The Language: 20 days

I haven't updated the blog in quite a while because I've started school, and  I had to catch up on over a week's worth of homework in addition to spending hours translating the passages I'm supposed to be analyzing.

When I can, I use a dictionary. Looking up the word helps me remember it better than using an online translator. However, when I'm rushed I use the computer, with some humorous results. For example, when I was filling out a school form it asked for my mother, father or guardian "rayer les mentions inutiles". The online translator tells me this means "to scratch the useless mentions."

Lately I've been combining simple words: something, someone, something else, one thing, another thing, etc. 

It bothers me that i seem to say the same things every day. "Tomorrow I have history and math in the morning." or "I ate lunch at school with my friends." Ever since I started school these things seem to be the basis of my conversations at dinner, and I wish I could be more interesting. Without logical sentences it's difficult to demonstrate that I have a personality, especially since I spent the first week saying little more than vague phrases of agreement. Even on other topics I have to keep using the same words. 

Often in conversation I leave out words that I don't know, hoping that the listener will still understand the concept of what I'm trying to say. Correct grammar is regretfully absent from my speech at the moment, but at least I have a slightly better grasp on words.

My vocabulary has improved this week. Often I'd hear mysterious words or phrases repeated throughout the day, write them down, and look them up when I was at home. 

It's particularly difficult in school when I have classes in French because teacher's write on the board in cursive, and since I wouldn't know what it was even if I could read it correctly, I often copy the wrong letters and can't decipher it with my dictionary when i get home. Listening in class is even more of a challenge. Once I tried to write down what the teacher was saying even though I didn't understand it. Ten minutes later she walked around the classroom and glanced at my notes. Clearly gibberish. "I don't think you understand." She said. I shook my head.

With my friends I speak Frenglish. I know I should be trying to speak completely in French, but it's tempting when I know they'll understand me better if I don't. 

I've noticed a decrease in my English spelling, which makes me even happier to have already taken the SAT.

My progress seems slow right now, but looking back to my first day I see definite improvement.