Saturday, July 30, 2011

And so it begins.

When I returned home from work on Friday night, what did I find on my doorstep? That's right, my brand new copy of Rossetta Stone: Italian Level 1.

I was pretty excited.

So excited, in fact, that I spent my Friday night starting the lessons. (I am such a nerd).

I have to say I was totally terrified to be starting a new language. However, I took a deep breath and dove in.

It was kinda fun.

It is difficult to describe the experience, but I'll try. The first thing that was different about this experience as compared with my classes in school was that there was no English. All of the "translations" that occur are pictures. So you don't associate a word in Italian with a word in English, but instead with the Italian word's meaning. It is a subtle difference, but one I found amazingly helpful.

I was also impressed with the great blending of listening, speaking, reading and writing. I always always have struggled with speaking a foreign language. I felt as if I was insulting a whole culture by my mis-pronunciation and poor grammer. (dramatic much?) But I was speaking simple words and phrases right from the beginning.

The best moment of the night was when I spoke my first sentence without repeating what the instructor had said. The computer read descriptions of three photographs, then it was my turn to describe the last photo. My first thought was, 'I can't do that, I've just started!' Then, oddly enough, I did it.

I literally threw my fist in the air.

I made great progress Friday night. I ended up quitting for the evening when the program asked me to spell some of my new vocabulary words. It didn't go well. There are some elements of dyslexia that can't be solved in a day.

I am excited by how much I was able to learn in one day, and I'm looking forward to going back to try more soon.

~Claire Out.

August is Upon Us

(Ah, the slant rhyme. Well, if it was good enough for Shakespeare...)

Normally I start out the new month's post by talking about how my goals for the previous month worked out. And this month will be no different. I feel like I made progress on listening more. Showing interest in other people and engaging (yay!).

My goal to not eat out was less of a success. I ate out. Often. With rather detrimental results.

The best way I've found to ensure that I eat healthy meals is to pack myself a breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks with me when I go to work. (I work a minimum of 9am-8pm). If I don't do this I go a little nuts and give myself free reign to eat huge, unhealthy, meals. The downside of the pre-packed plan is that packing every single piece of food you are going to eat in a day takes a LOT of prep work. It's worth it at this point, as I'm still re-adjusting to a more healthy diet, when the cravings for cheeseburgers are at their worst. Here's hoping to more success next month.

Speaking of next month...

New positive habit : Swimming.

I've been really nervous about posting this goal, because I honestly don't know if I can do it. My goal is to swim a marathon (wait for it...) over the course of a month. Because I have a vacation to Seattle planned at the end of the month, that means I'll have to swim a little over a mile six days a week.

In case you didn't catch that: SIX DAYS A WEEK.

I normally work out three days a week (and even doing that is tricky). I honestly don't know if I have that kind of dedication (to working out) in me. I do, however, know that I have 26.2 miles in me. So if I miss a day, I'll double up. Fingers crossed I'll make it to September with a marathon under my belt.

Old bad habit to break: Internet surfing.

Admitting you have a problem is the first step, and I seriously have a problem. Downtime at work? Brows around the internet. Get home from work? Brows around the internet. Sounds innocent, but it sucks away hours and hours of potentially productive time. I'm going to try to limit myself to aimless internet browsing for just a half an hour at a time. With no less than an hour of something else in between. Seriously I'm going to have to set a timer.

Here we go!

~Claire Out.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

From the Ashes ...

In case y’all didn’t know. I’m dyslexic.

That means that letters, words and lines on a page all jump and get mixed up on the way into or out of my brain. This results in a disconnect between what I say, read, write and think.

The English Years

With the help of an amazing school (that identified my dyslexia early), a great, tireless tutor, and patience and support from my family, I have learned to read and write English passably. I’ve learned what they call “coping mechanisms” to be able to deal with the complexities of language despite my learning disabled brain.

Just around the time I learned to accept that by trying harder than everybody else I could be almost as good, I was introduced to a new concept: foreign language.

The Japanese Years

From grades six through eight my school taught one foreign language: Japanese. The zenith of my knowledge was being able to read and write two Japanese alphabets. At the end of my eighth grade year our studies culminated in a trip to Japan, where I was confronted with my ignorance of the language.

