.
You know what else is very very frustrating when learning a language? When you switch teachers and the dialect unexpectedly changes. All the careful pronunciation I learned for Greek last year (long O versus short Ah, Eh vs Long A, all the dipthongs, rough or smooth breathing) my new Greek teacher no longer uses. Omicron and omega sound the same, there is no rough or smooth breathing, most of the dipthongs sound like ee.
It's madness trying to figure out exactly what she's saying, especially, since she asks us questions in Greek and we have practically no vocabulary from this past year. We learned all the grammar, yes, but not so much emphasis on the vocab. Plus I've forgotten a lot of what we learned and need a crash course in the first year. But that can't happen with all the other stuff I have to do, so we'll just muddle through and hope for the best. On the plus side, I like Diane.
Also (and this may just be me) but I've noticed that when I get stuck in Greek, but I remember the word in French, that's what I revert to. Like, if I forget the word for "the" I used "le" (sometimes la, but usually le). But only the words I've forgotten switch to French, not all of them. Also, Greek and French are in no way similar so I can't even blame my craziness on that.
So, what are your foreign language stories and woes? Do you also revert when learning a language to one you've learned before when you're stumped? Or are you a language virtuoso and think I'm a crazy person?
I love how "Freakin' Foreign Language" comes right on the tail of "What? School can be fun?" :)
ReplyDeleteCan't suggest much here, as it's been years since I've taken Spanish and I never had much problem with the language aside from the huge amounts of homework piled on by my teachers. Do I also revert when learning a language to one I've learned before when I'm stumped? Not really, since I don't know any other language. Does Pig Latin count?
Good luck with the class, and sorry I can't really help. It's all greek to me. ;)
YAY!!!! I'm not the only one who mixes languages. You should hear my Sprench....it's flawless :D I think the big thing to keep in mind is that we spend years and years learning our native language and yet we think we should be able to speak a foreign language after a year or two of college classes. I'm not really sure where Greek is going to come into play in your future, but just the things it has helped you with regarding how the English language works is reward enough for all that hard work and memorizing.... so what if you end up speaking Freek or Grench :D
ReplyDeleteI think that Greek will never actually come in handy, but the applications I learned from all the grammar work will be most helpful. I'll probably finish this quarter and then not do it again next quarter. Because I like seeing Alyssa every day
ReplyDeleteThis is not an indictment of your teacher, but maybe look at it this way. Could the difference you are experiencing be the difference in approach to speaking Ancient Greek the proper way and speaking it with the diction used when speaking Modern Greek? Maybe the reason you are noticing the changes in the dipthongs all sounding the same and there being no rough or smooth breathing is that your current Greek teacher is being lazy or only learned the shortcut way of speaking it and figures since they are teaching the language the students will not know the difference. It is easy to be lazy where pronunciation is concerned, look at the amount of slang and shortened words we use every day. Have you ever watched My Fair Lady and listened to the difference in Eliza Doolittles' speech from the beginning to when she is taking the classes on diction?
ReplyDeleteThere are people who teach because it is a way to make a living and there are people who teach because the only way to fully embrace their love of the language is to bring other people into their obsession, kind of like a language fan geek.
By the way, I think the word you were making reference to for Scrabble is neighbor.
Actually, the scrabble thing is a reference to an Eddie Izzard bit. But yes, the difference is definitely because she speaks the modern diction of Ancient Greek. And I think Diane enjoys the classical language, but Byron is definitely the language fan geek
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