Three Languages

So this week has been really… I can’t pick just one word, it is really impossible to pick just one. It has been really good, and stressful and intense and exhausting and really all around rewarding. So now that I have thrown out every adjective in the book, I will have to elaborate on why this week has been all of those things for me, and then to get some stuff off my mind I will talk about what is coming up (and to help myself organize my own thoughts about what I need to do, and how I am going to go about accomplishing all of these things.

But first of all, this week. This week is the week of my week long intensive Arabic class that I am taking. It is six hours of Arabic for five days in a row to equal 30 hours of Arabic. I have finished day four, which means I have put in 24 hours of my thirty… and let’s just say my brain is reeling. I have been working on my second language (French) since I was about seven years old I would say… and I have really come as close to perfecting it this semester as I ever have, although as always I have a long way to go. But throwing this third language into the mix has been really interesting and challenging as well. First of all there is a completely new alphabet to learn, with 29 letters, 26 of which are consonants and which is read from right to left instead of left to right. Ok, by day two I had that down (ok sorta, at least I can write recognize and verbalize all of the letters. It is the pronunciation that I really need to work on, but I don’t know when that might happen.

There are so many new sounds, and learning a new language involves learning new grammar rules etc… I have really been fascinated this week by language itself and how there are so many different responses to the same problem that all humans face: the need to communicate. There have been thousands of languages, thousands of answers to the same problem, and learning about language I think I have to say that it is really a testament to human creativity and ingenuity that people have come up with so many and so complicated responses to the same problem. Wow. I could never learn them all, but I am certainly awed by the very existence of so many different languages!

It has also been very different for me to learn a new language in foreign language. Learning Arabic in French has been challenging at times too, when we are trying to sound things out phonetically and they are French words or French names, or when the prof discusses points of grammar and I have to ask, wait what? There is a guy in my class who is Australian, so I have a fellow Anglophone to help me if I need it, but it is really crazy to learn a very foreign language in a foreign language. I am definitely on my toes all the time… which is good, but part of the reason why this week has been so absolutely exhausting…

But there are other reasons too. As promised Marie and I moved this weekend. To an apartment with one room. And one bed. Oh dear. It is actually a great apartment for one person (or two people if those two people don’t mind sharing a bed) in a great location with a really nice sized bathroom and enough space for one person. But for two people? Oh dear. At first I was really stressed about the whole thing because I get up earlier than her, and in the next month I will be going to bed later I am sure etc etc. But moving to a foyer would be a really big hassle too, although that was an option. But Marie I guess was planning on going and visiting some people etc and she has other things to do so she wont be there all that much, so I will have the place to myself mostly I guess. The only down side is that there is no internet there… and the situation is still kinda strange to me, but I am going to London this weekend, and then I only have three weeks left to live there (holy crap where did the time go!) so I think for only three weeks we can def make it work. It might be a little stressful, but I am trying to roll with the punches…

But yeah! I am going to London this weekend! Even though my mom and grandma won’t be there I am going to see Annie and visit this awesome city! So look forward to some cool pictures coming up next week! And then after my little trip to London it is going to be time to buckle down and focus. Next Tuesday my débat is due, Wednesday we have a conference at IFE and Thursday I have to present my paper and my research thus far… then I have 15 days to finish my 30 page paper in French 1.5 spacing 11 point font. Oh dear. So I will really have to focus and get to work. I have done a lot of work in two weeks before and I can do it again for sure, but I just need to get my life together and do it. So there. But after that there is going to be three weeks of travelling which I am super excited about… but I have to get through all the hard stuff first! And tonight I am going to do laundry and have clean clothes again which will be nice… So look for London pictures soon!

A bientôt!