Language Practice (The Stretch!)

Shane's chores include 30 minutes of Japanese practice a day. Mostly, he logs onto Busuu and does a couple of lessons. Is it the best way to learn? No. Is it easy to monitor? Yes. It'd be better if Shane was more motivated/interested, but I believe establishing a routine will be good for him in the long run.

And to be a good example, I've been doing my own language studies. 

I mentioned back in my Summer Goals that I was doing a weekly iTalki lesson and doing my daily Bible reading in Spanish. Currently, I'm on track to finish reading the Nueva Versión Internacional in a year (Day 222 out of 365). I'm not going to claim I understand everything, but I'm better than when I started.

In the beginning, I read and compared verses to the English version. I remembered it bothered me in the chapters about the design of the temple when the colors in the English and Spanish versions didn't match 

Example: 

"Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen,..." Exodus 26:31 NIV

"Haz una cortina de púrpura, carmesí, escarlata y lino fino,.. " Éxodo 26:31 NVI

The Spanish words translate to purple, crimson, and scarlet with crimson replacing blue in the English translation. 

This sent me on an Internet research journey. In today's world, we've codified definitions and measurements of colors by name, but the color spectrums aren't carved up exactly the same between languages and cultures. Go back thousands of years when people were much more limited in what colors they could physically create, factor in how language can change over time, and I came to peace with the Spanish and English versions not being exactly the same. There is a lot I don't know about the history of colors and while I thought translating the names of colors was basic there are academics who know much more than me arguing over how to do it correctly even now!

Eventually, I started playing the audio of verses as I read. I wanted to push myself to read faster rather than worrying about the translation of every word. Sometime later, maybe in October, I started trying to read aloud with the audio to focus more on my pronunciation and rate of speech (with the hoped for effect that Shane would see and hear that I have to work and practice, too).

Lately, I've been trying to watch TV shows in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. I normally don't watch much of anything by myself, but since watching counts as 'working' I've been doing it more frequently.  I'm getting better, but I'm not at the audiobook level yet. I tried listening to a couple, but I don't have the vocabulary or fluency yet to keep up without visuals. 

My iTalki lessons have fallen to once every week or two. In the beginning of the year, I'd have a lesson during a planning period, but I've been busy or tired as of late. There's a homebound student who I sometimes have a zoom call with, or I was pulling one lazy slug during his Freshman Seminar to work with for a while, etc.

Shane's been better about being regular with Sunny. Her schedule stays busy! They don't do Daylight Savings Time in Japan, so our meeting times shifted. It's first thing in the morning for her whenever Shane logs on in the evening here.

I've mentioned to Carrie that she should practice some, as well, but that's gone nowhere! She can imitate a ton of different English accents, but has trouble dealing with English spoken in foreign accents. Shane or I will have to be the translators if we travel abroad somewhere we need to use Spanish or Japanese!