"How we mean" and "How we analyze meaning" were interesting in the context of learning Hindi mostly because it shows that there are much fewer "words" we need to learn in order to be competent in a language. The chapter mentioned that Shakespeare uses over 30,000 words, but less than 20,000 lexemes. This makes learning a second language easier because, rather than needing 200 words to communicate, the learner may only need to know 100 lexemes, plus the general rules on how to transform these "root words" into other similar meanings. For instance, instead of needing to memorize walk, walking, walked, and walker in Hindi, I can just learn the root word walk and reference the grammatical rules I already know for changing sense of the word. This makes beginning a learning task seem much less daunting, but also emphasizes the importance of understanding grammar rules rather than just memorizing. In that way, a language learner can figure out how to say new phrases during on the fly rather than memorizing them beforehand.
"How the brain handles language" was also interesting for me because I am left-handed. I have always been told that this means the right side of my brain is more dominant, and therefore I'm more artistic and creative. This chapter proved that not to be the case. Rather, the chapter explains that each side of the brain is dominant at different times, depending on the task at hand. It is also interesting because it shows how fast our brains work to develop speech from the moment we think of something to the moment it comes out of our mouths. At this point, it is impossible for me to speak Hindi at that speed because I need to formulate sentences, then attempt to say them, which is more difficult than speaking English because it requires sounds that I am not used to making. I have spent numerous appointments with my peer tutor merely repeating one sound over and over again, then attempting to use that sound in just one word.
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