In high school I took two independent study courses so I knew what time management would look like for me and my strengths and weaknesses in it. However, this was my first time doing an independent language class. Before coming into the class, I thought that I would not have problems in it as I did in high school because I love languages and enjoy spending time on it. I wasn't sure about what SDLC 105 would be like, but I had a better understanding of SDLC 110. When I started the classes, I wasn't really disappointed because I enjoyed the concept of learning what I thought was important for me- I found that it was a major perk and made me look forward to learning the technical Bangla. In formal language classes the structure of the class is designed from the very beginning and students don't usually have a "right", so to speak, in the design. The basic grammar, vocabulary, culture aspects are all chosen by a designated professor. Usually (or at least in the University of Richmond) the professors teach language in an engaging way that motivates the students to learn and become successful at it, however it doesn't help students that have an understanding of that language and want to learn a different aspect of it. That was my case, along with the fact that Bangla is not offered as a class. I wanted to learn the technical aspects of the Bangla language; reading and writing.
My perceptions of how I would learn Bangla were not the same when I actually began learning it and meeting with my language partner. It was slow at first because I did not know what would be good for me since I had never done anything of that sort of learning before. We took a long time on the vowels and alphabet, but I think in the long run it helped familiarize me with them. The sounds weren't a problem, but recognizing the letters proved to be a difficult because many looked the same and it was hard for me to differentiate that. I still need to work on that, but practicing both reading and writing will be the only solution for that conflict. Surprisingly, writing in Bangla is much easier to me than reading it is and I think the reason behind that is I can concentrate and take more time writing sentences correctly than reading it right. Yes, I know the sounds associated with the letters, but the identification is the main issue. Also, I underestimated the complexities of Bangla. When learning the alphabets, I was suddenly exposed to conjunct letters that could only be learned by memorization. While the alphabet is 51 letters, there are over 1,000 conjuncts as it seems. Looking at that freaked me out and I felt the enormity of the language, not the feasibility of it. Once getting over the fear, I was able to concentrate on the simple alphabet and I figured that I would learn the conjuncts as time went along through reading. Because the conjuncts are letters connected with a vowel sound or another letter, they are recognizable. Maybe I'll be able to pick out a pattern from it and be able to untangle it on my own at one point in my learning Bangla.
I'm happy with my progress and where I stand now because I have basic understanding of the language and it's enough knowledge for me to use it during my trip to Bangladesh this summer! I'm definitely continuing my learning with SDLC 111 next semester and I want to work on small children's literature for my readings and move on to larger literature by the end of next year. Taking SDLC 110 definitely helped me put into perspective what I wanted out of learning Bangla and SDLC 105 helped me understand cultural dimensions of language through the class discussions we had on language as well as the readings.
All in all, I enjoyed taking the two classes and I'm very thankful to Nuray Hanim and Dr. Scinicariello for enabling such an opportunity as independent language learning for students.
Comments