without a trace

it is best to do exactly that which inspires terror—as often and as quickly as circumstances permit. SC, my Russian instructor, sent out an email, beseeching interview volunteers: subjects for his long-term attempt to become certified in both conducting and rating interviewees according to rigid categories of language ability. before (and because) i could dwell on exactly what a terrible nightmare this would be, and in which particular ways, i immediately responded, signing up for his first available opening.

walking to SC's office after class this morning, we casually discussed the Czech dative and the Russian instrumental cases before diving straight into the interview. speaking into the tiny tape recorder, i answered his questions on such thrilling topics as my family, the layout of my room, and Pushkin. next up was a role-playing game (no, no no: not like that), in which i handled a fake phone conversation in order to decide whether to attend a...umm...a, well—unfortunately for me, i don't know the Russian for the "party" that was supposed to be the central term in the interchange. somehow, however, relying on roundabout (and, largely 18th century) conceptual and pronominal tactics, i discovered the necessary information and (since this is RPG, remember), decided to go to it, after all.

in any case, when we were, again, at ease (by which i mean: the recorder clicked off and SC able, miraculously, to understand and speak English again), he started to laugh and broke out with "i don't know what to do with you...."

apparently, according to the criteria, my 9 weeks of introductory Russian, laced liberally with Czech and That Language-isms, coupled with a stubborn refusal to speak in incomplete sentences have landed me in the "Intermediate Low" category to which many aspire. to hear SC tell it, those who concentrate (undergraduately) in Russian and, typically, have 4 years of the language don't actually emerge from the "broad middle" Intermediate level of the inverted pyramid scale (with Novice at the sharp end) by the time they graduate.

i was talking with Kinga the other day, too, musing on this same subject: short of attempting something completely different (Hungarian or Urdu), i'll never really approach a language without preconceptions. and i do mean pre-conceptions. it drives me to do exactly that, just for the experience. if i had a couple of wishes, one would go towards a magical recollection of the process of acquiring language as a young child (long before i could walk, mind you). some days i mourn, at every turn, this having taken place in such a way that, had it not, i wouldn't, now, care—but that, unfolded, its tracks have hidden themselves perfectly and irrevocably.