I think this semester I learned a lot about efficiently using time and resources to hit important milestones within a learning environment. In classes like high school Spanish, where there is plenty of time and entire periods are devoted to just the one subject, it is very easy to get distracted and not try very hard. But when teaching yourself, or studying without a very defined curriculum, it is important to practice mental discipline and make the time for practice by yourself. This was difficult for me to get accustomed to as focus isn't really something that comes naturally.
Learning from a somewhat unqualified peer rather than an actual teacher was also very interesting. In some ways it made understanding certain concepts much easier, since the subject matter/examples always hit closer to home rather than feeling vaguely out of touch and uninteresting (like in high school Spanish.) But in other ways it made things much more difficult, as my language partner had a lot of trouble describing certain concepts in way that would make sense to English speakers. One of the hardest parts was understanding words like "this" and "that" in Hebrew, since there is no easy definition you can give for these kind of words. Similar to how "that" in English has two meanings, as an identifier and as a part of speech (I know "that" he is interesting.) Hebrew also has multiple meanings for these words, but my partner was unable to explain in English, rather she only used examples and over time through making mistake after mistake I began to understand when to use them.
One of the things that I think I have learned about myself, and how I process language, is experiential based learning works better for me personally than memorizing grammar rules. I previously discovered this in Chinese and Russian. In Chinese the word 了 doesn't really have an English meaning, but I know when to use it just instinctively. Maybe a couple years ago I could explain the meaning but not anymore. In Russian, on tests where we have to list conjugation patterns (govoryu, goverishb, etc) it was always very difficult for me to list out the full declension, even though in practice I could always pick the right ending. I think this is generally a good language acquisition pattern, because it is most similar to how native speakers (I assume) process their own languages. I know for sure that with English, I don't know why I say things the way I do, but I get it right through feeling it. We touched on this in class with the adjective order example. That rule was not mentioned once in any curriculum I took, but I instinctively knew it. In Hebrew I have seen this most with declensions similar to Russian, but also eventually with the small words like this and that. I began to use the correct one without understanding any real rule behind it.
Overall, I think even without the Hebrew I gained this class was a very valuable experience. I learned a lot about the history behind languages how they connect and differ throughout the world. And I feel much more comfortable in Hebrew, so when I hopefully go back next year I will be able to impress my language partner in person!
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