Meeting time: Thursdays 3-6 PM
The first two weeks we practiced the months and seasons using this chart from wikipedia. We ended just focusing on the seasons because the Bangla names for the months are not used as much as the English terms for it are.
| মাস Mash Month | Pronunciation | কাল/ঋতু Kal/Ritu Season |
|---|---|---|
| বৈশাখ April–May | Boishakh | গ্রীষ্ম Grishsho Summer |
| জ্যৈষ্ঠ May–June | Joishţho | |
| আষাঢ় June–July | Ashaŗh | বর্ষা Bôrsha Wet season|Rainy (Monsoon) |
| শ্রাবণ July–August | Srabon | |
| ভাদ্র August–September | Bhadro | শরৎ Shôrot Autumn |
| আশ্বিন September–October | Ashshin | |
| কার্তিক October–November | Kartik | হেমন্ত Hemonto Dry season|Late Autumn |
| অগ্রহায়ণ November–December | Ôgrohaeon | |
| পৌষ December–January | Poush | শীত Šit Winter |
| মাঘ January–February | Magh | |
| ফাল্গুন February–March | Falgun | বসন্ত Bôshonto Spring |
| চৈত্র March–April | Choitro |
We went over numbers once briefly and decided that it'd be better to do the numbers on my own since I have a chart of it and don't really need help with that. If anything, I can practice the numbers with Sabrina and use it in conversation.
Conversations:
We try to keep our conversations in Bangla as much as possible during class time, which is a given, of course. Sometimes we do formal Bangla, but mostly we speak casually. In the beginning of each class we spend at least an hour talking about our days so that I can work on my explanations in Bangla since I'm not very good or quick at that. It's definitely been helping because my conversational skills have become more easygoing and I don't stutter or stop as much when I get into explaining. Sabrina corrects me as I speak if there's ever anything that needs fixing. The best part is that certain grammatical issues I had speaking have been fixed!
For example, I used to say "chele" instead of "chole" when talking about leaving. It's incorrect basically because of it is conjugated incorrectly making it a different verb entirely (throw instead of leave) so when I'd say "chele gisi" meaning to say "I left" what I was actually saying was "I went threw" which doesn't make sense in English or Bangla. "Chole" is the correct use. I don't accidentally say "chele" anymore! There have been little errors that have been fixed through our preliminary conversations.
Reading:
What we've done the most of is reading Humayun Ahmed's novella "Aaj Himur Biye" (Today is Himu's Wedding).
Link: http://www.thebanglabook.com/listing_summery.php?user=mybanglabook&listing_id=589
This is what I've read so far: (9 pages)
The characters in this are Mejeda Khala (Middle Aunt), Hemu, and Renu. Mejeda Khala calls Hemu up and informs him that today is his wedding. She tells him that she found a girl for him and whether or not he'd be willing to marry her. He asks her questions about the girl and finds out that her name is Renu and that her aunt brought her back from eloping with another boy. She knows the girl through Hemu's uncle's acquaintances. Hemu thinks that his khalu (his uncle and mejeda khala's husband) won't agree to the marriage, but khala reassures him that she'll convince him. Khala warns him about Renu's temper, which is fiery. Eventually Hemu gets the chance to talk to Renu on the phone and finds that Khala was true to her word about her quick temper. He teases her more to make her more angry, finding amusement in her flares. and Renu thinks his teasing is serious and threatens to bite him.
This reading is so much better than the other readings I've done in Bangla! It's something I can follow and it's perfect for practicing. Content wise, I was surprised at some things. The one that really struck me was the sexual allusions that Hemu made towards Renu. At one part she had said that she'll draw blood meaning that she'll make him bleed if he didn't stop teasing her inappropriately and he had said something along the lines of, "what? You'll bleed? On our wedding night, maybe." I had to reread that line to make sure I got the same message I read because I had no idea that Bangla literature could be overtly sexual. Sabrina said that it's not exactly a popular characteristic of Bangla literature, but Humayun Ahmed's bold style.
Writing:
We did a few dictations, which I'll post later as an artifact. Writing doesn't need that much improvement aside from some spelling errors, but as I continuously write the little errors should go away. I wrote my mom a letter for her birthday! It's more sophisticated than the card I made for my parents last year. I'll post that, too.
On Skype over spring break me and Sabrina messaged each other in Bangla. Actually, it was me messaging her in Bangla and her answering me over Skype because the script wasn't working on her computer. I talked about random things and school and she corrected my spelling as I wrote to her. That too shall be posted!
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