What is a proposal, anyway?

I imagined a bulk of papers heaped on my desk, books toppling over the purple ottoman like a waterfall over the carpet still not vacuumed. That might have been my junior year, but as I wrap up the details of my senior project proposal, there seems to be glints of wonder abounding in the process.

Academia is an uncertain feeling, but finding knowledge is not. Lately I have spent many nights hauling thick books back to my dorm room under the cloak of evening. By now, I suppose I have  22 books on my shelf - all borrowed, but only half are dedicated to my senior thesis. Despite this gathering of materials, the proposal has yet to be entirely finished, it waits in my documents folder to be finalized.

But what is a proposal? The least romantic thing, the beginning of the end in the case of my undergraduate career. The hardest part was deciding how to bend on one knee and deliver a lean guide to my final two semesters to the director of my department. Will I be reading or producing? Analyzing or recreating? What will it mean? What will it be used for?

Waste is a despicable thing, and this belief no doubt influenced the desire to create. Who said, after all, that the epitome of your college struggle had to be encapsulated in a elongated paper, presented to the world and then locked into a library? Certainly not me.

I've designed, God willing, a creative project. A translation project. An active work that allows me to bend my perception of language, to build upon basic skills, and then discuss via analysis essay the process and meaning behind this. To discover and explain what fascinates me about language, and languages.

Now I am translating a short story from English into German and Russian. Even with only two pages of the German loosely screwed together, I can see errors and conflicts in syntax. Verbs. We use smoldering for embers, but is German is it used more idiomatically for love than in English? I've used this adjective twice - does it mean the same thing the third time? Must it be generalized or specialized?

And of course, there is the hope that my language skills will improve. That my German will blossom into a upper B2 butterfly, and my Russian - well, it will be conversational, at least.

But where will all this end up? Where will this proposal take me? Will it leave me at the alter? Well, I guess we'll find out at the defense. Until then the invitations - tidbits and nibblets about translation and morphology to come.

Thoughts on the Foreign Language Dictionary

Even after I lug through language credit hours touch typing word after word, I still have nostalgia for the a dictionary. Once I decide on a language, I'll heave the heavy tome from my shelf and flitter through the pages.

It's never a direct route.

On the way  to find the English translation of пенсия (pension) you may find scaremonger (паникёр), tall fur hat (папаха), and if you've accidentally missed it: to call the roll (переклевать).

The pads of your fingers run along at random as if pointing to spells or choosing a cluster of terms for your next great novel. In Russian, maybe?

It's not a question of better or worse. Only sometimes, the sanctity of a book may call you back, even if it is a simple, small dictionary.

Courseless: Rummaging for Materials

So, you want to learn a language? Or maybe you you're returning to an old friend.  Do you want to improve your language for a course next semester?

Regardless of your intent, you come up with a problem: what kind of source to use?

There are a multitude of free and not-so-free courses for the language of your choice. And before you start wading through the mess, it's important to ask some fundamental questions:

What level am I on now? Beginner? Intermediate? A1? B2? The Common European Framework is my preferred reference, but if you prefer another system of evaluation, go for it! Other choices include:

The Interagency Language Roundtable scale (IRL)

The Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi - Chinese only!

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL)

What do I want to learn about? If your goal is travel phrases for a vacation, you will probably need a different book or online course than someone who is interested in advanced grammatical concepts.

Are there methods that appeal to me more than others? Do you prefer reading, writing, listening or speaking? Which of these is most important for you to learn? Does knowing how to speak help you write, or vise versa?  It's worth it to know not only how you want to communicate, but what learning style works best for you.

How much money can I spend? This is true especially if you are a beginner or if you are simply giving the language a test drive. Don't invest hundreds of dollars on a plethora of materials just to try them out. Read reviews, suggestions, and search for free stuff first. I can imagine there is at least one online course for nearly every language.

Do I have anyone to speak with? Looking up native speakers in your area is a great way to expound on anything you learn online. If there is a meet up available and not just tutoring, you can really learn a lot paying with time. My first impulse is to check out Meetup.com. 

