tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed May 21 11:28:41 2003
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: Learning
- From: "d'Armond Speers" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Learning
- Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 10:24:44 -0600
I started studying Klingon in 1992. I read the dictionary a couple of
times, and tried to put a couple of words together to form a sentence, but
the first real improvement came for me when I found this mailing list and
started participating. (This was back before there was a Beginner's
Grammarian, and when Captain Krankor still participated. He provided some
*excellent* Klingon for us to read, and showed us that true communication
was really possible with this language.)
The next stage for me happened when I went to the first annual meeting of
the KLI (the {qep'a'}) in the summer of 1993, and heard Mark (Seqram) and
Krankor speaking the language. It hadn't even occurred to me to speak it, I
was just reading/writing. And when reading/writing, I could take as much
time as I wanted, really think through my use of the language, look up
vocabulary, etc. Face-to-face conversation was totally different, because
you don't really have time to look things up. We were a funny bunch, all
flipping through our dictionaries while Seqram and Kraknor spoke. By this
time I had a good handle on suffixes and prefixes, but was still getting
comfortable with the grammar. I also had a terrible time with vocabulary.
But I was inspired!
One day while reading the list, I noticed that I had read a complete
sentence without looking up a single word or affix, and I had understood it.
This was a real milestone for me. I still remember the excitement (but
not the sentence).
The next step of my progression happened when I made a copy of the lexicon,
put it into a flashcard program on my Palm Pilot, and practiced some
vocabulary EVERY DAY for about a year. Now I had a strong command of the
grammar and affixes, and when the vocabulary came easily, conversational
ability followed quickly.
Sometime during all this I was also a Beginner's Grammarian for the list,
which really forces you to know your stuff. Looking up rules in TKD so you
can give guidance to others (publicly) really helps improve your own
knowledge. You can use this trick even if you're not the BG. Look for new
KLBC posts, and look up the answers for yourself, as if you were the BG and
were going to post them to the list (but don't actually post them).
Hope this helps.
--Holtej 'utlh
--
d'Armond Speers, Ph.D.
[email protected]
>From: "susan" <[email protected]>
>Reply-To: [email protected]
>To: <[email protected]>
>Subject: Learning
>Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 11:44:24 -0400
>
>I am having a difficult time learning Klingon. How long have most of you
>been learning? How much time do you put into it? I have the tape
>"Conversational Klingon" . I also have TKD. The trouble with the tape is
>there is no book to follow along. I really need to see what I am hearing.
>Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Susan
_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE*
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail