Absorb
the REST of the week #153
It’s the rest of the week—how about we let ourselves rest from the expectation speedy mastery.
There is nothing quite so humbling as learning a new language.
We eagerly wait for babies to say their first word and we delight in the faintest resemblance of words we long to hear—“MahMah” and “Dah,Dah”. Some people have actually had their given names changed for life by the creative mispronunciation of a child— Uncle Steve becomes “Uncle Cheese”, Jeremy becomes “Jermy”, and Grandma becomes “Gaga”.
There is abundant grace for the child learning to speak, plenty of time and room to navigate grammar and build vocabulary. We somehow get it—children learn to speak by absorbing language in day to day life—not by spending their days with a language instructor.
Unfortunately, (most) adults trying to learn a new language do not have the luxury of a few years to simply listen and interact. Neither are people in the environment spontaneously pointing at objects and saying things like, “Look at the moon, moon, moon”.
Language learners feel the urgency of being able to communicate with peers—adult to adult—to get things done, to understand and be understood—without embarrassing mistakes or offenses. And it is tempting to think, and then expect, that we can somehow bypass the normal learning process.
But (unless you are exceptionally gifted at language learning) it still takes time. You will make mistakes, you will likely offend someone along the way, and there will be many occasions where a friendly face looks at you with a puzzled expression and you get to try again, and again, and again.
I am at the very beginning of trying to get conversational in Arabic and it’s tempting to think I’ll never get there—not a restful thought, for sure.
I’m reminding myself that, just because we are adults, doesn’t mean everything should suddenly be easy. Some things require starting from the very beginning, all over again.
Also that part of learning and growing is taking off the pressure and giving ourselves space and time to simply absorb—there’s no room for rushing here.
May your rest be sweet.
Alicia