I was able to read signs aloud, but not be able to understand their meaning nor converse in any significant way. While it was embarrassing to have so little to show for three years of work, I didn’t feel like I was necessarily worse than my peers. That all changed in high school.

The Spanish Years: Part 1

Perhaps thankfully, my high school didn’t offer Japanese. So I begin again with Spanish. To put things in perspective this was my first experience with calling my teachers by their last name, getting letter grades and learning the parts of speech. (What’s a verb again?) Needless to say, I was in way over my head.

Every exam was baffling. Every class was humiliating. I stunk at Spanish.

I struggled through my required three years of foreign language in high school by treating most of the assignments and exams as logic problems. (Which tense should I be using? Which vocab words did we learn this week?) This allowed me to squeak by with passing grades, but increased my knowledge of the language not at all.

My senior year was blissfully free from any study of foreign language. I considered it a thing of the past, breathing a sigh of relief that I would not have to speak a foreign language ever again.

The Spanish Years: Part 2

I loved everything about my liberal arts education save one fact: a three semester language requirement. I decided to start over again with Spanish. Perhaps it would be easier the second time through? Perhaps I had retained a little from high school? After the placement test, it was suggested I begin at Spanish 101. I was not surprised.

So I slogged through three semesters of Spanish class. By the time I finished my third semester, I had no inclination to sign up for a fourth.

(Though there was an unlikely bright spot in these years. I got a job editing educational videos for a Spanish professor which started me on the path to apply to film school, and eventually start my career as an editor.)

So why am I bringing this up now?

Well, I’ve decided to learn Italian.

You think I’m an idiot right?

Here is my list of why this time I’ll succeed.

1. I’m starting a new language with no bad memories associated with it. Emotional baggage be gone!

2. I am learning at my own speed, which will be very much slower than the pace set by my teachers in the past.

3. I'll be learning a language want to learn, and about a culture that I find intriguing. (No offense Spanish, but I have never fallen for a single one of your countries as hard as I have for Italy.)

4. I will not have pressure of grades and requirements looming over me. This is entirely for fun.

5. I'll be learning language in a different way than before. Rosetta Stone Level 1 vs. an “immersion” classroom. (They always took pity and spoke in English … it was too pathetic to watch our confused faces.)

The only things I know how to say so far are ‘Roma’ and ‘Ciao’, neither of which I think I pronounce correctly. I can only go up from here.

I’m excited to try to conquer what I’ve failed at before. I don’t think it will be easy, but I think it will be worth my while. (If only to stop embarrassing myself at Italian restaurants.) Hopefully I’ll prove to myself that even my biggest failures, when faced in the right circumstances, with hard work and determination, can become successes. Wish me luck.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Must Try This July

This month is going to be wildly busy at work, so I am going to set my sites on some achievable goals.

My bad habit to break? No eating out. This past winter, before the ol' job started up this was a non-issue. I had time and the inclination to cook all of my meals. Now that I'm back at the long hours, I've fallen back into the always eating out habit. Since it is bad for my checkbook AND my biggest loser diet, I will do without for a month.

As for my added habit? I plan to listen more. I have a nasty habit of finishing peoples sentences. I have a nasty habit to interrupting. I have a problem where I will just talk away about my weekend and forget to ask what other people have been up to. Time to focus on shutting up and listening this moth. Can't wait to hear what people have to say.

~Claire Out.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Writing vs. Reading

Well, my month of writing started out well. I made it about two weeks. I wrote at least a single sentience every single day. However, about the 20th my month of writing devolved into a month of reading.

I started (and finished) reading 'The Hunger Games" series, and once you started I found it impossible to stop. For those of you who haven't read these books, I highly recommend reading these page-turning, thought provoking, science fictiony books.

Some highlights of the series include: (but are not limited to)

1. A female protagonist.
2. Showcasing outdoor survival skills. (Which nurtures my inner Girl Scout)
3. A realistic portrayal of the dynamic between politics and the media. Fascinating.

They are not difficult to read. I finished the first one in twenty-four hours (despite having to go to work and sleep... pesky obligations). The writing style is solid and the pacing is breakneck. I completely recommend these books. When you're done, give me a call and we'll discuss.

~Claire Out.