It would seem, looking at my last post in the Latin category, that I did already write about beginning a Latin Journal. My primary memories of this exercise when I took German are a dazzling display of the confidence that I felt at the end of the first semester when I held my journal in my hand after having successfully written it for seven times a week. The experience had worked wonders, and I could then compose actual German drawn from what I knew and could read and speak. I had moved the studied words into active usage.
Lovely, ne? But the truth of experience is more than the end result.
The problem with this rosy memory is that it showcases the Perfect aspect. In Latin, the Perfect tense is not that which is perfect, wonderful, beautiful. Perfect is complete, seen through to completion. It's just done. It completely neglects the moment-to-moment slog.
And I do remember the daily experience of writing that German Language journal. The beginning requirements were this: 3-4 lines of text (for me read barely three!). Nearly all of the words should be ones that you already know, and that weeks vocabulary must be showcased in the week's entries. TRY TRY TRY to not look up new words. Restrict yourself to what you know. Study and finish all other homework and then sit down and strike out a few lines, no matter how simple.
Simple?
WRETCHED.
The first few weeks were filled with late night pain and hair-pulling.
But I had never THOUGHT in another language before. I barely thought in English, not in words. I breathe and the words come when bid, but mostly they lay across the surface of a large reflecting pool, deep in the woods, relaxing and watching the plants and animals.
Still it did get better over time. It's is the inertial barrier that is hardest to break through.
In language and in life, we must persevere.
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