An Italian Visitor, Mouse Invasion, and Lots of Languages
Based on the title of this post, you might think this week was really fun and interesting, but it really wasn't. Most of it was just average with some good and bad stuff. And if that didn't convince you to read on, I don't know what will!
This week we had Nikki's high school best friend, Steph, over. She is doing her study abroad year in Florence, so she came to Edinburgh during her fall break. I had such a lovely time getting to know her and I'm sure it was great for Nikki to see an old friend in person. Steph and I actually have a lot in common, so that was so great! To send her off, on Thursday morning I made french toast and cooked apples for breakfast and then we Chloe over and had risotto (by now you should realize this is the only real meal I can cook) for dinner. After dinner I went to a LangSoc social, which was just hanging out at a pub. Actually, everyone else ate dinner, because apparently I didn't get the memo that we were going out for dinner. It was still lovely to keep getting to know the lovely members of LangSoc.
Friday afternoon I went to my first Chinese film screening in a few weeks. The film was really interesting and discussed some very serious issues, but more importantly I actually managed to pick out a lot more words in Chinese than I did the last time I went to the film screenings. Watching these films is really good listening practice, so I hope to be better about attending them.
Friday night I went to Speed Lingua! This time we were more heavily encouraged to switch tables and try more languages. It was harder than just staying at one table for an hour or two. Speed Lingua is a good event for me because I can practice all my languages (I even got a little Latin in!) and because I can practice switching languages ever 20 minutes or so. That's one of the skills I need to work on the most. I have never had to switch between listening to Italian to speaking French to speaking Spanish in that short of an amount of time. By the end of the event I was seriously brain dead, but it was so much fun. Sometimes I didn't even know what language I was speaking in! When I went to the Spanish table for the second time, I was still stuck in French mode, so I was thinking in French and speaking in Spanish. After listening to someone speak for a while, when I wanted to say something, it both felt like I was speaking gibberish I couldn't understand and like I was speaking in my native language. It may have been because I was tired, but it was the weirdest I've ever felt practicing languages.
Afterwards I was thinking about what allows me to more easily speak in, say, French, when I haven't been learning it that long. I think the key to fluency is not having to think before you speak and not having to translate. When you can think in the language, even from the beginning, your ability to form sentences will be so much greater. When I was speaking French, I wasn't thinking as much about how to avoid words I didn't know how to say (that is also one of the most useful skills).
Saturday I finished my essay in the morning and then went to the Language Cafe in the afternoon and practiced my Spanish for over an hour and then chatted in English for a while (shhh don't tell). Saturday night was pretty wild, so prepare yourself. I went to the store on my way home and then came home and did homework and laundry and Skyped with MK. Pretty crazy stuff.
In other news there is a new resident of our flat - a mouse! I was afraid that I would be lonely this weekend while Nikki was away, but luckily I have company. In all seriousness, I have quarantined the little guy in the kitchen and am staying in my room when possible. I'm hoping to get help from my RA, but there's not likely to be much done about it today, so I will see about getting something done tomorrow. Everything has been working out alright as long as I keep the mouse in the kitchen and make lots of noise to scare it while I'm in there.
This week we had Nikki's high school best friend, Steph, over. She is doing her study abroad year in Florence, so she came to Edinburgh during her fall break. I had such a lovely time getting to know her and I'm sure it was great for Nikki to see an old friend in person. Steph and I actually have a lot in common, so that was so great! To send her off, on Thursday morning I made french toast and cooked apples for breakfast and then we Chloe over and had risotto (by now you should realize this is the only real meal I can cook) for dinner. After dinner I went to a LangSoc social, which was just hanging out at a pub. Actually, everyone else ate dinner, because apparently I didn't get the memo that we were going out for dinner. It was still lovely to keep getting to know the lovely members of LangSoc.
Friday afternoon I went to my first Chinese film screening in a few weeks. The film was really interesting and discussed some very serious issues, but more importantly I actually managed to pick out a lot more words in Chinese than I did the last time I went to the film screenings. Watching these films is really good listening practice, so I hope to be better about attending them.
Friday night I went to Speed Lingua! This time we were more heavily encouraged to switch tables and try more languages. It was harder than just staying at one table for an hour or two. Speed Lingua is a good event for me because I can practice all my languages (I even got a little Latin in!) and because I can practice switching languages ever 20 minutes or so. That's one of the skills I need to work on the most. I have never had to switch between listening to Italian to speaking French to speaking Spanish in that short of an amount of time. By the end of the event I was seriously brain dead, but it was so much fun. Sometimes I didn't even know what language I was speaking in! When I went to the Spanish table for the second time, I was still stuck in French mode, so I was thinking in French and speaking in Spanish. After listening to someone speak for a while, when I wanted to say something, it both felt like I was speaking gibberish I couldn't understand and like I was speaking in my native language. It may have been because I was tired, but it was the weirdest I've ever felt practicing languages.
Afterwards I was thinking about what allows me to more easily speak in, say, French, when I haven't been learning it that long. I think the key to fluency is not having to think before you speak and not having to translate. When you can think in the language, even from the beginning, your ability to form sentences will be so much greater. When I was speaking French, I wasn't thinking as much about how to avoid words I didn't know how to say (that is also one of the most useful skills).
Saturday I finished my essay in the morning and then went to the Language Cafe in the afternoon and practiced my Spanish for over an hour and then chatted in English for a while (shhh don't tell). Saturday night was pretty wild, so prepare yourself. I went to the store on my way home and then came home and did homework and laundry and Skyped with MK. Pretty crazy stuff.
In other news there is a new resident of our flat - a mouse! I was afraid that I would be lonely this weekend while Nikki was away, but luckily I have company. In all seriousness, I have quarantined the little guy in the kitchen and am staying in my room when possible. I'm hoping to get help from my RA, but there's not likely to be much done about it today, so I will see about getting something done tomorrow. Everything has been working out alright as long as I keep the mouse in the kitchen and make lots of noise to scare it while I'm in there.
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