My impressions of the Ulpan class are mixed. In some ways, the level they put me in is very easy. I understand everything the teacher says, and can talk with her plainly and freely. Already after four days of wandering around Jerusalem talking to shopkeepers and bus/taxi drivers, my grasp on the language is coming back. But today, I discovered a different Hebrew, the dark side of the language, if you will- classroom Hebrew.
Classroom Hebrew has a whole new world of things I never wanted to know- root words, verb groups, conjugation patterns, vowel patterns, grammatical rules, tenses, and all of the fun things that I've never thought about in the same breath as Hebrew. While I speak very nearly fluently, and the only thing I lack is a wide vocabulary, grammar is a new concept to me entirely, and it isn't fun yet.
The other kids in the class have had years and years of classroom Hebrew, and this is what that means- they have trouble forming even the simplest sentence, to answer questions like where are you from and where did you study Hebrew. But they have at least heard of roots before, and they read quickly and with an ease that absolutely stuns me, considering they probably have little idea what the words mean. My reading, on the other hand, comes slowly and with an enormous effort.
It's incredibly frustrating, I think, to try to learn a language you already sort of know. It almost seems easier to walk into a class knowing nothing than knowing a little bit, or the wrong thing. I now understand why native Spanish speakers have so much trouble in high school Spanish- when you're fluent in a language, why would you care what the subjunctive tense is? But I will have to care, because the only way (apparently) to learn new words is to pick up the grammar as much as I can.
So the first day of the Hebrew war was, I think, a rout of sorts. But I am regrouping for a fresh attack (at dawn. Ugh. So early.). I'm doing extra exercises from the book, in addition to the assigned ones, and have every intention of buying myself some Dr Seuss books to struggle through. Hopefully the situation will improve!
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