On Reading

Titled just so I can feel like Stephen King. On Writing. Yes, I realize how self-indulgent that is. Just work with me.


Last night, I finished reasing the translated version of "Hush, Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick. I'll be honest - I only understood about 80% of what was going on, but I understood all of the major developments (I think). I accurately predicted about two-thirds of the ending. I got lost in the pages for the last ten chapters and forgot I was reading a book. 


I picked up new words. I improved my reading comprehension immensely. I took it slow and page by page, chapter by chapter. I looked up important or recurring words that I didn't know. I understand the language a little better. 


I'm a visual person. You can talk to me all day, but if I don't see it or write it or visualize it, I probably won't remember it. I map and chart everything (well, if webbing in my head as I go along counts). My thoughts, my experiences, plots from books I've read, song lyrics, dreams - all of it. I have a hard time doing simple math in my head. (Like 149 + 12 or 67 * 3. Like that.) I have a hard time remembering the words to a song unless I look them up. I have to see things. 


I have to split, distribute, and add, all on paper. The benefit of this is that it makes checking easier. I can see and understand exactly what I did.


So for me, reading is an important thing to do. It's important to help me learn the language - how can I know what somebody is saying if I've never seen that word before? Important to help me develop connections with people. I love books. My friends love books. And we talk about books. 


I know that's really dorky. 


One of the things about this exchange year if really learning a lot about myself. One of my aunts is very much into philosophy and nature. I remember, during a family vacation to Maine a few years ago, she would get up to meditate on rocks by the beach and eat unidentified berries that grew along the sidewalk. This isn't craziness. This is a type of self-discovery. While I am not getting up that early to meditate any time in the near future, I do appreciate these kinds of things. 


Perhaps this is why I work by association. Give me a word, and my brain spider webs (yes, I verbed that) in a thousand different directions. And it goes from there, and it goes from there. Some may call this Attention Deficit Disorder (disclaimer: I have never been tested for anything of the sort). I call it making connections and taking enlightening detours. Life is all about looking on the bright side. : D


So, if I don't write down my thoughts, lethologica ensues. 

You should also write down those vocabulary words.

I just opened my school binder to the Physics section. We did vectors today. Vectors remind me of Despicable Me. (You need to watch the movie to understand this.) That movie reminds me of a friend from last year, who hosted an exchange student from Portugal. Right now, she's at Cornell. I'm applying to Cornell. I think I need to interview with them. I already interviewed with Middlebury and UChicago, and I'm scheduling one with Georgetown. My interviewer from Middlebury lives in Brazil, and he was a Physics major. 


Oh, look. Physics. Back there. But really, this could have gone anywhere. For UChicago, I wrote an admissions essay on how Play-Doh relates to Plato. It's this sort of nonsensical comparison that I am so good at. 


Everything we do is relative. You can't isolate any experience. 


Before I left, I was a little afraid that this year would seem like a dream. But even our dreams and imaginary worlds are alive in our heads. And there, they're just as real as everything else. 


This kind of thinking applies to the language as well. For example, take the Portuguese word "teto". It looks like the French "tête" which you may know from the expression "tête-à-tête". That expression literally means head-to-head, and is sometimes used as a superstitious way to say 'discussion' or 'talk'. You already know that the Portuguese word for 'head' is 'cabeça'. So think abstractly. Your head is the highest point on your body, so 'teto' probably has something to do with being high, or the highest. 


It means ceiling, in case you were dying to know. 

I taught them Charlie's Angels.

So, through this, you can see how reading in the language of your host country, even though you aren't fluent and may not understand everything, because that much more manageable. I probably knew only about 50% of the words in that book. 


This is a new part of your brain. A new muscle group to target. And with a little work, those muscles get stronger, and it gets easier. And you start to understand more, and remember more words, not just meanings. 


Language is comprised of thousands of little keys that fit just as many locks. You have the locks. You need to find those keys. And you need to learn them. 


Words are those keys.


How are you supposed to put the key in the right lock, if you don't know which key you're holding? How can I know what somebody is saying if I've never seen that word before?


Once I see it, I know which sound to associate with it. I can visualize it. And I remember it.


That's how I learn.


Just some food for thought.