On one hot summer day, a naive teenager(me) got an idea while at his HP fossil computer:
"If I can use internet to watch videos about anything and everything and find answers to any question I have, then I can use it to learn Japanese."
Faced with the possibility to learn a language that I actually wanted to learn, I typed "aprender japonés"(learn Japanese) on Google; immediately a myriad of results flooded my screen. I didn't know where to start, so I started to click some links. Eventually I found a website that I thought was OK, and I started "learning" Japanese.
I don't think that anyone would think that was a "ground-breaking discovery" or the "idea of the century" but for me it was a revelation. Something that I used only for playing games and goofing around Microsoft Office gained a new meaning and a new place in my life. And I'm not saying that it was(or it is) the most important thing in my life, but I think everyone knows the enthusiasm and ambition you have when you discover a new function for a tool you thought you knew (if not, think about how you feel when someone shows you a new hotkey combination that enhanced your experience or the new feature on your favourite social media or game).
OK, let's leave it there for now, let's fast-forward a few years. While thinking about how words relate to each other, something clicked in my mind. For a long time I new the Japanese words for: leaf (は) and word (ことば). But Mark... what's the big deal? To see that, you need to see these words written in kanji(set of Chinese characters that are used in Japanese).
"If I can use internet to watch videos about anything and everything and find answers to any question I have, then I can use it to learn Japanese."
Faced with the possibility to learn a language that I actually wanted to learn, I typed "aprender japonés"(learn Japanese) on Google; immediately a myriad of results flooded my screen. I didn't know where to start, so I started to click some links. Eventually I found a website that I thought was OK, and I started "learning" Japanese.
I don't think that anyone would think that was a "ground-breaking discovery" or the "idea of the century" but for me it was a revelation. Something that I used only for playing games and goofing around Microsoft Office gained a new meaning and a new place in my life. And I'm not saying that it was(or it is) the most important thing in my life, but I think everyone knows the enthusiasm and ambition you have when you discover a new function for a tool you thought you knew (if not, think about how you feel when someone shows you a new hotkey combination that enhanced your experience or the new feature on your favourite social media or game).
OK, let's leave it there for now, let's fast-forward a few years. While thinking about how words relate to each other, something clicked in my mind. For a long time I new the Japanese words for: leaf (は) and word (ことば). But Mark... what's the big deal? To see that, you need to see these words written in kanji(set of Chinese characters that are used in Japanese).
leaf:葉 word:言葉
Did you see that the character for leaf is also in the word for "word"? I know you did(if not, look for the characters in bold; and if you can't see the bold characters... Please buy a pair of glasses, you're blind).
That's when the metaphor appeared, words are not separated from the language, like people on a bus, there's a structure that ties them together... Grammar!
Grammar, in the same way, is connected to a bigger structure. Just like how trees are connected to each other in a forest. This is language: a living, breathing, ever-growing and ever-changing, forest of grammar.
Like when new plants and animals are introduced to real forests, languages adopt new words and grammar patterns. Sometimes this might be seen like an ecological catastrophe(e.g what some people think of introducing English words to other languages), or like a way to refresh an otherwise old and rusty language(e.g what some people think of introducing English words to other languages. I know is the same example as before, but that's the only one I remember right know, so bear with me).
I'm not going to get into the philosophical and political side of this argument, but seeing such a flexible and complex system in a language, makes me realize how flexible and complex we humans are, and how our viewpoint and opinions change with time. I don't think we are the product of a mix of chemicals that bonded together in a mindless process, on the contrary, the complexity and ingenuity I see in the human mind, and the ability that we have to move our muscles and bones to make sounds and interpret those sounds, makes me perceive a Creator.
Let's go back to the past. I started learning roumaji(the romanized version of Japanese) and business words in Japanese(I was using NHK's Japanese course, I realized it was for businessmen after going through several lessons). My story doesn't end here, I later learned Mandarin Chinese and rekindled my desire to improve my English. I found out some good resources and tips that I think any language learner will find useful. I hope that by writing this I'll be able to help someone to start its language learning experience, but also be able to learn from others.
"We should see language learning like a trip to a forest, we are able to see the history in every branch, the beauty in every autumn leaf. We might never get to know each one of the trees, even less each leaf, but the view always fills us with awe"
P.S.Just to clarify, I did some research about the connection between the two words in Japanese. 言葉 uses the character just for its sound not for its meaning, this is called Ateji. It works for my metaphor though.
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