Reviewing the 2013's resolution I made in the beginning of this year, I am hardly surprised that I've not achieved them at all; unlike that of the previous year. The planned activities I'm loving most have been in conflict with my responsibilities as a college student, organisation member, part-time teacher, freelance editor, which are all time consuming.
The first semester was marked by weekly mobility between Jakarta and Bandung, which affected other schedules of teaching and college exams. Similarly, the second semester of this year turned out to be supertight: managing training for the newly selected PYs in Jakarta while taking 23 credit points of 24 at college. In terms of the academe, this semester has been the worst, I suppose, where philosophy reading was done with little understanding, classes were skipped, papers were made with little reflection, and exams were passed in a hurry--and I swear I'm not sure about the results.
Much personal sacrifice has been given as well: I wasn't really able to attend all the film festivals, public lectures, book discussions, and cultural exhibitions I had bookmarked much earlier. And I should say all this stuff has put me away from the church intermittently for many weeks. They say it's all about time management, but I'd ask if they have tried reading one chapter of Merleau-Ponty's "Philosophy of Perception" within only 2 hours a week and understand all he wrote, before you take a two-hour motorcycle ride to the PDT venue and spend most of the week with PYs and committee members? Surely 24 hours ain't enough?
So I compensated these not-so-appealing life records with other activities that belong to my true penchant and I did everything to get them done. I managed to clinch victories in three varsity competitions of English. I flew for a weekend getaway to Singapore and Batam to meet friends who matter in my life. I sat the TOEIC exam and cast an-ear-to-ear smile after getting the result. I went to theatre performances and music concerts by cancelling any teaching schedules on that day. I've been subscribing to National Geographic Indonesia and French Philosophie magazine just to get more humane inspiration amid the banality of urban life.
I predict that 2014 will take a similar path. But I am sure it's going to be much easier because I have almost no classes to attend. So, here comes the opportunity for the "I-want-to-do" list, instead of the "to-do" list. I want to learn German and Filipino, take Dalf C1/C2 French exams, take CAE/CPE English exams, get a driving licence, get my articles published, and so on.
When learning languages
When learning European languages, it's mostly about declension and conjugation, which Indonesian lacks because it simply uses affixes to make a sentence and reduplication to make a singular noun plural. No genders, no numerals, and (practically) no tenses.
When learning Asian languages, it's mostly about different scripts and tone, which Indonesian lacks because it uses entirely Latin alphabet and tone in Indonesian doesn't change a word's meaning at all.
If you were born and raised in Austronesian realm, you'll know just how difficult it is for an adult learner to get used to those concepts not existing in our mother tongue.
So, kudos to all multilingual Indonesians. At least, we can trill our R's, rrr....
Posted on Facebook on 27 December 2013.
When learning Asian languages, it's mostly about different scripts and tone, which Indonesian lacks because it uses entirely Latin alphabet and tone in Indonesian doesn't change a word's meaning at all.
If you were born and raised in Austronesian realm, you'll know just how difficult it is for an adult learner to get used to those concepts not existing in our mother tongue.
So, kudos to all multilingual Indonesians. At least, we can trill our R's, rrr....
Posted on Facebook on 27 December 2013.
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