Main do ku mahinia to Panjabi parna likhna sikh rahi sii.
I've been learning to read and write (and speak and listen to!) Panjabi for 2+ months now...and I'm ACTUALLY getting somewhere. I always thought it would be a hard language to learn and I am finding it is actually easier by far than I thought. I can basically read at about a "grade 1" level, sounding out letters in Gurmukhi script to make a word, and while my vocabulary is smaller than what I read by far ;-) it is growing quickly.
It started by accident kind of. And I regret not starting sooner, or I'd probably be almost fluent by now. ;-) I turned on the Panjabi radio station and realised I could understand the basic gist of the conversation, but it came across to me at the time as "blah blah blah blah heart attack blah blah blah blah doctors blah blah blah blah specialists"...etc. and I'd be going "ok fine, they're talking about heart troubles etc." Not long after that I picked up a "teach yourself punjabi" book at a used bookstore and a few library books and went into it thinking maybe I could learn a few commonly used terms and such to be polite. Then, I realised since much of our assimilation of newly learned things happens during our dreams (yes, I'm serious...), I should play stuff in Panjabi at night while I sleep. Then, things kind of snowballed. I started looking at grammar rather than short "visitors phrases for a tourist guide book", I started hearing phrases over and over on the radio, wondering what they were, and finally figuring them out all by myself without anyone telling me what they mean!!
I am far from fluent still but I can piece together some short sentences that typically have some grammar mistakes. I also thought to begin with I would never learn Gurmukhi; it seemed way too complicated. But at Vaisakhi this year I came across a kiosk selling Gurmukhi workbooks like for the early elementary school aged kids, and treated myself to those and now am able to read very slowly. It is actually quite thrilling to me to be making this happen. I have some friends I ask for help occasionally (answer a question about a word, or sentence) but I do a LOT of the learning by myself.
:kaurkhalsaflagblue:
I've been learning to read and write (and speak and listen to!) Panjabi for 2+ months now...and I'm ACTUALLY getting somewhere. I always thought it would be a hard language to learn and I am finding it is actually easier by far than I thought. I can basically read at about a "grade 1" level, sounding out letters in Gurmukhi script to make a word, and while my vocabulary is smaller than what I read by far ;-) it is growing quickly.
It started by accident kind of. And I regret not starting sooner, or I'd probably be almost fluent by now. ;-) I turned on the Panjabi radio station and realised I could understand the basic gist of the conversation, but it came across to me at the time as "blah blah blah blah heart attack blah blah blah blah doctors blah blah blah blah specialists"...etc. and I'd be going "ok fine, they're talking about heart troubles etc." Not long after that I picked up a "teach yourself punjabi" book at a used bookstore and a few library books and went into it thinking maybe I could learn a few commonly used terms and such to be polite. Then, I realised since much of our assimilation of newly learned things happens during our dreams (yes, I'm serious...), I should play stuff in Panjabi at night while I sleep. Then, things kind of snowballed. I started looking at grammar rather than short "visitors phrases for a tourist guide book", I started hearing phrases over and over on the radio, wondering what they were, and finally figuring them out all by myself without anyone telling me what they mean!!
I am far from fluent still but I can piece together some short sentences that typically have some grammar mistakes. I also thought to begin with I would never learn Gurmukhi; it seemed way too complicated. But at Vaisakhi this year I came across a kiosk selling Gurmukhi workbooks like for the early elementary school aged kids, and treated myself to those and now am able to read very slowly. It is actually quite thrilling to me to be making this happen. I have some friends I ask for help occasionally (answer a question about a word, or sentence) but I do a LOT of the learning by myself.
:kaurkhalsaflagblue:
