One of the themes of In The Shadow They Cast is coincidence. During my university course I spent a year in Barcelona. At that time the woman to whom the book is dedicated was living about two blocks away from where I was. Can you imagine the time it would have saved had I known?
Author Paul Graham
The dedication is written in Catalan, a language I am trying to learn, but I have a disadvantage. Women are better at language. A lot of time and effort has been invested in trying to prove that last statement. The methods range from MRI scans to statistical analysis, but the research is really an attempt to prove what most people already believe - women are better communicators.
Here is another thought: women seem less self-conscious. A guy I used to work with refused to say tilde (~ pronounced "til-day") because he felt silly, so he said tl-duh. Not worrying about making sounds which seem strange to you is really going to help you.
Here are ten tips to get you started learning a foreign language.
- There are two main approaches to learning a language. The traditional one based on grammatical theory and the more recent one based on deducing how a language works much in the way that children learn to speak. If you have tried one way of learning and it didn't work, try the other. Or mix them together - it's your choice.
- In many languages nouns have gender. Nouns are labels, so the gender is not part of what it applies to, it is an attribute of the word; it is part of the spelling. In Spanish table is feminine. It's the word not the item that has gender.
- Beware of false friends. Just because words exist in two languages does not mean that the sense is the same. If a French person demands something they're only asking. If a Spanish person talks about competence it is to do with competition, and if the same person invites you to a shooting don't worry, it's a photo-shoot.
- English phrasal verbs are a minefield so think laterally, think of a bigger word that means the same thing. "Find out" is very difficult to convert to another language, "discover", on the other hand is not a problem. And you wouldn't believe the problems that "make up" causes!
- Try to avoid word for word translations. The answer to "what's the word for?" is very often "it depends". If you're not careful "My watch doesn't work" might end up as "my watch is unemployed".
- Try to avoid "get". It's frequently meaningless: "I've got a car" is the same as "I have a car" but the second is far easier to say in another language.
- People get obsessed with vocabulary don't worry about it. The average English speaker doesn't use many words. You don't have to worry about vocabulary as much as you might think.
- When it come to remembering words, learning styles vary. Some people can memorise words and think no more about it. Others find writing the words down on paper is extremely useful. Others still find it helps to me moving. Take your word list for a walk. Associations are also popular. Try linking a word to a situation or image. It doesn't have to be logical, it just has to work for you. You are giving a word a context. And you might need to see a word ten times before you remember it. Relax, that's normal.
- Do not expect to produce complicated sentences from the beginning. Create short simple sentences. It's frustrating. It's unnatural. It works. Later on you can join sentences together.
- Don't overdo it. Fifteen minutes a day is more valuable than two hours every Sunday morning. The point is to tailor your learning to suit yourself.
The Book
After surviving a tough, impoverished childhood in New York, Paolo Vignone has carved out a new life for himself by building a thriving, if morally dubious, business empire. When his son Lorenzo becomes involved in a relationship which earns his disapproval, he sends the boy to Europe to defuse the situation, but on his return there is yet another surprise in store for Paolo. Then chance brings together two of Paolo’s own kin and characters from the past, with tragic and murderous consequences.
A good read.
A real page-turner, very cleverly written, with a complex plot.
Psychological crime thriller.
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