A Moldovan education

One of the best ways to learn language and culture is to read the same textbooks that children read in school. In post-Soviet countries there are textbooks for teaching Russian to non-native Russian speakers. I discovered this method in Azerbaijan, where I bought a collection of books teaching Azeri to Russian-sector students. They were all printed in Soviet times, and had lots of stories about the horrors of child labor in evil Capitalist countries like America. It gives you an idea of what the government wanted children to know early.

So, I found a textbook for teaching Russian to primarily Moldovan-speaking 6^th graders. It’s filled with wonderful stories, Moldovan poems, legends, and information about the country. (Fortunately, it was printed in 1997, so nothing bad about Capitalists). Here are a couple that struck me as, well…Moldovan.

One exercise required putting the sentences in proper order. Yes, I did it correctly:

1. Tanya put on her fall coat and went out into the yard.
2. There were other girls there.
3. Tanya began to play.
4. She ran and began to get hot.
5. Tanya unzipped her coat.
6. And then she drank some cold water.
7. That evening, Tanya became ill.
8. Her throat and head hurt badly.
9. Tanya was sick a long time.
10. Later, the doctor came and gave her medicine.

The exercise’s discussion question: Why did Tanya get sick?

In Eastern European countries there isn’t much said about microbes and washing your hands but there is a lot said about “never drink cold drinks,” and “stay away from any draft!” The tightly-bundled babies in the summer and the looks of horror older people have when they feel a draft on the minibus is evidence of this.

There’s a section in the book that features Aesop-like fables with animals. Most have a good moral to the story. Then, there’s this one:

“A cat was happily playing in the meadow with her kittens. At that time above them, a giant hawk flew by. He saw the kittens and swooped down to the ground. The hawk snatched up one of the kittens. But he couldn’t make it back into the air because the mother-cat pouncedon him. The fight began.
The hawk let go of the kitten and began to tear the skin of the mother cat with his claws. He poked the cat in the eye but the cat didn’t give way. She threw the hawk to the ground and grabbed him by the throat. The hawk couldn’t get free from the mother-cat. And the cat bit off his head. And thus, the fight ended.”

Wow. I guess the moral of the story is “it’s a cruel world out there.” Or, “don’t mess with the mother-cat.”

My least-favorite story is one that goes like this:

“The teacher called Vasile to her desk and asked him to write on the blackboard in Russian: ‘Radu eats lunch at 2:00.’
Vasile went to the blackboard and wrote: ‘Radu eats lunch in the course of 2 hours.’
All the students began laughing, and Vasile asks them why.
‘Shame on you for not paying attention!’ one of his classmates said.”

Ah, the traumatic and brutal education of public schools. Radu’s mistake in Russian was a common one of forgetting to write the preposition “at.” This probably happens often in my Russian speech as well, but I’d rather just be told I made a mistake rather than “Shame on you for being careless!” But, Vasile probably never made that mistake again, so maybe it really is a good thing.

So, just a couple examples of what I learn while studying. Much of the book is surprisingly a-political, not much history or discussion of current events or even geography. Much of it is just about family, nature, and education. I will probably keep it forever.

How to Learn Languages (in your spare time?)

Last week, I replaced my Russian teacher with a (“less-qualified”) Russian language "helper." I want to explain the difference between the two, and give some general advice on learning languages.

When most Americans think about learning language, they think about sitting in a classroom with a textbook open. That’s only one (very weak) aspect of learning (you probably don’t remember much of your high school French, do you)?

I used to work for a missions agency that was over-the-top serious when it came to learning language. They equipped us with seminars, workshops, evaluations, materials, etc. to train us how to learn languages. From that experience in learning Azerbaijani, to teaching English to foreigners, and studying Russian in various settings, here’s my advice on how to learn a language:

1. You have to want to learn. It’s not just enough to see it’s necessary. My dad has seen the value of learning Spanish for 20 years, has bought some books and software but has never actually learned it. It takes time, stress, and pain. If it doesn’t hurt, then you’re not doing it right. Everyone can learn, it just takes some people longer than others.

2. (easy one) Expect how many hours it will take you to learn. Our government’s translation service lists their expectations for language students to attain General Professional Proficiency (meaning you can converse on the street on basically any topic and some work topics).

French, Spanish, Romanian take 600 hours.
Turkish, Russian, Greek, Hebrew take 1,100 hours.
Chinese, Korean, Lezgi, etc. take 2,200 hours.

Consider this a bare minimum, as those numbers are generally for those already learning their 3^rd or 4^th languages. If you can only devote 10 intensive hours a week to learning Spanish, then expect to be studying Spanish for at least 60 weeks.

3. Organize your language-learning hours as follows:
25% with a textbook/teacher format.
25% with a language helper.
25% on your own (homework!)
25% in the culture.

1. Textbook/teacher- Find someone who is qualified and knows proper grammar. Either let that person teach you using their method, or have them teach you via the textbook/curriculum of your choice. Strive to ONLY use the foreign language with this person,

[true, if they speak English they can explain certain things to you. The danger is that too much of your lesson will be in English. I prefer to use a textbook in English for the explanations, and the teacher to reinforce the principles with his/her own curriculum].

2. Language Helper- This is when you pay someone to sit down and practice what you’re learning with the teacher/textbook. This person can be anyone in the culture who speaks fluently. This is the person you ask “How do you say ______.” Record these conversations and practice listening and pronouncing with them. This is one resource I use with my language helper that is a HUGE help.

I replaced my Russian teacher because she was qualified for #1 (and wanted money like she was qualified), but what I really need is more #2. I have worked through a host of textbooks and can explain to you just about any point of Russian grammar. What I need is conversation practice and to learn how people really say things, instead of just a textbook way. Helpers are pretty cheap, flexible, and easily replaceable.

