Coming into this semester my experience with Dari was never really structured. All of my relatives speak the language; however, I grew up only speaking English at home. On the other hand, when I travel abroad to visit my relatives, the only means for me to forge any type of interaction with them is through speaking Dari. Over the years, being immersed in Dari while abroad has allowed me to develop the ability to speak the language proficiently. Unfortunately learning the language through immersion presents some difficulties since I never picked up on proper grammar or pronunciation. In addition, while I needed to speak in Dari with my relatives, there was never a need for me to learn how to read or write in the language. As a result, my goals for the semester were to improve my speaking ability—pronunciation and grammar, and learn how to read and write.
Personally, I did not find Rosetta Stone to be a useful tool for my language learning. I spent my first few weeks of the semester attempting to learn how to read and write through online resources. Nevertheless, Dari is an extremely difficult language to develop reading and writing skills on one’s own. Therefore, I did not notice any strong development until I began meeting with my language partner. Initially, during the first few meetings, I focused on learning how to write the alphabet. After becoming comfortable with the alphabet, I began to form words and then read. Eventually, as my abilities improved, I was able to write and read basic sentences. By the end of the semester, portions of the meetings I had with my language partner consisted of her saying words and sentences in Dari and having me write them; I found this task particularly useful. In regard to my speaking ability, I felt that it naturally progressed as I continued to learn how to read and write. Paying attention to grammar and pronunciation is especially vital for developing literacy in any language, not just Dari. In turn, that attention translated into improvements in my speaking.
Aside from the meetings with my language partner, I reflected on my past language learning experience with Spanish, and I tried to develop ways to apply my past approaches to Dari. One of the most essential aspects of my language learning was practicing Dari daily. I tried to spend anywhere from five to fifteen minutes each day, if possible, reinforcing what I had learned throughout the week. For instance, when I was first learning the alphabet, I would write each letter of the alphabet I could recall from memory; I kept doing this until I could recall the entire alphabet. Furthermore, I was fortunate to have family members that spoke Dari who were able to gauge my ability in the language, and then suggest improvements. To my surprise, the artifacts and culture project also aided me in gaining a better grasp of Dari. At first, I thought that the assignments would leave me repeating things I had previous knowledge of; however, I was mistaken since the assignments offered me an outlet to learn new words in an attempt to better portray whatever topic I was presenting.
Looking back on the semester it is difficult to find any aspect of my learning process that I would have altered. I do not feel that I did anything which impeded with my ability to progress with the goals in my learning planning nor do I feel that there were any other means to help me learn the language in a better way. Although, I do feel that my coursework, aside from learning Dari, was occasionally too great for me to be intently focusing on my language learning as well as I could have. Nonetheless, there was no way to alter my coursework, so I learned to accept the fact that I had to make some exceptions to my daily Dari practice.
Taking into consideration my ability in Dari at the beginning of the semester and the goals I put forth in my learning plan, I feel that I made noticeable improvements. I am confident that I could read children’s books in Dari, or write a simple sentence on command. Albeit, after one semester, I do not think I could delve into anything more advanced. While I do not feel that the levels of complexity of the topics I can discuss have drastically changed, I do feel that I have better control over my speaking ability. I definitely would consider this semester a success, but my ability in Dari ultimately relies on how much I continue to use the language. Consequently, I have decided to continue working on my Dari by moving onto MLC 111.
Comments
I'm so glad you're going to continue. We have an FLTA coming from Afghanistan in August--barring visa complications--and you'll probably be able to make fairly rapid progress. Think about what you'd like to learn to read/say.