"To learn a language, you must make a million mistakes."
-my language acquisition trainer in NYC
The Thai language has a word for "look" and a word for "watch." It took a while to learn the difference. At the beginning, I thought there was only one word for all uses of your eyeballs, which I was sadly mistaken. Here's one of my first attempts at using my new vocabulary:
Since I use the same transportation everyday, I start seeing some of the same people. One day, I noticed this guy on the skytrain that I'd been seeing many times. I attempted to say to him, "I see you everyday!" He looked at me strangely and chuckled. Thankfully mostly ignoring me and going on with his business. Then I started thinking, oops! I used the wrong word. I think I actually told him, "I've been watching you everyday!" Aah! I'm a stalker!
May the 999,999 mistakes continue until I learn the language. Thanks to God, I passed my second Thai class last Friday. Tuesday I begin to learn to read and write in Thai. Woohoo! To be literate, that would be amazing.
1 comment:
Wow, I hope that guy doesn't mind that you are practicing your Thai on him. You should try to say something else to him.
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