Last week, we finished week four of the Burmese language course. We’re just one-eleventh of the way through (ha!), but I’m already acutely aware of the hamster wheel I’m running on.
According to Rosetta Stone, beginning the language learning process before age 10 is ideal. I’m… not 10.
So far, I feel like I’m doing well in areas that come naturally to me. I’m fairly good at remembering vocabulary and mimicking cadence and intonation. However, I struggle a bit with speaking spontaneously and consistently forming sentences with proper grammar and syntax.
Regardless, I’ve struggled less lately than I did in past language study to accept things that didn’t make sense to me. Burmese sentence constructions use subject-object-verb order? All right. In Burmese putting an “e” and an “a” sound on either side of a consonant ends up making an “o” sound? Why not just use an “o,” but whatever. I even embraced compound sentences (I get up at 05:00 and I eat breakfast at 07:00).
Why and because were harder: “There were a lot of cars in the street so I was late” and “I was late because there were a lot of cars in the street” constructions both use the Burmese “because.” Why? Well, go ahead and ask: in Burmese asking ‘why’ involves four words.
But in general I haven’t been too fussed with old habits like overthinking, getting stuck on what I want to say versus what I can say, or trying to make structures more complicated than I’m ready for.
Like math as time goes on, language class will become more difficult and require more of me. But my energy levels lately have been decreasing. Perhaps in part because it isn’t “normal” to spend five hours a day in a small room trying to learn your fourth foreign language. The chance to do so as your profession is a gift, but the kind of gift that makes your head feel stretched. This sounds bad, but I’d liken it to a good soreness following a day of strenuous activity. Until I go home and realize I don’t feel like doing anything, even things I need to do.
My weekday life has settled into a predictable pattern: work hard in class, set aspirational goals for study time, and then come home and (usually) mentally/physically crash for the rest of the day. I’ll do my homework in the morning, I tell myself, even knowing it will be a scramble.
Last week we got out early on two scheduled days for admin time, and I spent it on-campus with my laptop, studying and also trying to catch up with work and life admin. I’ve found that I’m more likely to be productive after class if I bring my laptop and stay on campus to study for a couple hours before heading home. But the energy and focus is still challenging even when time is abundant.
Many days I find too little energy to go to the gym or for a walk, and kick the can down the road to another day when I would – in theory – clean my bathroom, back up my laptop, organize my weekly vitamin box, call my parents, etc.
The answer is probably obvious. More structure; eat healthfully; sleep eight hours per night; vary study activities to keep it interesting while leveraging strengths and improving weaknesses. Stay on the hamster wheel without burning out or falling off. When I make an extra effort in any area of my life, I feel better.
Yet in all honesty, settling into the first month of language for me has always been – at least a little bit – figuring out how hard I need to work to achieve the desired results versus how much I can dedicate to downtime and the rest of my life.
Adjust as necessary… your mileage may vary.
In practical terms, it’s a balance and an algorithm evolving over time based on what is required versus what you have to offer.
Collecting Postcards 
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