The all-consuming language

September 26, 2006 in | 9 comments

You may have noticed that I haven't posted in a few weeks. That is because Russian has taken over my life. Quite literally. Not only do I spent 8 hours a day in class, attempting to speak only Russian, but since Shawn and I are both learning, we try to speak it as much as possible at home as well. And now we've found the one Russian television station that we get on digital cable. I've discovered that if you watch the 1984 Miss USSR pageant right before going to bed, you tend to dream in Russian. It's unfortunate really. So in our language program, I've now moved past the easy, 5 hours of class a day, and into a more intense portion. We start at 7:30 in the morning and have 3 hours of conversation in a small group (1 teacher, 4 students). Then the middle part of my day is an hour of multi-media lab time, an hour of self-study, and an hour of lunch. Although we are encouraged to extend our self-study time and shorten our lunch time. Then it's back to my small group for two hours of reading, which is really being used more for grammar lessons at this point. I had my first real assignment yesterday. (As long as you don't count memorizing table after table of grammar rules an assignment.) I wrote a killer essay on Portland, Oregon. In case you wondered: "Portland is in Oregon. Portland is in the USA. Portland is a big city. Portland is a very beautiful city. The weather in Portland is sometimes good and sometimes bad." Yup. That pretty much sums it up. In English, I have a Bachelor's degree. In Russian, I'm in the First Grade. My teacher did complement me on my beautiful handwriting, though. I'm hoping for a check-plus in Penmanship.

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  1. Aunt Patty’s avatar

    Aunt Patty on September 27, 2006 at 9:59 pm

    Jennifer - Thanks for the laugh! I needed it. I’m sure your Russian language skills will soon equal your English skills. Just think, you and Shawn can dazzle the whole family the next time we’re all together. It’ll be fun!

  2. Madalyn’s avatar

    Madalyn on September 29, 2006 at 4:47 pm

    I’m amazed you’re already at first grade level! I’d still be in the preschool level of learning, I’m sure. :)

  4. Matt’s avatar

    Matt on October 6, 2006 at 6:54 am

    Jennifer -

    Just in case you have a longing for Indiana and still need to practice your russian. I’ve stumbled upon this…Children’s Museum.

  5. Gretchen’s avatar

    Gretchen on October 11, 2006 at 2:29 pm

    I have to tell you that I was laughing so hard reading about your essay that there were tears in my eyes. Then, I went to the website Matt posted and there were tears thinking about having to learn that. You are a trooper!!!

  6. Dina’s avatar

    Dina on October 15, 2006 at 3:16 am

    Hello Jennifer! Greetings from other FS-peeps bloggers in Niger. We moved here from Portland, OR and it does have sometimes good weather, sometimes bad…I speak French like a cavewoman, so I can relate to your personality crisis in Russian. I wish I could tell people, I’m really not as stupid as I sound.

  7. Becky’s avatar

    Becky on October 15, 2006 at 6:47 pm

    That handwriting…Love that handwriting.:) You should see our handwritten file labels now. Good, but not even a comparison. Have you made it to 2nd grade yet? I’m thinking of taking some Mandarin which is what is spoken where our daughter is coming from. Oh man. Oh man…

  9. Editfish’s avatar

    Editfish on November 2, 2006 at 2:26 pm

    Dreaming in another language is actually a good sign that you are beginning to internalize it and not rely so heavily on the [unconscious] translation mechanism. Strong progress despite the stress! Keep it up!