dream in hindi

I came across this book while surfing the web looking for interesting references. As someone who works almost daily in an at least bilingual context, I found the idea of ​​exploring the mindset we develop while learning foreign languages ​​fascinating. I became bilingual at the age of five, unaware of the philosophy of practicing other languages. He needed to understand and speak in more than one language, and he did not pay much attention to details: he could switch from one language to another, responding to the various contexts in which he was part. This almost natural bilingual structure of my mind was enriched by a new language at the age of 10. English is fourth on my list -around 17-, almost self-taught, after my mother’s failure to play the role of teacher more. Years later, I can understand this situation as a result of our experience of a second language, which I did not want to acquire – who would like, at 5 years old, to spend time conversing in a language spoken exclusively by adults? But this linguistic experience defines my linguistic history, since until now I am aware of the limitations of fully mastering all the other languages ​​that I have acquired so far (almost 10, of which one that required learning a new alphabet, learned as in the first grade , with pages of handwriting exercises and spelling aloud).

Given this experience, I try not to insist too much because it is not my book that I intend to write about now, the conference of dream in hindi It had the effect of language therapy on me.

entering the dream

I started the conference with 75% enthusiasm. The remaining 25% was represented by reservations on the subject of Hindi, India. My very recent experience was the book Eat Pray Love, an example of the stereotypes of spiritual journeys. We are learning foreign languages ​​due to personal or sentimental failures, we really want to know the world and other countries because we have not known ourselves. We are unable to come out of our solitary shells and recognize the merits of culture only in direct relation to the success it brings in our personal fulfillment. There are also some discreet references to these kinds of topics in this book, but they are cleverly wrapped. Of course we are looking for something when we travel or start learning something new, be it Chinese painting or Hindi, but this is more than just killing time between two relationships. We gain knowledge for a better understanding of the world around us and then use this knowledge to induce change.

The references to India are well thought out: you won’t find first-hand experiences of enlightenment and spiritual awakening here after spending a couple of days, weeks or months in an ashram. In a very journalistic and alert style, you’ll find out about this part of India that Katherine Russell Rich is discovering as she begins to learn Hindi, during and shortly after 9/11. This part of India where people live and make a living, die or are killed, face terrorism and fear for the safety of their children and families, marry, seek a partner or fall in love, survive as women, visitors temporary or tourists Recent history or history in the making, ethnic or geopolitical conflicts reflected at the language level. And I am the first to recognize that the success of learning a foreign language depends on immersion in the culture of the language family whose wealth you want to share. The pages dedicated to social and historical description are limited to the purpose of reflecting the sociolinguistic processes that take place with the alias author. the hindi student

I found the style sometimes dry, sometimes halfway between a scientific exposition and a journalistic description. In some snippets, it was like automatically remembering disparate notebook segments that recorded last year’s diary in the ancient city of Udaipur. But this gave the story an uncanny note of authenticity.

knowing the brain

The main reason I loved reading this book was the clever mix between personal discovery and scientific research, seeking to understand the mechanisms that unfold in our secret black box as we learn a new language. We are rarely aware of the complicated processes that take place during the brain’s linguistic adventures. I experienced some of them myself, and I observed more clearly my daughter, who at the age of 12 was overexposed to multilingualism and forced to master three different languages ​​daily. Our brain is both flexible, adapting to new sociolinguistic contexts, and conservative, in relation to other languages, including our first language.

And I will give an example: our goal is to learn a new language, for various reasons. Through learning, direct practice, exercises, we could acquire new skills in a given time. But, already acquired linguistic structures, including our mother tongue, will be affected. If it’s not used more over time, we’re either forgetting the details of grammar or our vocabulary is including funny and awkward rough translations from one language to another. During this process we can also experience the unpleasant lock-up situation: we cannot switch immediately, if at all, from one language to another. However, overexposure to a certain foreign linguistic environment creates difficulties in recognizing what used to be our family context. Social and psychological contexts are playing a huge role in our language development – or blockage. A certain experience in relation to a certain event related to a language can close the channels of communication in this language.

The more we learn, the greater our chances of making quick connections and diversifying our brain activity, with results that include our life-spam, according to recent studies. Influencing our deepest conscious and unconscious activities, such as dreaming. The strangest thing could be dreaming in a foreign language without understanding the words that you or others present in the dream are speaking. The intermediate level is, from my understanding of the book, when you are able to tell and understand jokes in a foreign language, which means that you have gained at least familiarity and subtlety in juggling meanings. As for me, being able to read the newspaper is the best level you get before upgrading to have access to the language of the elites.

Furthermore, being able to read and write with one hand and being able to speak a language, however, are two different abilities, which are not automatically interconnected. In my case, because of the non-European language that I am in the process of acquiring, I was first able to speak and understand the language of the street, but it took me much longer to read fluently while I still have problems writing correctly. For the different alphabets, photographic memory can be useful. I lived for a year in an Asian country and was able to recognize a couple of disparate characters, just from excessive visual exposure: the usual signs for “open”, “closed”, “subway”, “street”, the currency symbol, etc.

The limits of our communications from one language to another are not limited exclusively to cases where we have to change from one system to another, such as from an alphabet-based system to a sign-based one. Not everything can be translated and for some cases the expression of privacy -in the case of Hindi a non-existent term- and feelings differs significantly. This is why we assume that some nations are “colder” and others are “warmer”: we are what we speak.

my curiosities

The book opened a series of questions for me and left a couple of curiosities unanswered. I can’t find too many details about the experience of writing in another alphabet. Did she try? What are the transformations that are observed reading in a different writing universe.

The reader who is inexperienced in Hindi is frustrated by not acquiring any information about what this Hindi alphabet is all about. I only found an explicit one at the end, when trying to read the terrible news about the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan. Do they read left to right or right to left? Is it possible, like in Chinese or Japanese, to read horizontally and/or vertically?

Perhaps I would like to read and know more about the author’s experiences with Hindi after this year spent in India: did she continue to practice? What happened to the linguistic baggage in her family’s cultural background? Or did she also start learning other languages ​​and how did she connect this experience with learning Hindi?

My plan was to spend an hour on this review. After three long and intense hours of writing, I approach the moment of the “last point” with a certain shadow of regret. This book made me reflect on a couple of direct experiences, gave me some clues to reevaluate others and observe some evolutions in my future linguistic wanderings. Reasons enough to encourage others to read it too and start learning at least one other foreign language other than the one of birth.