Week 6 Language Learning and Motivation

Week 6

Word of the Week:  xquendaranaxhiee’   

(I just love saying this word.  It is from the poem, Neegue’ ca ‘Just Yesterday’, which I am currently memorizing.  I’m still working out the meaning.  To me, it seems to be a possessive noun, maybe (my) ‘love.’)

Learning Experience

New goal, new poem:  My priority for this week was to begin memorizing another Terán poem.  I listened to the Terán podcast http://www.poetrytranslation.org/downloads/24

over again and read along aloud, both the English and IZ.  I enjoyed listening to the podcast more this time than the previous times.  Although I have not listened to the podcast in over a week, I have been reviewing the printed poems frequently.  I feel more familiar with the poetry now, I see more deeply into the meaning and appreciate the metaphors more than before.  I feel that I am being drawn into the poet’s world.  I also enjoyed having more of an ability to read along in Isthmus Zapotec.  (I have been getting my pronunciation practice over the past couple of weeks through Memrise http://www.memrise.com/course/46103/juchitan-zapotec-2/.)  Sometimes the poet reads faster than I can pronounce the words; but often times, I felt like I can pronounce the words along with the poet with accuracy.  It feels wonderful, like speaking in tongues.   The words just roll out of my mouth, but I can’t think and speak at the same rate yet, so I don’t necessarily know what I am saying. 

            I chose to memorize Neegue’ ca ‘Just Yesterday’ for a couple of reasons.  The poem is one that I would be comfortable reciting to others, and I think it is simple to understand and visualize for the casual listener (of course the English translation would be the source of that meaning for most).  The poem is only 14 lines long, very obtainable, and combined with the previous 8 lines of poetry learned with Bidxi, I will meet my goal of learning at least 20 lines by the end of the 10 weeks.  I will include the poem into this blog a little later.  Next I’d like to talk about motivation.
(A little later...)

Neegueˈ ca by Víctor Terán               Just Yesterday translated by David Shook 

 1         Neegueˈ ca nga                         Just yesterday

 2         sica ti xcuidi                              my love was

 3         nacu ti neza lari cubi                  like a kid breaking in

 4         xquendaranaxhieeˈ.                   the year’s new clothes.

 5         Neegueˈ ca nga                         Just yesterday

 6         riluéˈ xquiibalé yuˈduˈ                I was a bell

 7         zeˈ ne zeeda                              joyfully coming and going

 8         cabidxi yecheˈ mixaˈ.                 announcing mass.

 9         Yanna nuaaˈ                              Now I am

10        sica ti binidxaapaˈ bidaˈnaˈ         like the virgin bride whose lover

11        ne qui nuxooñenécabe laa,          refused consummation,

12        sica ti gubidxa bidé xiaga            like a sun finished burning

13        ni gatigá rindisa bi                       whose ash

14                                rucheeche laa.              is scattered by the wind.

Motivation for continued language learning:  After assessing my midterm progress, I had the feeling of reaching a milestone and beginning a new chapter in this language-learning odyssey.  I felt a little overwhelmed with what I felt I still needed to learn within the next few weeks.  When I feel overwhelmed, I experience an aversion to that which is the source of those feelings.  I overcame these de-motivating feelings by telling myself to return to my main interest of this project, which is the poetry, “Choose a new poem.”  My strategy to re-motivate myself is acknowledged by Leaver et al (2005), “renew your positive feelings and motivate yourself again” (p. 106) (see bibliography http://jessicabruin.blogspot.com/2013/04/bibliography.html).  I enjoy Isthmus Zapotec poetry very much. 

Other sources of motivation:  Typically, I consider myself to be primarily motivated to learn Isthmus Zapotec by intrinsic factors; I enjoy learning foreign languages and about people who are different from my self (Griffiths, 2008).  I am also learning this language for extrinsic reasons, such as fulfilling a course requirement.  I also have a more pressing immediate need to memorize another IZ poem.  I am thrilled to be attending a David Shook (translator of Víctor Terán’s Isthmus Zapotec poetry) event this weekend celebrating the release of his new book of poems “Our Obsidian Tongues,” and hope to have the opportunity to speak with him.  I would like to recite a Terán poem for him, and I feel that the Bidxi poem is too juvenile for the occasion.  The IZ poetry is a topic that we both have in common; therefore, my ability to recite a poem, I hope, will demonstrate my sincerity in learning the language and culture.  My ultimate goal with this would be to have Shook agree to meet with me at a later time to discuss his involvement with the language and his experiences learning IZ and translating it into English.  I would also like to ask him for the literal translation of some of the lines of Terán’s poems.  I cannot determine the meaning of every word or metaphor in IZ because Shook’s English translation is too different, and my dictionary does not have an entry for every word I’ve looked up.  Thus, my motivation at the moment to learn a new Terán poem is instrumental, helping me to make a connection with another poet and secure a future meeting.