Growing up, I was introduced to multiple different languages and was expected to learn those languages simultaneously. Growing up in Nepal, I was learning Nepali and English at school alongside Newari, which is the languages spoken by a smaller group of people in Nepal. At school, Nepali was used as the language that was used to explain English. This meant that while we were learning syntax and semantic and just the basics for English, Nepali became more and more complicated. When I moved to the United States after 3rd grade, I left Nepal learning how to read and write Nepali at an intermediate level but it has been pretty stagnant from then on. Luckily for my English, I was initially placed into an ESOL class but later removed since I was at the right level when I joined school in the US.
For me, language has always been a really interesting hobby to learn growing up. Although I don’t exactly remember my process of learning English or Nepali to begin with, I remember learning Newari through word association. Since Newari is a language spoken by a smaller sect of people in Nepal, most of it was oral, so visualization and word association were important tools to learn. It also helped that both of my parents spoke all of the languages I was learning at home so being able to hear them conversate in the languages I was learning was a huge plus. What I enjoy and at times dislike about languages is how similar languages can be, even some that do not have the same root language. While I do enjoy that sometimes languages have clear similarities when I am initially learning them, it is a dual-edged sword when I have to remember which word it was for which language. I think what I enjoy the most about languages is not necessarily learning the words for the language, rather learning the patterns for that language and associating them with pictures, videos, and symbols. In a similar manner, I learned Hindi through basically just watching Indian TV shows with my sister and due to the relative similarity of Hindi with Nepali. Having that similar foundation made it so much easier to decipher Hindi without even realizing that I was doing it as a child.
From the language learning activities, I have learned that I am apparently a tactile learning, meaning that I learn through touching, doing, visualizing, and in forms of physical expression. My process of learning depends on some form of repetition and its association with visualization or contextualization to a previous experience or memory. I am also a spatial and social learning meaning that I like to remember things in terms of their visual space that they occupy along with developing ideas by running it through other people and talking with them.
From this SDLC course this year, I want to be able to use my strengths in order to become a better reader and writer in Nepali. Since I left Nepal after such a young age and was only able to be fluent in Nepali verbally, I feel like I am missing out on a huge part of my culture.
Replies
Abhishek, I am so excited to hear that you are returning to Nepali! As you have explained, learning a language can be difficult. I think oftentimes, people tend to say language is difficult because of the differences, but I believe your statement to be even more true. The problem arises with the similarities and finding how the two differ from one another. I also wanted to applaud you for your insight into how you learn. Knowing what style of learner you are is imperative, and through your reflection, it is clear that you have thought about the best way to learn. I also think learning a language in a tactile manner is much stronger than just a visual or auditory manner because it will provide you with experience and a greater setting which allows for a stronger association, which in turn, means you are more likely to remember the information for long.
Interesting post, Abhishek! The process of learning a language, especially at a young age, often happens subconsciously, and it's tough to reflect on the complex act of acquisition without the conceptual mechanisms or frameworks to explain the phenomenal trajectory of learning. Even though you don't remember exactly how you came to learn English and Nepali, I'm hopeful that the strategies and theories presented in this course will help to jog your memory, and you'll come away with a better understanding of how you arrived at your current state of linguistic ability and awareness. Since language is intrinsically and inextricably connected to cognition, moreover, I'm also hopeful that you'll gain insights into how you think, and how your relationship to different linguistic and cultural norms affect the way you perceive and navigate experiential reality, as well as the patterns of your thoughts, ideas, and inner voice.
I also empathized with this statement: "While I do enjoy that sometimes languages have clear similarities when I am initially learning them, it is a dual-edged sword when I have to remember which word it was for which language." I think you'll appreciate linguistic relationships, when we get to our unit on language families, cognates, and calques, but you're absolutely right that sometimes the relationships between tongues prove to be "false friends" when different meanings are assigned to similar message units.