This is the week I seem to have truly joined the 21st
century. Well, sort of. I’ve joined Facebook, with much trepidation but already
have been rewarded with connecting with some friends who have moved away or
moved out of my everyday circle.
This morning I’ve ripped CDs onto the computer successfully,
all by myself, and then synched them to my MP3 player. Now I’m just charging
said MP3.
Mainly I wanted it updated as I purchased a teaching CD set
for Russian, which we are struggling to learn. I think if I can just listen to
it perhaps my pronunciation won’t be so pathetic.
The thing is, Russian is guttural. I mean way down there in
the throat somewhere. The books say a bl sounds like the y in physics, but not
when you hear a native say it. I’ve tried pointing my tongue to the roof of my
mouth, grinning inanely with mouth closed, grunting rather grossly, and none of
it sounds like my friend. So maybe I can copy what the speaker on the CD sounds
like.
I remember learning French when I was about 14 and the
teacher having us practice saying the u in tu by starting with our mouths in a
grin and then gradually pulling our lips into a tight purse as though we were
going to whistle. Hilarious and I’m not sure many of us succeeded.
Human beings have the same mouths, lips, tongues, throats,
the world over, but somehow some languages struggle with saying an l or an r,
and definitely I am struggling with some of these Russian sounds.
God made us in his image, but we all have different ways of
expressing ourselves, linguistically and in worship. Some are expressive and
expansive, some are quiet and private, and God loves us all. The thing is, the
condition of the heart matters more than the position of the body.
No comments:
Post a Comment