During this period of my Maltese study, I chose to work on my ability to read full sentences and phrases with my language partner, Karen. The pronunciation of full sentences continues to be a challenge for me, but I am getting better at eliminating my English and Italian-bias in pronunciation. I am still a bit slow to recall some of the sounds, but my accuracy seems to be increasing. In order to work on this skill, I asked Karen if we could practice saying the famous poem that I previously analyzed in Cultural Post #3: Il Kantilena by Pietru Caxaro. Karen and I both looked at the text, then line by line I would repeat after her. The task was more difficult than I had anticipated because the language was written in Medieval Maltese. She told me that it is important to recognize that this text would not be an entirely good example of Maltese grammar because a lot of the style is outdated. She compared the reading of this text to a foreigner reading Shakesphere.
Although the task was really challenging, I enjoyed the practice of spending 50 full minutes reading Maltese writing. I have repeatedly mentioned that poetry has been very useful for me to pick up vocabulary and I have started to notice many central poetry themes in Maltese literature. For example, it seems as if geography and the sea play important roles in many famous pieces. Malta has a rich history of being built up by various conquerors over time and its place as an island in the Mediterranean sea has significantly shaped the development of the society. Studying poetry has been a valuable tool for understanding the perspectives of native Maltese people and accumulating vocabulary sets on relevant topics.
In addition to reading the poem, Karen and I continued to work through a chapter in my Maltese textbook. Each chapter is formatted as a new grammar topic, so we discussed some of the concepts and read through the example phrases together. Moving forward, I would like to shift my focus on practicing writing sentences in Maltese.
Comments
I think the material that you guys read together was an interesting choice. Considering how difficult the reading sounds, I think you should be proud that you were able to identify some literary themes. Although I am not reading poetry, I am reading short excerpts and stories about Korean history, giving me insight into not only the language, but also the culture.