A New Way to Talk
The other day, I suddenly wanted to learn a new language. Not that my other languages didnt make a skid mark every time I try to form intelligible and engaging sentences out of them.
Tamil, a language I learnt after 4 years in Tamil Nadu to speak to developers and convey ideas faster to them. And to make sure they are not speaking behind my back, in front of me. :P
English, Hindi and Sanskrit, which KV(Kendriya Vidyalaya - the central government school in India) decided to engrave in every child who went through them.
And my Malayalam, which, I came engraved on. Although I never received any formal education for Malayalam, it became my ego issue when mom made fun of me when I was a kid, that I did not know Malayalam. I learnt Malayalam from the Bible, trying to read and understand all words in there. Probably why I realized religions were all (at least the one basing themselves on this particular book I was reading) based on just hope.
Unfortunately, now I am not able to use much of Sankrit (which nobody speaks in, these days, except the AIR news reader) or English (unless it is to the clients on the daily evening calls) or Malayalam ( except to the half baked Malayali I am married to). This has taken me to a situation where I mix up languages in a single sentence! "njan sandwich sapten!" (which is quite a weird way of saying I ate a sandwich, because it is in 3 languages)
Anyway, I realized that probably learning another language would help.
So I searched online for sites that help people like me. And I found 2 useful ones:
babbel.com
duolingo.com
Babbel was the first site I went into. Although it is a paid service, it covers vastly the European languages.
As my attention span ranges from 2 minutes to 5 minutes, (for example, I did 15 other things while working on this blog, from morning) I tried other options and stumbled upon Duolingo.
The services are similar. But Duolingo is unique in a way that it makes you compete with yourself, earn points, and give you frequent tests. It is free so far. Also, it shows you what your progress is and what is pending. And mentions your level (Basic, Intermediate etc.) You can see the discussions ongoing, while you are working on the lesson and learn related things that other learners have discussed. This, adds value to what you are already learning.
There are other desirable items that I am still discovering. But so far, so good.
It was curious that in Sanskrit and French, the forms of verbs and roots are similar. But that is food for thought in another blog altogether.
Till then, Au Revoir!
Tamil, a language I learnt after 4 years in Tamil Nadu to speak to developers and convey ideas faster to them. And to make sure they are not speaking behind my back, in front of me. :P
English, Hindi and Sanskrit, which KV(Kendriya Vidyalaya - the central government school in India) decided to engrave in every child who went through them.
And my Malayalam, which, I came engraved on. Although I never received any formal education for Malayalam, it became my ego issue when mom made fun of me when I was a kid, that I did not know Malayalam. I learnt Malayalam from the Bible, trying to read and understand all words in there. Probably why I realized religions were all (at least the one basing themselves on this particular book I was reading) based on just hope.
Unfortunately, now I am not able to use much of Sankrit (which nobody speaks in, these days, except the AIR news reader) or English (unless it is to the clients on the daily evening calls) or Malayalam ( except to the half baked Malayali I am married to). This has taken me to a situation where I mix up languages in a single sentence! "njan sandwich sapten!" (which is quite a weird way of saying I ate a sandwich, because it is in 3 languages)
Anyway, I realized that probably learning another language would help.
So I searched online for sites that help people like me. And I found 2 useful ones:
babbel.com
duolingo.com
Babbel was the first site I went into. Although it is a paid service, it covers vastly the European languages.
As my attention span ranges from 2 minutes to 5 minutes, (for example, I did 15 other things while working on this blog, from morning) I tried other options and stumbled upon Duolingo.
The services are similar. But Duolingo is unique in a way that it makes you compete with yourself, earn points, and give you frequent tests. It is free so far. Also, it shows you what your progress is and what is pending. And mentions your level (Basic, Intermediate etc.) You can see the discussions ongoing, while you are working on the lesson and learn related things that other learners have discussed. This, adds value to what you are already learning.
There are other desirable items that I am still discovering. But so far, so good.
It was curious that in Sanskrit and French, the forms of verbs and roots are similar. But that is food for thought in another blog altogether.
Till then, Au Revoir!
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