The Grammar that just about killed me

We're in our 3rd semester of Arabic. I liken it to our "junior year" of school.

I can remember my junior year of high school. It was hard. I took multiple high level classes so that I could come out on top, along with 2 math classes, again, so I could come out on top. When I look back on it now, I wonder why I pushed myself so hard to take all those maths and an AP Chemistry class...when I ended up studying Musical Theater and English. Sheesh.

But, then, I guess it's HS and you try your hardest at everything because it's all you've ever known and your life is - well, mine was - totally driven by the grades you brought home.

And then college - the same. And really, I did want to do the best I possibly could. Do everything to the glory of the Lord, right? And Junior year of college - it was hard, but great. I was in lots of shows that year with lots of lines to memorize on top of all my regular class load. Loved it!

Now, Junior semester of Arabic. It's Kicking my Tail! I don't love it. And all I can think about is "we have our vacation, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then our 2-week semester break in January and then we're in our last semester!" (yes, this is literally what I've been saying over and over again the past 2 weeks or so.) I'm SO ready to be done. The things we're studying now are nit-picky things - grammatical things, specific colloquial things, special words with 3, 4, 5+ meanings depending on the sentence. BLAH.

BLAH. (so, I may be complaining a little bit...sorry...but this is my blog, right?)

I'm confident in what I do know. I'm confident when I'm speaking to my local friends. I'm confident to have a 12-minute conversation on the phone all in Arabic (my longest one to date!). I'm confident in reading, writing, listening. My local friends all tell me I'm doing great. They continue to be impressed at what I know and how I'm able to talk with them. YAY!

But this specific, "exception to the rule" junk is killing me! And the things we're studying in our formal Arabic class (which is the written Arabic that's the same all around the world. vs. the colloquial which changes depending on where you live) are so super-dee-duper hard.

So, I went today and talked to the director of the school. He's an American and he's an expert in linguistics or something to do with learning languages. He's been here for quite some time and can fill in for any of the teachers. He knows a lot. ANYWHO. I talked to him today about the thing I'm struggling with. *I'd tell you exactly what it is right here, but there's NO way you'd understand it, and honestly, I'm not sure it can be explained in English.* His reply to me was this:

"If the locals don't know how to do IT, then you don't need to worry yourself over it."
To which I replied: "Then why are we studying IT?"
He said: "This is something that the really educated Arab studies in school and probably still has a hard time with. You're studying this to give you a glimpse into their lives. The only time you'll ever need it is if you're reading the newspaper out loud or something like that. And how often do you do that? Never, right? So don't fret about this. Any part of IT that you actually learn and pick up, count it as a bonus on top of your Arabic."

SHEESH. I sure wish he'd said that like 2 weeks ago!

I felt like I turned a corner after we talked. I was able to relax. I joked. I was my normal self again. (I'd had a very hard week last week 'learning' this and even left class early on Thursday because I was so overwhelmed and just wasn't getting it. Then my study time last night ended in tears. Brad made me put my book down and just relax for a while. Wonderful hubby.)

SO. Even though this may be my "junior" semester of Arabic, I'm choosing right now not to act like I did as a junior. I won't let myself get stressed. I won't let myself get overwhelmed anymore with grammar. I will listen to and cling to the promises of my Father, who created this crazy language for his glory and placed me here to learn it for his glory.


¹⁴For he will complete what he appoints for me...Job 23:14a