To answer the questions in order, I have learned a lot about myself as a language learner this last semester. In all of my language-learning activities and reflection upon previous experience, I have discovered two broad areas that I will need to reinforce and come back to repeatedly when learning Persian (and other languages in the future): accountability and repetition. If I lack a strong incentive to learn the language aside from my own interest, it can fall by the sidelines in my priorities and my schedule. Similarly, even when I have the time and drive to work on learning Persian, I find that I have forgotten the last lessons I learned. Neither of these is unique to me as a language learner; repetition and accountability are the backbone of virtually every academic endeavor, but they become especially apparent when learning a language, where, unlike bicycles, all progress can be reset by failing to follow through and letting the learning habit slip for a few weeks.
In the future, I hope I will be able to better implement a system to reinforce this. When I get my language partner next semester, I hope to work with them to create a specific plan and accountability structure that force me to frequently practice and learn Persian. In many ways, I am flying blind here without taking SDLC 110 concurrently, but I hope to get a partner soon and get in touch with them over break to figure out a plan. I am making plans to talk with Persian-specific faculty at colleges near me or that I will visit and I hope to be able to pick their brains for advice on specific textbooks and websites that I should be using. It can be heard, as a non-Persian speaker using only the Internet, to sift good materials from the resources available. Despite a lot of work, I do not feel entirely comfortable for next semester when I will be enrolled in SDLC 110 and will be a bit more “on my own” so to speak.
Since it was pointed out to me just now that it might come across this way, I do not mean to make it sound like the class (SDLC 105) was a waste of time or anything of the sort. Besides giving me a much broader approach to tackling language learning than just looking up words and cursing the fact that Duolingo has yet to add Persian, it has driven my interest in linguistics and language in general to the point where I am taking more classes specifically for that area. Phonetics, especially the pronunciation of certain sounds non-native to English and other European languages, tend to be difficult for me and I would love to focus on this area over the long term. One topic that we never explored in the class, and that I wish I did one of my presentations on in retrospect, was poetry. Most every language has a poetry corpus, as far as I know, and the tradition can run far back, and it ties heavily in with the phonetic structure of a particular language.
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