How much time can I spend? Do you need a book that is short and sweet? Or do you want that hard leather-bound spell book containing 500,000 new words and grammatical notes with footnotes at the library bookstore? Depending on your level, you'll spend a different amount of time on textbook than a phrase book, but if depending on your level you might want to start on something less time consuming. I'd say the same if you're B1 or B2 - do you want to buy a textbook with listening or do you want to listen to free news casts and read a book?

After all these are answered, there are the common sense methods. If you must buy something, check the reviews first. Be aware that a certain brand may have a great books for Spanish while the German ones are lacking. The only repeated item I buy is a Barron's 500 verb dictionary, although these may also be obsolete with online verb tables. Still, it never hurts to have a physical copy, especially if you are prone to distraction online. I also find it easier to study without the internet and with something that's been edited. 

If you want my take - if I'm not enrolled in a class, I will try to find a free online course. Typically, I also purchase a reasonably priced dictionary, verb book, and sometimes a grammar reference if it isn't included in the dictionary. Often a basic grammar guide is enough, as I like to create a grammar "cheat sheet" with my own notes and color coordination.

When I began learning German, I used Deutche Welle's online course, and I continue watching their programs because it's very clear and easy to listen to.

With Russian, I used borrowed a textbook from my friend who finished first year Russian. We use Live From Russia, but I prefer Golosa (Голоса).

I started Arabic at my university, and even when I was away, I continued with Al-Kitaab. After we finish the series, I plan on practicing through a book on Arab stories, which includes a listening portion.

There's so many texts and online resources it's impossible to list them here. But finding the right material is a rewarding process, and even if you fail to find the right book at first, you'll still have found out more about your learning style.

An Ode to Learning Language

It is your first second language.

It’s the thick and luscious r that brought you here. Or maybe it is the curve of your lower lip resonating the o with more roundness than your native tongue. It’s that click of the tongue that sent curiosity sharp down your spine; it’s that sighed h that echoed in your ears after the class was closed.

There are a multitude of reasons why this language is the one. Although maybe there is a singular motivation, an intuitive hunch, a guided path of syllables dropped like breadcrumbs to lead you to this specific classroom.

Again illiterate, again facing the unknown, you listen to the soft edges of the alphabet, to the characters. Anticipation lingers in each pause your teacher emits, like a scene skipping just before the climax of a film.

This code represents everything you are and everything you will become. Without a doubt it contains your essence, somewhere stuck in the syntax of every sentence. No longer empty with the absence of life, this new language fills you from your mouth to your feet.

Every new word gives you satisfaction, more perhaps than any other achievement -- every natural pause and pace, your hands gesturing or not gesturing in a way different than that of your childhood. You have chosen these phrases.

A year passes, fattened and plump with nouns and adjectives and verbs and verb forms and cases and gender and everything you did not know one language could contain. After a year, that tranquil a or i drips from your lips like melted snow.

But you’ve noticed something.

As you grow, so does that absence. No matter how many rules you amass into a stockpile of grammar that matters, that hunger grows too.

At first it is frightening. Four walls enclose your words. No matter how fast you learn vocabulary, how accurate you match the endings with the function, this inescapable void only increases. Suddenly that o no longer defines the fullness of your heart, the openness of your mind.

So you take another friend, another self. The grammar is familiar, but only faintly; the words are jumbled codes of the last. This one is a puzzle. It is complex. You have not forgotten your second self, but this one is you.

These new sounds invigorate your spirit, give new names to the sun, but it is still the same sun that rises and sets without fail. These sounds dull, too.

But this time there is an expectance for that sound to flatten like a shadow on the street. Six months in and the growing pains begin. They grind your sentences into ashen whispers, but only for a few weeks. With this language, this phase was shorter. You already knew the illness; the remedies were in your pocket.

There is now in this new language an acceptance of that creeping vortex. The hunger disappears, but the heart returns.

For you all things are laid bare and open. For you to skim, for you to hum, for you to dig deep into the trenches of another soul – one that is not yours, but has become part of yours all the same.