Whoops. When I said I'd blog first thing tomorrow, that was a promise made after I had forgotten I'd agreed to work today. Thankfully, my mom reminded me, and better yet, woke me up at EXACTLY the time I needed to in order to not rush. An hour later than ideal, sure, but 15 minutes earlier than my timer was set for. (Waking up then woulda meant rushing: I'd still not be late and get everything done, but sloppily and in a panic. Thanks to the extra 15, I could take my time.)
It sucks, but oh well. I'll blog tomorrow, maybe. What's interesting today is that it's my younger sister's birthday, and she knows sign language. Why's it interesting? Because, today, I met someone who was deaf. I mean...that's not an ideal combination for me. Because I'm autistic, I have extreme difficulty with maintaining direct focus at someone; it's a skill I needed to be taught and actively maintained throughout years, which I lose if I don't focus my attention. In short, locking eyes with someone is hard for me...when that's exactly what a deaf person needs in order to lip read. (I could tell they could lip read, too.)
Makes me frustrated that I stopped learning. I've started six languages: two years of Japanese in high school, two years of Spanish some time around middle school (maybe slightly earlier), ancient Greek/Latin on and off again for about two years, Old English also was for at least a year, and then American Sign Language. That, not even counting computer languages which are in fact comparable to real languages: at least two years of C++, at least a year maybe two of C#, one year of Flash, probably others, too.
I retain rudimentary basics of each language. I can recognize a lot of Japanese kana, I maintain my understanding of how their alphabet is structured, I recognize a lot of things any person who watches subbed anime would (pronouns, titles, transitions, a few common words and phrases including a couple very rude ones), I know a lot about their culture, but dead serious, someone who watches/reads anime/manga could learn more than what I remember.
For Spanish, I recognize when it is written, and can often tell when it's being spoken. I recognize some cliche phrases I learned, along with a few basic words. I remember the structure of the language, with their six pronoun system for everything, but not the rules for what's masculine and what's feminine. (This also applies to Latin and Old English.) I remember how letters are pronounced. But this is stuff that anyone can learn in a few days.
For Greek/Latin, I can recognize a few words here and there and sometimes work them out especially knowing English. I never learned their alphabets that well (because I know both of their alphabets, when combined, make up our own, but by themselves are not directly translatable to English), and I really only learned a few random, common words.
I remember about the same for Old English, to which, I say...basically nothing. I remember that sentences could have words swapped and maintain their meaning, with the example listed being "The bishop crowns the king" being flipped still meaning "the bishop crowns the king" (which in Modern English, you can still do by changing the wording: "The king is crowned by the bishop"), but that's about it.
For Sign Language, I actually recognize a few letters of the alphabet, but not enough that when my sisters spell words out to each other (which they do all the time), that I can reliably work out what they're spelling. I only remember a couple of basic words, mostly things that are modifications of the alphabet, or things commonly said, or things my sister has shown which I retain.
And for coding...I can recognize a few rules in there, recognize the structure of the code, work out what some things do because the terms don't change that much from language to language, but not fluently enough that I can look at code and instantly identify, "oh, that does this, and this does that!", not fluently enough to figure out where things go wrong, and not fluently enough where I can myself code.
So, it is a bit frustrating to be reminded of how I could be fluent in these things if I had stuck with them, but am not...yet at the same time, it's a pleasant reminder of the experience, if that makes sense. Also, I found it particularly interesting to interact with the deaf person, even if only briefly and extremely awkwardly, so there's also that.
It sucks, but oh well. I'll blog tomorrow, maybe. What's interesting today is that it's my younger sister's birthday, and she knows sign language. Why's it interesting? Because, today, I met someone who was deaf. I mean...that's not an ideal combination for me. Because I'm autistic, I have extreme difficulty with maintaining direct focus at someone; it's a skill I needed to be taught and actively maintained throughout years, which I lose if I don't focus my attention. In short, locking eyes with someone is hard for me...when that's exactly what a deaf person needs in order to lip read. (I could tell they could lip read, too.)
Makes me frustrated that I stopped learning. I've started six languages: two years of Japanese in high school, two years of Spanish some time around middle school (maybe slightly earlier), ancient Greek/Latin on and off again for about two years, Old English also was for at least a year, and then American Sign Language. That, not even counting computer languages which are in fact comparable to real languages: at least two years of C++, at least a year maybe two of C#, one year of Flash, probably others, too.
I retain rudimentary basics of each language. I can recognize a lot of Japanese kana, I maintain my understanding of how their alphabet is structured, I recognize a lot of things any person who watches subbed anime would (pronouns, titles, transitions, a few common words and phrases including a couple very rude ones), I know a lot about their culture, but dead serious, someone who watches/reads anime/manga could learn more than what I remember.
For Spanish, I recognize when it is written, and can often tell when it's being spoken. I recognize some cliche phrases I learned, along with a few basic words. I remember the structure of the language, with their six pronoun system for everything, but not the rules for what's masculine and what's feminine. (This also applies to Latin and Old English.) I remember how letters are pronounced. But this is stuff that anyone can learn in a few days.
For Greek/Latin, I can recognize a few words here and there and sometimes work them out especially knowing English. I never learned their alphabets that well (because I know both of their alphabets, when combined, make up our own, but by themselves are not directly translatable to English), and I really only learned a few random, common words.
I remember about the same for Old English, to which, I say...basically nothing. I remember that sentences could have words swapped and maintain their meaning, with the example listed being "The bishop crowns the king" being flipped still meaning "the bishop crowns the king" (which in Modern English, you can still do by changing the wording: "The king is crowned by the bishop"), but that's about it.
For Sign Language, I actually recognize a few letters of the alphabet, but not enough that when my sisters spell words out to each other (which they do all the time), that I can reliably work out what they're spelling. I only remember a couple of basic words, mostly things that are modifications of the alphabet, or things commonly said, or things my sister has shown which I retain.
And for coding...I can recognize a few rules in there, recognize the structure of the code, work out what some things do because the terms don't change that much from language to language, but not fluently enough that I can look at code and instantly identify, "oh, that does this, and this does that!", not fluently enough to figure out where things go wrong, and not fluently enough where I can myself code.
So, it is a bit frustrating to be reminded of how I could be fluent in these things if I had stuck with them, but am not...yet at the same time, it's a pleasant reminder of the experience, if that makes sense. Also, I found it particularly interesting to interact with the deaf person, even if only briefly and extremely awkwardly, so there's also that.
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