Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Language and Lunges

I have written before about the process I undertook last year to learn to touch type, and how it started painfully slow at something like 12 words a minute, and then slowly progressed with occasional jumps. I found the whole thing interesting aside from gaining the skill in watching and willing my fingers to learn what they were supposed to do until the point where there was no thought required.

Two rather different things I am attempting now is Yoga and learning German.

Now I am not the most supple of people and currently can not touch my toes, without bending my legs, without a fair amount of discomfort, and definitely not even close early in the morning. I have a long way to go. But much like learning to touch type, I imagine that slowly but surely it will get there. The things that I now look at with awe will become more and more possible.

I have tried other languages before without much success. Other than Afrikaans, which I could get by in if I am being exceedingly kind to myself... I am basically a one trick pony (or donkey). I do believe that Rosetta Stone is going to help change that. I think I have learned more in its 'no translation' environment in the last few days than I learned in many many hours with audio tapes last year. I guess it is all about finding a way that the mind works and then going with it. Although before I get ahead of myself, in the section where I had to pronounce "Gro", it made me repeat it so many times because I was getting it wrong that I resorted to French. That was also wrong.

Trying to break through the inertia. Lets see how it goes.

1 comment:

Sid said...

I did two years of German and the only phrase that really stuck was, "Ich liebe dich". That and I can tell people to piss off.

With regards to touch typing. That was something that just came naturally to me. It was never something I wanted to learn. I guess I just spent sooo much time behind a pc, typing emails, that it was bound to happen.