Ek Saal-ebration!

Gentles and ladiemen, namaste!! 

Today is indeed a joyous day, as you have probably gathered from the title of today's post. For my non-Hindi speakers, "ek saal" means one year. THAT is the big clue of the reason behind this post: it's officially my one year anniversary learning Hindi!!! I can hardly believe that an entire year has flown by so quickly and yet so slowly simultaneously. I am totally abuzz with emotion! I (of course) wanted to celebrate this occasion with all of you beloved Bluebearies, so what better (and COVID-safe) way than through a virtual Q&A?? 

Grab some snacks, pop on a virtual party hat 🎉🥳, and let's dive in!

Let's start off on the easier side of the spectrum with some introductory questions:

Q:  "Muahahahah, will you regret this decision?"

A:  Absolutely not! LET'S GOOOOOOOO!!!

Q:  "Where are you from, sis?"

A:  California originally, but now a long-time resident of upstate New York! We get to experience all the seasons, which is truly beautiful. Being in the general vicinity of the US Bethel facilities is also a blessing without compare. No matter where I may go, this will forever be my home.

(The last Q&A infamously had the "is mayonnaise an instrument?" question. Lo and behold, we've got another offbeat question!)

Q:  "What's a hypotenuse?"

A:  What acute question! (ba dum tss). Anywhos. A hypotenuse is the longest side of a right-angle triangle! The Hindi word for it is कर्ण . In the words of Salman Khan: तो त्रिकोण का कर्ण होगा पाँच*. ⊿ I was not anticipating discussing geometry, but hey! I like surprises. (^.^) 

Okay okay,  now that those are done, now let's move into the other questions.

Q:  "Wow!!! You have a blog?!?!?" Along with the related question, "You have a blog? 😀"

A:  Yes indeed I do! I have met quite a few new people (virtually) through the course of the pandemic who did not know that I have this blog. Granted, I don't post on here much these days, but it has been my tiny ongoing pet project since 2015. I love having a forum to share my stories from past need-greater/theocratic adventures. Someday, when things settle down, I will make good on posting more of those future endeavors...I hope...we shall see!

Q:  "What is a Hindi word that describes the culture well?"

A:  Hindi has some words that are deemed untranslatable into English. This Indo-Aryan language is so colorful and rich in meaning, stories and principles interwoven in its fabric. I don't think I know one singular word that fully encapsulates this beautiful culture, but one word that I love is जिजीविषा (pronounced jijivisha). English will vaguely define it as an intensely strong desire to keep on living. It speaks of human tenacity and the innate desire every one of us has of living eternally. To be completely fair, I do not know the full origins of this word, and Hindi has a funny way of inserting religious ideologies into words, so if any of my actual Hindi speaker friends read this, please feel free to correct me!

Q:  "What was exactly as you expected?"

A:  Honestly, I did not even know what to expect!! This is my first foray into learning a totally new language, so every step has been an adventure and discovery. I did not anticipate the brain aches and bits of class sneaking into my dreams. I was not ready for the day that I almost missed my Watchtower comment because I couldn't count past 5 and it made me cry like a child (with my Zoom camera turned off, of course!). I was not prepared to be gathered into the arms of a small loving congregation and make friends, here and overseas, who want to help me improve and have been cheering along the way. There are ups and downs, but with Jehovah's help, He makes all things an unforgettable experience.

Q:  "What surprised you the most about the Hindi experience?"

A:  That there are some words that are eerily similar to Spanish. Having only ever learned languages of Romantic origin, I would never expected there to be lingual crossroads and intersections. Take for example the word for table in each respective language. In Spanish it's mesa, whilst in Hindi it's mez. Neat, no? Etymology is one of my favorite studies, and it has only increased as time has gone by.

Q:  "How did you learn the alphabet?"

A:  The way my teacher went about teaching me, he would start with 2 vowels and 2 consonants for each lesson until I learned the whole thing. I loved the process he used; it really did allow me to mentally digest the sounds and pronunciations. He would break down the letter by category, pronunciation, a word in English that had that sound, and finally a Hindi word that used it. Everyone has a different learning style, but this one happened to work for me.

Q:  "Is there a good course at all for us as Witnesses to learn fast all we need for small talk and preaching?"

A:  Outside of actually getting lessons (which I personally found VERY beneficial) and/or Branch-organized language classes, I found the JW Language app to be an unsung treasure trove. The sheer amount of presentations and introductions is phenomenal! I only just recently started using it regularly, and it has proved to be an excellent tool. 10/10 would recommend. 

Q:  "What took longer to learn: writing, reading, or speaking?"

A:  100% speaking! My teacher got me to the point of recognizing the whole alphabet within 3 months, and due to Sanskrit being very artistic, it was not too difficult learning to recreate the script. But SPEAKING, oof! Even a year later, it makes me quite nervous to start speaking. In the class setting, it isn't so bad honestly, but sometimes I have let overthinking get the better of me where I shy away from conversations. That is actually one of my goals, which is covered in the following question!

Q:  "What are your goals with learning the language?"

A:  As stated above, as I cross the one year threshold, I am considering what and where to improve. So my goals currently are as follows:

(1) write and give my own part entirely in Hindi

(2) start a Hindi Bible study

(3) become comfortable conversing in full Hindi

(4) go to Pioneer School in Hindi

I am sure that more goals will reveal themselves and will need tweaking along the way, but that's what I've got so far! I heard in a  video recently that your personal reason behind learning another language becomes the fuel and fodder of your efforts. I am determined to keep the goal of helping more people to get to know Jehovah ever-present in front of me. At the points where it'll get increasingly more difficult or challenging, this reason will keep the fire alive.

And now onto the thank you section!

I have to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who submitted questions for this Q&A! This was soooo much fun to do. I appreciate you all playing along and participating; it makes it so much more enjoyable. Even with my irregular blog posting, the fact that you all continue to read and support it warms my little heart.

Thank you to my extremely supportive family who have been behind me every step of the way. It tickles me to hear all of you humming or singing along all of the Hindi music I blast nearly every day. They are the dream team, truly!

To my beautiful congregation, I love you guys so much. I haven't met 90% of you in-person yet, but you've made me feel 100% at home. Looking forward to non-virtual hangouts someday!

And lastly, to my AMAZING teacher: शिक्षक, you have been so very patient and kind through this whole process. Thank you SO SO much; I wouldn't be at this point without you. You've become not just a teacher but my friend as well.

Thank you again everybody for reading! May you all stay happy, safe and sound during these troublesome times. Sending the biggest virtual hugs to you all. Take care and stay tuned for the next post!

Love,

The Adventurous A

*I have no idea if Salman-ji actually ever said this. I got it from a website. Don't believe everything you read on the interwebs, kids!