For the last few days I’ve been going to a site called Serbian School. The one drawback, at least for me personally, is that it only works with Internet Explorer. (If you use FireFox then go to add-ins where you can change it to IE )It goes through all the steps that really help you understand the language. It has pronunciation, tests, and images. It’s also nice because you can go back and review stuff that you have already learned. Which is how it gets ingrained in your memory.

The thing that I really like about Serbian is that if you know how to pronounce the letters you know how to say the words so it’s easier to learn to at least read Serbian. BTW I’m still looking for a communication partner. I like to think I’ve progressed a bit since the last time I posted anything about my language trials. For example I can say, “Probam učiti srpski” Which means, “I’m trying to learn Serbian”.

I went to a birthday party for one of Alžan’s friends. Of course they were all Serbian speakers. I knew before hand that I would be the minority and was completely prepared to not understand a single thing. I have been working for quite a while to learn, but it’s difficult since I don’t really practice a lot with someone else. Even though Alžan does speak Serbian (srpski). We don’t exactly work on language study when we’re together. If you know what I mean I was happy that I caught a few words. Not enough to know what exactly what was being said. It was kinda on delay. I would hear something, it would get to my brain, there would be a spark of recognition and of course by then they have moved on. So then I’m listening for the next word.

It was a fun night and everyone was really nice. Every once in a while people would look to me and realize that I had the silly smile on my face and translate what was just said. Which would of course halt the conversation. But I really appreciated it. I stayed for quite a while because I felt welcomed and was having a good time. Unfortunately I had to leave because I had to work the next day.

I think my big problem is that I don’t want to sound like a child. As a Virgo I’m kinda a perfectionist. I know that’s kinda silly considering that I’m trying to learn a language that is pretty different from English, but I still expect it. So I think the thing that is preventing my from progressing is that fact that I don’t want to seem ignorant and childish. I guess I have to accept the fact that for a while I’m going to sound like a two year old and just go for it. Of course I say this now at 1 o’clock in the morning on a Friday.

One thing that I find interesting is that I’ve started dreaming in Serbian. Have you ever had a dream in a different language? Especially a language that you didn’t quite understand? This has happened to me a couple times before, when I was learning French in high school. I wish that I was able to remember the situation of the dream and the exact conversation. Because then I would know if my brain was just combining a bunch of words that I knew or if my subconscious actually understood what was being said, but my consciousness hasn’t connected it yet. I like to think that I’m on the cusp of having it connect and become second nature. But maybe it’s wishful thinking.

Okay I think that I’ve rambled on about this for long enough. If you’ve made it this far I really appreciate it. Feel free to comment. BTW I have updated my LearningSerbian Website so please feel free to visit. I’m going to try to work on it some more over the weekend. Have a lovely weekend.