August 4, 2005

  • You won't believe it . . . . 

    On the way to pick up Dan and his brothers today, Dmitry casually mentioned he'd like to begin to study Chinese. 

    He still doesn't have writing English down pat but he wants to learn Chinese? 

    I gravely acknowledged that if English isn't enough of a challenge for
    him, Chinese definitely will be, seeing as how it doesn't have an
    alphabet as English and Russian do. He cautiously asked what it does have then, and I tried to explain the dynamics of a character-based language.  One that is read backwards, to boot.

    He paused for thought, then said, "Well, maybe Dutch?"

    Turns out he's convinced that learning a foreign language - English
    apparently doesn't qualify any longer to his mind, fluent little cuss
    that he is - will make him "smarter." 

Comments (5)

  • Give him Latin, Anne.  Tell him it's the key to understanding many languages in Europe.  Or German, which will enable him to get a toehold on not only English but Scandinavian languages as well. You could also go get some language tapes from the library, and see which one he attaches himself to.

  • Well, Dutch would serve the same purpose as German, wouldn't it? Plus he could read the great Reformed theological works in the original, in a few years.

  • His father and I would prefer he concentrate his efforts -- such as they are -- on really learning ENGLISH.

    Come to that, according to Sveta his Russian's nothing to write home about (that's a bit of a pun, ye ken), with spelling and grammar all needing attention.

  • He's not yet 15 yet! I need to find some papers youall wrote at 15!! And Me too. Unfortunately. It takes a long time to pin down spelling and script, and we didn't work on it like they did in the early 20th century or late 19th century when educated kids could write beautifully, etc. We have striven to educate all and that includes those who have no background of learning and no one to practice with or emulate and those who have the ability and those who don't . So the pool of  "educated" kids is much larger and includes a much larger variety. So give Dimi a break, keep encouraging him to learn English but ask why he's interested in Chinese. Who knows . He might turn out to be an ambassador or something.

  • Seriously now, Latin wouldn't detract from his English, but enhance it. I'm not trying to burden you with taking it on, but it really needn't be either/or, Latin instead of focusing on English. If you were so inclined, Latin would be an aid to English, not a distraction. Phonetically, they are similar enough, and there's no better way to learn that grammar has a comprehensible logic rather being a set of pointless rules that no one can figure out, than by learning a Latinate language. I wouldn't be surprised if, despite Russian being Slavic, there might even be enough recognition of things between Latin and Russian as to turn on some lightbulbs. All Western languages have been influenced by Latin to some degree.

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