Learning a language in a foreign environment where most people dont speak your language is a fantastic experience. Being stripped of your ability to communicate (conventionally) can be quite humbling. Suddenly, the number of tools you're used to working with in human relationships has dropped drastically. Your personal style, humour, expression, creativity is challenged as you struggle to find new ways of letting it all come to the surface and connect with people. Makes for quite a bit of motivation though. Like being tossed in a swimming pool when you don't know how to swim. Best way to learn a language, they say (what say, Fuzzy?)
Another thing I love about the experience is the way it makes you look at the world. Suddenly, your perception comes alive and you soak in eveything around you with a hunger and fascination that is almost child like. Observing every little thing around you. Your mind working overtime - taking it all in, asking questions, making associations, finding patterns. Gotta enjoy it while it lasts.
:: naazita ::
Thursday, April 21, 2005 at 12:56
Starting from scratch
Surya Swamy said...
True indeed. Its a much larger intellectual investment than one can imagine, for whether you are communicating with the local grocer, chatting with a buddy, ordering a drink or doing ANYTHING for that matter, you are forced to think in that language. There is nothing more gratifying than observing your own progress when suddenly you are able to strike up a basic conversation and you are actually being understood and you don't have to request people to slow down when they speak to you. Complete immersion such as this is the best way, by far, to learn a language. You will be amazed at how fast you pick it up. Someone once told me that you know your fluent in a foreign language when you start to have dreams in it. Another way to speed up the learning curve is to blog in spanish :)
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Aloke said...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17448788@N00/9230106/
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