tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jan 03 18:44:08 1996

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Re: newbie comments for Jarno and everyone

qaStaHvIS 96-01-03 14:08:48 EST, vuDwIj nuSmeH jatlh majIq:

>toH!  Isn't translation of what's in your mind and what you have to say the
>same a translating a piece of prose?

I should hope not. If you create an original sentence, it is adviseable not
to be in the habit of translating out of your head; think in the target
language.

Most students end up doing that to some extent anyways, but it should be
consiously incorporated as well, to further its effectiveness. Translating,
for the most part, is too time-consuming: having to flop word order around,
to extract English pronouns from a prefix and stick them on the outside of
the verb, all this is much less efficient than gearing your brain to accept
and analyze foreign grammar.

I read a cute little analogy once about the importance of not relying on
mental translation. When you hear the word "tree" your brain recalls the
image/concept of the big, green, leafy object it represents. When you learn
the word "fwork" in X language, the natural tendency is to want to go thru [
"fwork" > "tree" > (big, green, leafy thing) ], when English should actually
be bypassed to plow out a more convenient synaptic routine: ["fwork" > (big,
green, leafy thing) ]. No pit stop at the English Station (self-serve).

A language cannot be effectively learned if it must be attached to another
language. The two langs usually don't get along. This is perhaps more ~mark's
domain. I grew tired of the quantum analysis of tlhIngan Hol a long time ago.
Any experimental usage that takes more than .4 or .5 K to justify in light of
everything that Okrand has ever written, is a big fat waste of time.

And yes, it is true that 'drilling' is an impractical affair, and perhaps
that word is not accurate to what I was trying to convey; but being adults,
we cannot expect to learn anything without some degree of discipline. Maybe
that's the issue.

Genug.

--Guido

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