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Thursday, June 9, 2011

Between languages

As soon as I entered this world (they say ) they realised that I was going to be one of the shy kind - the soft spoken introvert . Many still believe that I am and would swear by the most occult of things that they believe that I will always remain so. This is not the case with the few who know me well and can essentially classify me as a 'chatterbox' . I am a good listener , I agree but am an even better speaker (quantitatively for sure! ) . I can go on and on for hours given the freedom and the attention which people usually give me for the first fifteen minutes .( they have learned over time :P )
Now this longing to speak has always been matched by my interest to learn new languages and though  I have now lived for 19-odd years I can only manage English (As you might notice) and Hindi (my mother still doubts this) properly . Mind you , I certainly have put in the efforts ( worth questioning )  and yet have not even been remotely successful.
We were introduced to ' sanskrit' the ' mother of all languages' (as it is known) in grade 5. Try as hard as I did , I could never grasp the language. Our teacher always stressed on perfecting our handwriting and so grammar always took a backseat during sanskrit lessons .The efforts continued for the next three years with small yet keen efforts on both the part of the teacher and me but it was all in vain . The only thing I remember from my sanskrit lessons at school is that च the sanskrit equivalent for 'and' comes at the end of the sentence . What logic compels it to do so is still a big mystery to me . :/
I ceased all efforts for a few years and indulged in my course more than anything else for the next four years. After a hectic and nervous two months last year , that included biggies like IITJEE and AIEEE, life suddenly became very slow . The wait for the results and allotment of colleges was long and boring. As life dragged along I found myself intrigued by the wonders of the language of  the French. Efforts ensued thereafter. I looked up friends and acquaintances who had ever been in touch with the language. Searched for resources online.Got an entire 250-page book printed by my father so that I could use it to learn French. Yet again all of this was fruitless as my interest wore off as quickly as it had grown and I found myself tucking the 250-page print out behind a lot of books in my shelf. So much for learning French!!

An year passed and I sat for JEE and AIEEE again after giving up my entire second semester for competition preparation. The cycle clicked in and it was time to be bored (or rather patient) for the results. So , I tried my luck once again. This time with one of the most colourful languages of the European mainland - Spanish. As luck would have it , my initial efforts were bad. I could not find a single suitable (read as free) podcast to tutor myself. The only free podcast I found was taught me how to compliment a woman! (I am yet to try that...let me find a spanish girl first) . The subsequent efforts were very bad and at present I have progressed no further. But this time it is bound to be better for I have started using the spanish learning series on youtube .I just hope that I can learn this language.

Well, that is it. My language scorecard reads as such :



Wonder how this will look on my CV??









11 comments:

  1. nice one.. i wantd to brush up my french.. n i hv my txtbooks.. wana strt off wid dat (again)??

    btw.. very well written :)

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  2. haha...nope first i'll go all the way with my spanish stuff ...I'll do french after 2nd yr.
    and thanks a lot :)

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  3. loadza fun, good post :D n spanish girl hmm... :P

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  4. thanku :D ... btw..u knw any spanish girls?? :P

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  5. hola n all dats i noe of spanish but ya gals i noe who said to me moy bunito! btw gr8 post n somewat like mine japanese stuff!

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  6. i'll ask dodeja abt the spanish girls n let u knw..myt knw some...watsay?? :P

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  7. nw that u mention it.. i should ask her only...plus i can trust her judgement on the subject as well :P

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  8. nyc 1 arya :)
    n do try THAI next time...hope u find some success in it :P

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  9. ya sure bhatia...next time..i'll do try thai..but first let my teacher excel in it ;) :P

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  10. I love that speech one thing. That you speak aloot and after 15 min people don't even bother to listen you :D

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  11. haha.... thanks @swati.. well that is life for me :P

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