Overwhelmed but Reveling
The second week of college is always where the rubber begins to meet the road. And I definitely felt it in my Arabic classes this week. This week has shown me that I need to manage my time better, and I need to give grace to myself when I mess up, whether it be pronouncing something incorrectly or writing the wrong letter. I’m so used to being able to grasp concepts quickly, but learning a language is a different ballpark.
I need to study in a way that works best for me. I personally do so much better in longer studying sessions than short ones. I like to sit down with my books and really pour over the material. (But, of course, taking moments to relax and breathe to break up my long study session.)
This week really overwhelmed me. Aside from my Arabic class, my other classes had a lot of homework due in a short deadline, and I had some pressing concerns in my personal life that had me distracted and worried this week. Thanks be to God, my personal issues are resolved, but they drained me physically and emotionally.
I do know that if I ever am having trouble, I can always email my professor, and she will be happy to help. Now, let’s take a look at my week.
Tuesday, September 1
We started class by introducing ourselves in Arabic again, saying “Hello, my name is ___. I am from the city of ___ in the state of ___.”
Next, my professor went over vowels a little bit in the Arabic language before we did several exercises from the textbook. Most of them were dictation drills, where my professor would say a word, and we had to write it down. I quickly became frustrated because I felt like my professor didn’t give us enough time to write down the word, and I didn’t (and still don’t) have a firm grasp of the letters I’d learned so far. (So that second is on me, not my professor.)
The next type of exercise we did was letter connections. As you know, Arabic is this beautiful script, and there's an entire art dedicated to Arabic calligraphy. We were given instructions to complete a certain page in our textbook before being sent into breakout rooms on Zoom. Our professor meant for us to work together, but it was very difficult and no one in my group really tried. I definitely didn’t mind, as I prefer to work on things by myself.
I quickly discovered that while I can’t read or pronounce Arabic very well, it sure is fun to write! I felt like a second grader again working on my cursive penmanship. I can’t wait for the day where I can write coherent sentences and am actually able to read them.
When we came back from the breakout rooms, my professor had us annotate a whiteboard on the screen. It was a bit tricky but fun, and I did pretty well!
We ended class by looking over the vocabulary at the end of the chapter, and my professor assigned us our homework.
Thursday, September 3
I didn’t feel prepared for class on this day. I had started my homework only an hour before class started, so I was feeling stressed logging on to the Zoom meeting. Since I only have one day between my Arabic classes, I feel like I don’t have enough time to adequately prepare for my Thursday classes. I know I will be spending a few hours of my Labor Day weekend pouring over my Arabic textbook.
We started class again by introducing ourselves, but this time it was a bit more conversational. We paired up and went back and forth, saying hello, and then asking each other what our name was, and where we were from. It was slightly chaotic, and since I really hadn’t looked over the vocab yet, I was a bit lost.
[Also, fun fact, Arabic is a gendered language. So if I am talking to a woman, I use different words (especially pronouns) than if I was talking to a man.]
My professor went in-depth explaining short and long vowels, how they are used, what sounds they make, and how the symbols are written. Afterwards, we did more dictation exercises (which I did a bit better at this go-around than last time) and reviewed the vocab again.
I felt a bit better leaving Thursday’s class, knowing I have a three day weekend ahead of me where I can really dig into my Arabic studies.
This week was long and draining, but my friend Alex (hi, Twin) gave me some good advice:
“With language, you’re going to have days where you’re like ‘I know my shit!’ and then you’re going to have days like ‘I don’t know anything,’ and that’s just the way things go. I’ve been speaking Spanish for five years, and I still have days where I feel like shit about my ability. I’m just warning you in advance not to let it get you down and to revel in those moments you feel confident.”
I think her advice can apply to anything, not just learning a language. Revel in the moments where you feel confident in your ability to do something. Be kind to yourself. And when the weeks are difficult, don’t forget to breathe and reach out to a friend.
Arabic Word of the Week
kindness / allatf / اللطف