Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Well, today marks the halfway point of Polish class. One-and-a-half more weeks to go! My vocabulary is slooowly growing, but forming sentences is still a real challenge. "Do I say czy, jest, or ile here?" Sometimes I just have to laugh at myself. Imagine somebody in America practicing over and over how to say run, walk, stand, hello, goodbye, etc. Lots of basic words that even two year olds know can be a challenge for me to pronounce. In quite a few ways, learning a language puts a person on the level of a baby. When you want to say something, you have to frantically search your vocabulary for the right words. And even then, it comes out very simplistically and sometimes isn't what you wanted to say. I guess it helps me to think more about what goes into a language and not take so much for granted.

After that depressing paragraph, I will now offer words of encouragement:) Even though it is hard work, learning Polish is fun! It is satisfying to be able to communicate better with people. I can now read a menu in Polish (at least most of one). I recognize more words on signs. I can turn to all the Scripture references in church. And of course, my repertoire of hand signals is increasing:)

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations on your progress! Tackling an unusual language like Polish has courage. Keep it up!

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