It’s April now, which means I’ve been officially studying Khmer for, what, 6 months now? I think I began in September, maybe late August.
For some reason, I am now able to speak the language at an intermediate level of fluency, which doesn’t make sense given that I can understand what’s going on around me only at a very elementary level, and my vocabulary and grammar levels are somewhat lower than even that.
I’m not quite sure how I started speaking, either--after the first three months of sitting and repeating, of nodding and smiling, of being constantly prodded to “speak more, speak faster”, I one day just opened my mouth and started talking about things in full, complex sentences. I just felt the impulse to do so. Now I’m having trouble shutting up.
If you consider that I study an hour a day, twenty days out of the month on average, for 6 months, that puts me at literally only 120 hours of study. Given that the most I practice outside of class is to occasionally negotiate basic transactions at marked and guide moto-dops to the school every day, I am not quite sure I understand this phenomenon. Especially given that I can’t be bothered to study or do the homework. Ever.
I’ve always been a linguistic genius, though.
*I still can’t read or write.
For some reason, I am now able to speak the language at an intermediate level of fluency, which doesn’t make sense given that I can understand what’s going on around me only at a very elementary level, and my vocabulary and grammar levels are somewhat lower than even that.
I’m not quite sure how I started speaking, either--after the first three months of sitting and repeating, of nodding and smiling, of being constantly prodded to “speak more, speak faster”, I one day just opened my mouth and started talking about things in full, complex sentences. I just felt the impulse to do so. Now I’m having trouble shutting up.
If you consider that I study an hour a day, twenty days out of the month on average, for 6 months, that puts me at literally only 120 hours of study. Given that the most I practice outside of class is to occasionally negotiate basic transactions at marked and guide moto-dops to the school every day, I am not quite sure I understand this phenomenon. Especially given that I can’t be bothered to study or do the homework. Ever.
I’ve always been a linguistic genius, though.
*I still can’t read or write.
