Introduction or What About Me?
Who am I? Well, I am... that is, a work in progress, I am human after all. That being said my name is Sarah, I am a female American student in my late twenties. I am a bibliophile.
I not only love books but I love to read them. As a teenager I wasn’t grounded from social activities but from reading. That isn’t to say it is the only thing I enjoy. Among my other interests are cooking, music, cinema, dance, and history. There are very few styles or genres in which I cannot find at least one thing I enjoy, so I don’t really have favorites.
Currently one of the things which most consumes my time is being a student. I am in this particular English course focusing on linguistics because I chose to be.
The subject of linguistics has always interested me. I grew up bilingually (English/Spanish) and as I grew older I came across Tolkien. His philological exploration of diverse languages, writing systems, and creating languages has completely fascinated me. After my run-in with Mr. Tolkien I took one year of French through language immersion and then one year from a bad instructor. This briefly dampened my passion for language. This did not enough to prevent me from doing an Italian crash course to help out a friend’s parents as they visited the U.S., with translation and general conversation, even a bit of cooking. I failed with German but next I moved to Turkey and though not fluent I am conversant in Turkish and can read a fair amount.
In Turkey I was able to teach English to 3-5 year old children. It was an incredible experience seeing how quickly children attain a new language, even though they may already have two under their belt. This occurred after a brief stint doing habilitation with a highly functioning autistic boy. Children have a much greater facility with language than adults.
Through all of these linguistically based experiences I have had a great many opportunities to explore language. This semester I look forward to deepening my knowledge and through this my enjoyment of how we as humans relate to one another.
~ Sarah
Hello Sarah! We're very similar in the fact that my parents also used to ground me from my books when I was a teenager (that, or simply take them when I wasn't looking and refuse to give them back.) I find your love for Tolkien fascinating! I've never sat down and read his works, but I had memorized his Dwarf ruins by the age of twelve. Turkey? That is so cool!!! I'd love to hear more about your time there and look forward to getting to know you better through your blogs!
ReplyDeleteIt is such a relief not to have been the only one. Taking my books would never have happened.
DeleteIf you get the chance even if you don't like fantasy 'The Hobbit' is a quick enough read to give you a taste of what you might get with his opus.
We'll see if we get to Turkey but I have no qualms about answering direct questions. Maybe I could do a posting on the Turkic language family.
Hey Sarah! Turkey sounded like an amazing experience. It must have been intimidating that the 3-5 year olds had more than one language under the belt aha. But books! Oh books! I love books. I do have a few books by Tolkien in my mini library (LOTR, The Hobbit, and his lost book of poetry I think). Can't wait to enjoy a semester of language!
ReplyDeleteHello to you too. It was an amazing experience which was incredible. Since by the time I was three I also had more than one language under my belt I had no troubles but a greater empathy for their situation. Their parents culture would likely never match their own, which is difficult for both parties. I'll see you in class. :)
Delete