It was a good week. I have my emotional ups and downs about learning kreyòl. Mostly down because I think why am I so slow? Why can’t I just learn this language and speak it intelligently? Mwen fristrite!
And then I had a conversation with some people courtesy of my tutor, some who were starting out in their journey of learning a language. The conversation was good, as it was guided by the tutor so that when someone was stumped the tutor could step in.
When it was over, I realized hey, I guess I am getting better.
I was listening to people who were where I was five or six months ago. Just starting, kinda stumbling, getting words wrong, and all that. (NOT to say that I’m not still doing that!) I felt for them because I know what it’s like to see a bewildering pile of words and sounds and feel the pressure to succeed.
Through lots and lots of practice I’m sounding better. I’m reading better. I’m even listening better. What used to be jumbles of just sounds is becoming syllables that are attached to words in kreyòl so that I can piece together what the syllable matches up to. So if someone speaks more slowly, and if they use the 27 words that I know, I can kinda make it out in real time and respond in return!
I feel for my friend who’s at the start of the journey. I hope I can be a support for him and help him. Learning kreyòl ayisyen is a challenge, no getting around that. But eventually, it does come together!