Language Phobias

"IF you don't use it, you loose it." This exhausted adage probably isn't any truer than in the realm of language learning. In fact I'd venture to say that nothing is more fatal to an acquired language than disuse.

However, I have a hunch about another acquired language threat. But it's heretofore nothing more than a hunch. It is completely untried and I have absolutely no personal experience that proves whether it would in fact prove fatal to an acquired language. The Hebrew Experiment will change that.

Allow me to explain. I have a morbid phobia of learning languages that are perilously close to the languages I've already learned. Don't misunderstand me. I know that few languages are islands and that most languages can host family reunions with their linguistic relatives. However some cut it a bit close. The veritable twins of the language world.

Take for example Portuguese and Spanish. There are a host of languages that are similar, so to speak to Spanish. Italian is quite similar, the matriarch Latin of course, but even French and Romanian are quite like it. But Portuguese...I don't know. I've heard stories from my Spanish speaking friends who've attempted it. They shake their heads with a chuckle and relate how during the time they attempted to learn it they came out speaking a sort of self-invented Esperanto if you will.

So I stay away from that tongue, and if I meet someone from Brazil or Portugal I'll speak to them in Spanish they can speak in Portuguese, misunderstandings will be infrequent and communication possible I'm certain.

But, on the other hand, I know my stance on Portuguese is cowardly. I'm limiting this marvelous, wonderful, almost boundless organ that is the brain. As one devoted teacher of language acquisition put it, "our brain is a Ferrari but we only use it to drive to 7-11." Maybe he's right. Maybe one can acquire perilously similar languages and speak them as separate entities. Maybe I'm being a linguistic curmudgeon in my avoidance of Portuguese.

But what, you might ask does this have to do with "The Hebrew Experiment." Allow me to explain, I've been studying Arabic for a few years now and to me, Arabic is to Hebrew as Spanish is to Portuguese. Lethal? I certainly hope not. My greatest fear in this experiment is not failure, or even that my ADD tendencies will cause me to abandon the project mid way through (but its def a close second), no its that this little foray into Hebrew will cause me to end up speaking a Semetic Esperanto, rendering both my Study of Arabic and Hebrew virtually useless for communication. Or that it at least prove to be an Arabic setback. I guess it remains to be seen.

But I'll sally forth, I guess its time to take this supposed "Ferrari" on a road trip. I only hope that, in my case, its not actually a Ford Focus.

Stay tuned, tomorrow begins the Hebrew Experiment. In spite of my reservations, I'm actually extremely excited to venture into a language that I find both intriguing and eloquent.

The time has come!

I had a little debate with myself about whether to wait for my other two study partners, seeing as I'm twelve hours ahead of them. In the long run, it doesn't make much difference, that twelve hours, but we've (at least I have) been alternately chomping at the bit or rather apprehensive to start.
When I looked at both my calendar and my timer I'd set on my computer for May 1, 2010 and they were both down not to days, not to hours or minutes, but seconds (clock just ticked 11:59), I kinda made up my mind: I'm starting NOW.
Over on my personal blog, I've been keeping a steady (but lately more and more hefty-seeming) pace with learning Thai without slacking off. One Pimsleur lesson a day is what I've got planned.
Yes, plans... how do we go about this, you ask? Let's discuss our plans of attack.
Wikipedia (and maybe Omniglot, etc) do a great job of giving me some very useful little bits of information about a language, especially a new one; it's like a cold read on a language. How is it constructed grammatically? How do they treat their verbs? Nouns? What about genders? How many cases? Sentence structure? This is all a good argument for how knowing other languages helps you learn new ones. On the one hand, I can relate to SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) word order from languages like Russian or German; English is SVO. There. I get that (mostly). After a brief overview, I want to learn two of the most commonly irregular verbs in any language: to be and to have. Then there's to know. Then I want most general rules for how to treat verbs. Can I change a present tense verb to the past (or future) tense with a simple particle or conjugation? What's the root form? The infinitive, etc.
Those are pretty much the two big ones. Pimsleur will help me with the most basic of sentence structure and the other most necessary vocabulary. After that, knowing how verbs work and strengthening my grasp of sentence structure, I should be able to start filling in blanks with other nouns as I need. That's my approach.
Oh, and also to learn to read as soon as possible.
I'm not so much excited about learning HEBREW, per se, as much as I am about starting a language from scratch, especially the way we're doing it.
Gals, what are your gameplans?

The countdown...

Advantage 1: Getting ahead of yourself

We're only six days away (almost exactly, in my time zone [GMT +8]) from the start of the Hebrew Experiment. Rather like a game of roulette, I was kind of wondering where this project would fall in the spinning scheme of day to day life. Everyone has stuff. Things. Circumstances. Busy spells, quieter streaks, etc. Stuff comes and goes, but it will be interesting to see how well the three of us hold up against the barrage of Pimsleur Hebrew lessons we've set ourselves up for. It'll be great, but certainly a challenge to keep up.
My pre-Semitic linguistic life is nearing its end, and it reminded me of a reason we decided to do this: cramming.
Everyone DOES have stuff going on, and when undertaking a seemingly overwhelming, momentous task such as learning a second language, things like discouragement, fatigue, boredom, frustration, etc. can set in over time. Resigning pursuit of a language early in the game negates so much of the effort one has already put forth. Everyone has to find the right pace.
However, to get a head start on life and frustration and the tedium of study of a language (if that's how you feel), it might behoove you to take an approach like the one we're going to use. Berlitz has held immersion classes for ages, and last I checked they had multi-day, week long, and multi week classes. For a pretty penny, you study in a classroom setting with other students desirous (or in need of) a language, and are instructed and commanded to speak in only the target language.
With some effort, one can go a long way toward recreating this linguistic barrage, and if done successfully, it can be an excellent time investment that will serve you well when you become less than enthusiastic about hitting the books. It's inevitable, but that foundation you have should provide you with enough useful knowledge to see the pursuit as worthwhile and continue using what you're learning.

Back in town

... with a renewed zeal for a former linguistic venture, but I can't let it get in the way of Hebex, which starts in 18 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness how are we less than three weeks away? Oh yeah, this is how:

March 11, 2010: Little brother arrives in Taiwan.

March 12, 2010: We leave for Italy

March 13, 2010: We arrive in Italy. Ten-ish days in Europe.

March 22/23, 2010: Back in Taiwan. Catch up on previous week's worth of EVERYTHING. Brother in town, seeing Taiwan, doing stuff, catching up, playing.

April 4, 2010: Thailand.

April 9, 2010: return from Thailand

April 11, 2010: Dog sick.

And here we are, 18 days away from start of The Hebrew Experiment. I just posted on my other (first) language blog about my recently revived, re-inspired interest in a serious pursuit of Thai. However, we're coming down to the wire on the start of Hebex, and have I done ANYTHING to prepare for it? NO!

As it should be. No one gets a head start. The prep, or I suppose better referred to as the setup, is part of the process. On Iron Chef, when the guys run to their stations to start breaking down the wild boar they've been given or the ducks they're going to debone, they're being timed. It's all part of the process, and it's something they learn to do quickly because it's a critical step toward the final result. I have bought a few notebooks, pens, flashcards and Post-it ® notes, but haven't even begun compiling an English vocab list I want to translate into Hebrew. "An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure," or something about how preparation is just as important as the process itself. So, with only 18 days to go, the task is seeming daunting, looming, maybe even overwhelming. We'll be looking to find ways to record our progress, and would love to have suggestions in this regard.

May 1, 2010.