Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Week 8 Completed Memrise Course!



Week 8

Word of the Week:  ñee bere huiini ‘little chicken foot’
(This is the name of a flower that doesn’t look much like a chicken foot to me; it is a cute name, though.  This vocabulary came from my last lesson on Memrise, but I already knew the literal translation.  I have learned these three words from different sources.)
http://static.memrise.com/uploads/things/images/9842762_121212_1810_12.jpg

Completed Memrise:  I completed the Memrise course last night!!!  http://www.memrise.com/course/46103/juchitan-zapotec-2/.  The last week of working with this course had become much more difficult.  It’s not just from Spanish to IZ anymore, but from one IZ aspect to another: habitual→completive.  I spent some time working with the verb conjugations on paper, looking for spelling patterns and learning the possible variations and exceptions.  This helped me select the correct answers on Memrise, but I cannot think fast enough yet to note the correct conjugation and think of the meaning of the verb simultaneously.   I will need to spend more time learning these words either through reviewing or “watering” the vocabulary on Memrise and/or working on memorization in my notebook.  The course ended with a lesson on plants.  I suspect that the course designer intentionally ended the program this way to complete the metaphor of “planting.”  This was a refreshing way to finish the course.  These IZ words were not translated into Spanish, but rather accompanied by just a picture.  This made learning these botanical terms easy and fun.  I will continue to review what I have learned and burn into memory my 241 new vocabulary words.  I will also continue to listen to the songs and poems on the course site.    

2 comments:

  1. Although it's a nice metaphor, I wonder how useful learning about plants is in a foreign language. It doesn't seem like vocabulary you will have much opportunity to use.

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  2. I thought the same thing, but I imagine if any of these plants/flowers/trees/fruit are very well known in the isthmus to the indigenous people, they may be referenced in some poetry. I haven't checked, but I would be surprised to find these names in my dictionary. Learning them through Memrise may be a unique opportunity to be exposed to this vocabulary. I had a cross referencing experience recently with the term I thought meant 'olive.' The picture on Memrise that accompanied the words 'guie yaase' was of black olives hanging from a tree branch. I assumed that this translated to 'olive flower.' I came across the word 'yaase' in my grammar book, "bi'cu' yaase'" 'black dog,' and discovered that 'yaase' was the color black. Now I know that 'guie yaase' literally means 'black flower.' This cross referencing burns the word 'yaase' into my memory better than any other memorization technique could do. I have 'learned' the word, rather than just memorized it. So I'm glad for the seemingly useless plant vocabulary after all!

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