Continuing my study of Russian in college, I studied for one
horrific year under the tutelage of a woman whose methods consisted of
explaining the grammar from the front of the class, ridiculing students who
mispronounced or could not answer, not answering student questions and not
allowing practice in conversation. It was by far the worst language learning
experience I have encountered, and it affected me so dramatically that any
interest I had in learning the language was completely crushed for more than a
decade.
Moving on to other pursuits, I decided Latin might be the
thing since I enjoyed history and already spoke Spanish. In Latin class, we
read short stories and attempted to translate them into English. I guess there
was a component of grammar, but since I could usually translate well enough
just by knowing Spanish and having previously read the stories we were
translating, I didn’t put much time into learning it. As with German and
Russian, I didn’t look for other sources of input with which I might practice
my new language. I wish now that I had paid a more attention to the grammar and
done a bit of study on my own.
After being out of college for a year or so, I began craving
more learning experiences. I especially missed studying languages, but for some
reason didn’t consider studying a language on my own. About that time, our
church began offering a class in Koine Greek, and I eagerly joined. With no
other schoolwork to do, I had more time to focus on learning Greek, and spent
hours making flash cards, practicing verb conjugations and vocabulary and
reading the passages from the book. I started understanding some important
grammatical features of the language and making associations between Greek,
Spanish and Russian, but I still didn’t feel like I understood the language on
any level equal to the way I understood English and Spanish. After a semester,
we moved to another town, and I had to withdraw from my Greek class. Although I
devoted significantly more time and effort to learning Greek than I had to the
previous three languages I had attempted, I believe the lack of context, few
materials and lack of opportunity to practice with others outside of class made
my learning shallow and short-lived.
A few years later, while on a rickety old cruise ship in the
Galapagos Islands, I met an interesting couple from Israel. Their adventurous spirit resonated with me,
and I enjoyed listening to stories of their travels during their long
backpacking trip around South America. I also had plenty of opportunities to
listen to them conversing in Hebrew, and decided to try a new language when I
got home. This was my first attempt to learn a language completely on my own,
without any formal class. I bought the Pimsleur language course, downloaded the
free Hebrew program from www.byki.com, got a
dictionary and verb book, and found some websites offering streaming video from
Israel. I put in hours studying on my own and sometimes studied with a
conversation partner I had found on www.livemocha.com,
who was willing to help me practice speaking. I could see that my efforts with
Hebrew were more successful than any of my previous attempts at language
learning, and I attributed it to my use of a wider variety of sources,
including audio, video and speaking practice. Unfortunately, my partner was
only available for an hour or two per week, and I eventually got discouraged
when my language stagnated at the upper beginner level. After studying for a
full year, I gave up on ever being truly proficient in Hebrew.
My next language experience resulted from a trip to Ireland.
While touring the country, I encountered a community of Polish speakers and was
intrigued by the sound of the language. Upon returning home, I ordered the
Pimsleur Polish course, and similar materials to those I had used in studying
Hebrew. After studying the language for only a couple months, however, I discovered
the Turkish language, and was captivated by its unique grammatical structure
and the musical quality resulting from vowel and consonant harmony.
Once again, the words have exceeded their limit and I am forced to end this post. Stay tuned for the last installment of this series about my previous language learning experiences.
This is me, signing off...
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