Lernen to Talk

Man! If I only hadn't been pregnant and had been more technologically savvy and had had more of a sense of humor, I could have made a funny video about language learning like this guy did:

https://vimeo.com/68707719

I've currently been learning Urdu for 9.5 months (as this began on Sept 29, 2013). 

Unlike the man in the video who moved to Germany to learn German, and likely had to converse in German and blended in better with Germans physically, my experience is different.  

In our city, English is the business language, and Telugu is the dominant mother tongue.  There aren't too many Urdu speakers in our part of the city.  I would have to move to the Old City in order to get an immersion experience like this man had language-wise, but even then people may address me in English because I'm fair-skinned like English-speakers.

Our experience is complicated by a lack of direct access to the language we are learning. Much like trying to learn Spanish would be complicated in the States because most people don't only hear Spanish when they walk out their front door.  You have to find Latinos to talk to and beg them to address you in Spanish because they want so much to learn English and your Spanish is so bad that they understand you better when you use English.

This is my experience, but I'm thankful to say that I can understand more than half of what even strangers are saying and probably 60-70% of what my language helper says on the phone to other Urdu speakers. When she talks to me, I understand 90-100% of what she says because we can clarify misunderstandings and nuances of language that I haven't learned yet.

I'm very thankful to have grown so much in my comprehension and use of Urdu in just under a year of time!