This week Atul started speaking to me in Hindi full time and I actually think it is helping me learn more vocabulary and making me more comfortable speaking Hindi because it seems more like a conversation. We thought of a new list of topics we will cover for the second half of the semester. We started this week by covering number above 20 and learning a little bit about difference in the numbering system in India versus the US.
We reviewed some vocabulary from the past as well as added to the vocabulary I have learned on directions like north, south, east, and west. The most interesting part of our first session this week was looking at Google Maps and learning about Indian geography and politics in different regions, as well as India's relations with surrounding countries. I gained a lot of insight into India-Pakistan relations and their history.
Later in the week I learned the imperative mood and it actually wasn't that difficult to pick up. Again, there is a difference between formal and informal ways of giving commands. I also learned how to compare objects or people and the sentence structure used to do so.
Overall, the second half of the semester will focus on utilizing the grammar rules I have learned and try to speak more often and form complete sentences. I'm getting a little better at it but it's still difficult to put my thoughts into words and I feel like I am thinking too much before I speak.
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I think being spoken to in the language and having to speak full time is a great method to learn. It almost forces you to learn and use what you've already learned. I definitely plan to do that when I go home and speak to my dad exclusively in Amharic. Turning the isolated words you've learned into a conversation is always a great feeling.