Over the past week I have learned very limited Hebrew. I was able to get in a few sessions of Rosetta Stone, but JT and I were not assigned a Hebrew learning partner until Thursday or Friday. After we were assigned we then had trouble scheduling a time to meet. After a back and forth of several emails we were able to set aside a time to meet this coming Thursday to establish how we are going to accomplish the goals set forth in the first week of the semester. I am looking forward to working with Maya to help understand the Hebrew language and hopefully gather a speaking ability that will at least make me capable of carrying on a casual conversation.
From the assigned reading of “How Language Works” by David Crystal, I came to an understanding of why a neurosurgeon gets paid the most out of all the types of doctor’s. I know that this thought is something most people would not have generated from the reading, but it is something I cannot help but to mention because if a doctor screws up a surgery on a brain, then that person will not have the same understanding and speaking ability of others. In the text it speaks of how complicated it is in understanding and speaking a language. Even the most simple phrases or thoughts actually take an intense amount of brain power in order to make the thoughts coherent and clear. From knowing my brain I know I am quick witted and intelligent when speaking the English language. However, when it comes to a foreign language I do not have the brain power to catch on to and retain a language very quickly. Even the most easy words and phrases will take a long time for me to remember and be able to affectively convey while speaking a foreign language. In order to overcome the slow retention rate of my brain I will simply have to do many hours of learning until the words and phrases I want to know are permanently ingrained in my mind.
One particular part of the reading that I really liked was how we study grammar. As I have mentioned in other posts, I am not interested in learning grammar, it is something that to me as a novice will have no effect on my ability to speak Hebrew. As the book mentioned “no other subject in this book elicits as many different reactions and attitudes as grammar” (230). I have a negative attitude towards grammar and that is partly because everybody I seemingly talk to has a negative attitude about grammar. There have been so many different ways grammar has been taught in the last 50 years that it is hard to grasp a certain style to learn grammar. This lack of direction leads to frustration, and for me a lack of enjoyment in learning grammar. What I do agree with book on in regards to grammar is that it should be taught “discovery first, definitions of terms last.” (235) If the learning style had been like that when I was learning grammar then maybe I would not hate grammar so much now.
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