I'm back to language learning, which makes me about the happiest camper on the planet. Back to spending lunch hour practicing gargling sounds! Back to complicated mimes/diagrams to help me get my point across! Back to propping my Arabic notebook on the treadmill at the gym! Back to annoying people by explaining points of grammar they have no interest in!
I'm thrilled to discover that I actually forgot a little less Arabic than I originally anticipated. By this, I mean that I can understand my teacher when she speaks Arabic to me, but when I want a word like "confused," for instance, I dig around in my brain to no avail. It reminds me a lot of playing music. I was super committed to playing music in high school; I played about four hours a day at one point. But I haven't played in...a while. Years. So anyway the point is that when I pick up my instrument now, my fingers remember things I don't. My eyes see the notes and my fingers just play them, by memory. Obviously not perfectly--but they surprise me.
That's how it is speaking a language you haven't practiced in a while. You remember things you didn't know you remembered.
Alhamdulillah.
This is so true B! Sometimes when I'm talking to Juany, I surprise myself. I'll say something, without thinking about it too much, and she gets it. Language learning is ALL about those little victories. I'm so glad you posted something right now...i desperately needed a break from grading. love you mucho
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