October 24- November 4, 2013
Although we had decided to speak in Bangla at least once every week, we had instead focused more on writing and reading for the first couple weeks. For that reason, this week we spoke in Bangla a lot. I struggled a lot at first because I had to speak slower and think about how to word things rather than speaking without giving it much thought. The first day was hard and it twisted my tongue, but by the third time we did it it felt more natural. It feels strange speaking in shuddho Bangla because the only people I encountered speaking it were presumptuous. Needless to say, I had a bad impression about it. I also know that it is an important form of the language to learn because it is indicative of status and education. If I want to be taken seriously in "higher" society or by government officials, I need to learn speaking in shuddho Bangla. Moreover, it is a show of respect and formality. Just as I can't talk in slang to a professor, I can't speak to official people in colloquial Bangla.
We also watched a natok (drama) by the famous writer Humayun Ahmed. He was an influential playwright and dramatist in Bangladesh. Many recognized as a genius. The natok we watched is called Aaj Robibar which means, today is Sunday. It is a comedy sitcom revolving around a family made up of two teenage girls, an two uncles, grandfather, father of the two girls, and a boy who lives as a tenant in their house. This episode is the first of the series and begins with one of the girls, Kanka, narrating and introducing all the characters. She and her sister Titli are in love with the tenant, Aneez, because he is intellectual and kind. However, he is so obsessed with his intellectual things that he is oblivious to their love and does not understand why they get upset at him or what they hint it all the time. He is also blind without his classes so there are hilarious situations that occur because of it all. All the characters are quirky and it's enjoyable to watch. The natok is in shuddho Bangla which helps me get used to listening to it and helps my own speech because I can mimic the way they speak in their phrases and contexts of speech. When I didn't understand a word or a sentence, we paused and Sabrina would explain it to me and we'd rewind a little and listen to it again. I hope to do more of this in later classes!
Here is the link to the episode we watched:
We also did a reading from Complete Bengali, Chapter 23 “Telling stories.” It had many conjuncts we discussed earlier. Some of the conjuncts that we did not see as much before appeared, too, so it was a good read. I got faster at reading at this point because there were so many familiar structures appearing. It was heartening to see that! We will be doing more readings from this book.
Comments