3. Homework- Flashcards (preferably in software format), grammar exercises from the textbook, journaling, reading, memorizing. This is where the rubber (#1 and #2) meets the road.

4. Immersion- Shopping at the market, riding the bus, going to church, listening to the radio, music, watching TV, movies, fun stuff! Just making the language a part of your day.

All 4 of these are essential to learning. In high school you probably only had #1, which is why you don’t remember your French. Eventually, you can even drop #1 and divide time among the other 3.

There are 2 quotes that I think about every day. One is on the bulletin board in the office and is written: «Кто не хочет—ищет причины. Кто хочет—ищет возможности.» Translation: The person who doesn’t want to do something looks for excuses. The person who wants to do something looks for opportunities.

The other comes from Steve Prefontaine: “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”

Of course, the fastest way to get your 2,200 hours is to spend 40 hours a week at it, like a full-time job. Unfortunately, only spies and missionaries get paid to spend that much time on a language. However, I find that I need at least 20 a week to keep moving forward and not forget things, and that’s a big commitment for most of us.

Other advice:

Monitor your “iceberg.” Your iceberg is how many words you know. Some of those words are above the surface and easy to access, other are buried under the surface—words you’ve learned but forgotten, usually because you don’t use them much. The more of your iceberg is above the surface (through practice and immersion) the better you are.

I use flashcard software to keep track of how many verbs I’m memorizing, and the software keeps track of what I know well and not-so-well.

Use Total Physical Response (TPR) learning whenever possible. Learn the basic actions of your day as you do them. I wake up, I eat breakfast, I shower, I brush my teeth... all of these are good for use with your helper.

Keep a notebook handy to write everything down. When you come across a new word somewhere, write it down immediately. Look up the definition and consider adding it to your flashcard list. I’ve filled up tons of notebooks with words, phrases, quick-reference grammar points, etc.

DON’T GIVE UP. 99% of people will say “I don’t have ______.” Do what you can with what you do have, and do your best to find a way to fill that ______.

Hope this helps someone somewhere!

Your Daily Dose of Romanian (Joni)

We don't have internet hooked up at home yet, so I won't be able to post more pictures until Monday. In the meantime, however, some of you were wanting to know how my language study is coming, so I'll tell you about that. IT'S GOING GREAT!!!!!! Romanian is very similar to French, and there are a lot of words that are the same as English. So although I've only had 11 classes, I'm able to get around pretty well. I can go to the fruit & vegetable market by myself and come home with all the things I wanted in the amounts I wanted! I can ride on a minibus and get off at the right place. So my practical language is definitely coming along. The grammar, though, is somewhat difficult and confusing for some things, so I thought I'd give you an example by giving you your Romanian word for the day:

copiii

Yes, that word had THREE i's at the end of it. It means "the children." The word for "child" is copil. To pluralize it and make it "some children," you take off the l and add another i, copii. To make it definite, instead of adding the word "the" at the beginning, you instead add ANOTHER i to the end, making it copiii. It's pronounced ko-pee-ee. Niiiiice. :)

Two Weeks! (Joni)

We've been in Moldova exactly two weeks! I say it feels like it's been much longer than that, but Justin says he thinks it feels like two weeks. But look at all that we've done in two weeks:

- Met a bunch of new friends
- Started working at a new place
- Learned how to navigate a public transportation system
- Learned our way around Chisinau, including where to buy all the things we need
- Eaten at Andy's Pizza at least 10 times in 14 days... :) (I'll post about Andy's soon!)
- Started learning a new language (Joni) or gotten better at the language we already knew (Justin)

Also, last night we moved into our new home! There's still a little work that needs to be done in it, but they got it to where it's liveable, so we moved in last night!!!!! IT IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!! I'll post a photo tour on here soon, but we are just thrilled with it! It's very spacious and lovely - much nicer than anyplace we've lived since we got married! We have a full-size refrigerator with freezer, a washing machine, and even our own water heater! All these are somewhat rare in Moldova. In the next day or two, we'll be getting internet at home, and I hear a rumor that before winter, we'll even get a clothes dryer. I don't know ANYBODY that has one of those. So this place is amazing.

I even managed to cook dinner tonight for the first time in over a month! That felt really nice. It was just pasta with meat sauce and sauteed zucchini, but we weren't eating out at a restaurant! Yeah!

In other news, my language study is going SO WELL! Thanks for praying! Please keep it up! We are moving SO FAST, but unbelievably I feel like I'm keeping up so far. I'm doing all my homework, and I carry my flash cards with me everywhere to pull them out and practice when I have a free moment. Thankfully, I don't have anything else to do yet but study language. It's a lot harder for the others in my class because they're either working or trying to take care of a baby or both PLUS trying to learn language. Please continue to pray for all of us.

More News from Joni!

I just wanted to post a quick addendum to Justin's post because I need some special prayers for the next three weeks - I'm starting language school! Dan & Beth (see their picture in Justin's post) are going to be in Moldova for the next three weeks, and in that time, they want to take an intensive crash course in Romanian. Kelly (she's also in the picture) has been studying with a different teacher for the past two months, but she's discouraged at her lack of progress. So, for the next three weeks, the four of us are going to be totally immersing ourselves in Romanian! We have found a professional teacher named Adriana who is giving us a reasonable rate for a group class. We will meet at Dan & Beth's apartment every weekday from 11:30 to 1:30 - that's TWO HOURS a DAY! EVERY DAY for THREE WEEKS!!! Yikes! That sounds perfect for actually becoming competent in the language fast. But I think it will be an adventure and very exhausting. So please be in prayer for all of us as we take this crash course and try to learn how to communicate well!