Progress

Our fourth meeting took place last Tuesday, but rather than going into the details of what we talked about, I would like to use this post to convey how our conversations have changed over the past month. After all, the main reason behind these meetings is to assist Haya with her comprehension of colloquial English and all of the associated idioms and cliches--it seems silly not to at least touch on her progress.

When I first met Haya, our conversations seemed somewhat arduous. We got the point across, but often had to restate an idea or event several times before finally succeeding. I never realized how colloquially I spoke, using common sayings or phrases as simply as taking a breath. Unfortunately though, English--or any other language for that matter, isn't taught as it is spoken. The proper form of the language is always taught from textbooks--leaving somewhat of a disconnect between native and foreign speakers. A gap that can only be bridged by conversation and time. Before our first meeting, I never thought of conversations as something that would leave me exhausted, at least mentally. Being in engineering, I'm used to feeling somewhat drained after a long day of math and complex concepts, but a conversation about where someone is from causing the same feeling was certainly a new experience to me.

Several times in that first meeting, I found myself searching for a fundamental way to explain an idea to Haya. Feeling lost in your own language is immensely discomforting, I can't imagine how Haya felt trying to follow my discontinuous sentences as I searched for a simple way to convey an idea. Language exists purely to facilitate communication, so it seems reasonable for there to be a difficulty in understanding someone who has only been regularly speaking your language for several months or conversely someone who has been speaking a language you hardly know for all his life.

Over the past few meetings I noticed a gradual change in our conversations. Haya was tripped up by fewer words and we began to converse more naturally. I don't know if this was more of a product of growing more comfortable in our meetings (which it certainly is for me) or if she was getting a better grasp on the language as a whole. I suppose it is probably a combination of the two as I think conversations generally become less forced as you become more accustomed to whomever you're speaking too, but I'd hope our conversations are having a positive effect on her studies.

In the first meeting  she paused eight or nine times to type an Arabic word into a translation app on her phone to help me understand what she was talking about. Now though, she only refers to her phone once or twice a meeting, instead using context and other words she knows for certain to develop an idea to the point where I can guess the right word she is searching for. I think this might be one of the more helpful consequences of our meetings, after all, it's rather hard to get an online translator to guess at what you are trying to say and even if it wasn't, that certainly wouldn't be the way to learn a language.

I do believe our conversations are helping Haya when it comes to learning more about how Americans speak the language. She speaks more naturally now that a month ago, and seemingly with more comfort.  The conversations offer an experience that would be irreplicable in a classroom full of students learning English as a second or third language. And for me, the conversations give insight into Saudi culture. Our conversations are obviously mutually beneficial and I hope they remain so as we continue.