Rewinding the clock...
There are many things that I love to think about, and languages and cultures are some of them. I find grammar to be rather fascinating- structures, word formations, expressions, and quirky idioms. It's an endless source of curiosity to me.
All the same, a person can only study so much grammar. After a while all you see is:
J' ai montre (mon chef-d'oeuvre) [aux grandes personnes].
subject verb direct object indirect object
And the language stops looking like a language and starts looking like blocks of subjects and verbs and objects and whosits and whatnots.
So to make sure a language is staying alive and interesting, and not crumbling away like ancient ruins, I like to supplement grammar studies with listening and reading exercises. I've found that the best way to approach foreign literature is by rewinding the clock and starting out as a little child again... in other words, picture books, fairy tales, and short stories...
... which really is a rather nice place to be, in any language.
On a side note, please meet my latest cotton-and-love-filled friend. This one got all sewn and stuffed yesterday afternoon, and will spend a couple weeks following me around on the ironing board before being delivered to it's new home :)
All the same, a person can only study so much grammar. After a while all you see is:
J' ai montre (mon chef-d'oeuvre) [aux grandes personnes].
subject verb direct object indirect object
And the language stops looking like a language and starts looking like blocks of subjects and verbs and objects and whosits and whatnots.
So to make sure a language is staying alive and interesting, and not crumbling away like ancient ruins, I like to supplement grammar studies with listening and reading exercises. I've found that the best way to approach foreign literature is by rewinding the clock and starting out as a little child again... in other words, picture books, fairy tales, and short stories...
... which really is a rather nice place to be, in any language.
On a side note, please meet my latest cotton-and-love-filled friend. This one got all sewn and stuffed yesterday afternoon, and will spend a couple weeks following me around on the ironing board before being delivered to it's new home :)
I love it- 'cotton and love filled'. I think you should make them and sell them and their name should be 'cotton and love filled' or something else and then that can be your little slogan. Ok I am rambling now, but I really love it. :)
ReplyDeleteHmmm... not quite sure how I feel about selling them... It just doesn't seem to be the sort of thing to do with something that is cotton-and-love-filled. I'm afraid that the fact that they were going to be sold to a complete stranger rather than given to a specially chosen home might them a little more-cotton-and-less-love filled.
ReplyDeleteBut they can still have a slogan...