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 Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:11 pm
"Whatever," Lin repeated in Common Tongue, "It would help if you tried to use words in normal conversation."
While she knew sometimes for simplicity purposes they did translate often, but she really wanted to encourage Andarien to use those words because it wasn't going to get any easier if he didn't.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:18 pm
"But I can't remember them!" Andarien cried, frustrated. "I can't use them if I can't remember them!"
He was such a calm and happy boy as long as he wasn't having languages forced on him: at those times, he got quite angry and sometimes talked back to anyone around him.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:24 pm
"And there is nothing wrong with asking how to say something, even if it's a word," Lin replied back, "Because while I understand you find this frustrating, it is going to be more frustrating for you when we start traveling and you cannot communicate with other people."
She understood that he was frustrated but this was important.
"At least Common Tongue, because it is the language used between nations and the main language of Gaia."
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:04 pm
"Why?" Andarien asked in a surly tone. "I can just ask you or Ada or Miyuki or someone else. It's a lot easier than learning it myself."
"And what if we're not around to translate for you?" Earendil asked, arching his brow to make a point.
Andarien stared at his father as if the thought had never entered his mind. For several seconds, he didn't speak, but his eyes grew wider and wider as panic slowly set in.
"You're going to leave me alone?!?!" he gasped at last, his voice almost shrill with terror.
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:11 pm
Lin giggled and hugged her son reassuringly, "You might not believe this, being as young as you are, but one day when you're old as your ada or myself..."
She paused and realized her husband was very old.
"Or at least as old as myself, you'll want to go out to the world on your own. Just like one day your sister will, and so we need to make sure you're prepared for that day."
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:21 pm
Andarien shook his head and clung tightly to Lin. "Never!" he said harshly. "Never going anywhere without you and Ada! Never, never, never!"
Earendil sighed sadly. There had to be a way to make this easier for Andarien, somehow or other. And yet practical lessons weren't doing him any good, so what would? Usually practically was the easiest way to learn something.
"How many methods even are there to teach a language?" he asked Lin, wondering if perhaps she knew a better way.
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 4:54 pm
"Sign language?" Lin suggested with a shrug, "I know that for people who have trouble learning how to speak sign language and the verbal word at the same time is used to re-enforce ideas. That's what Triton is doing with Iris, granted Iris is still better at sign language than actually speaking."
It was like a quirk that wouldn't go away really, she thought about her own education as she hugged Andarien with one arm.
"We could also try repetitive dialogue so at least so he knows the basics. When I was learning as a kid every day use to start out with... hello, how are you, what day is it today... the usual questions and then I had to answer back."
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:31 pm
"That would be a start, I guess," Earendil frowned, watching as Andarien continued to cling tightly to Lin. "That's more or less what we've been trying."
He wasn't sure about the sign language ... first he would have to learn what the signs meant in the Common Tongue so that he could understand them, and then it would be the same problem of trying to remember the new word for it again.
He supposed it was worth a try, though.
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 1:54 pm
Lin wasn't so sure, there were times they didn't re-enforce the fact that Andarien needed to learn these languages. She understood he found them hard, that she couldn't blame him for, but he was also at that age where he was depending on people to always help him or do things for him. Lin knew his memory wasn't awful, he seemed to know a lot.
"I don't know... maybe we if asked him more structured questions and go on from there. Eventually, he'll get it."
Or at least if they asked him every single day he might at least be able to name the days and count to ten; anything at this point was an improvement. Turning to Andarien Lin stroked his hair.
"Now Andarien, growing up aside this is important. It's not just about skills to live on your own. It is also about knowledge and respect. People respect those who bother to learn their own language, but more importantly even though ada and I use another language so you and your sister sometimes can't understand to have a private conversation, out there with other people it might become necessary to understand what other people are saying when they try to pull the same trick."
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 1:59 pm
No matter how many explanations or reasons Lin and Earendil gave for Andarien to learn other languages, he still didn't understand.
"Why?" he asked Lin, genuinely confused after this particular explanation. "Will they say bad things? If you and Ada do it then why is it bad for other people?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:08 pm
Lin smiled and sighed a bit. She wondered if she learned all her jaded views from her father, well that probably wasn't right. Lin herself had met many asses growing up too.
"Andarien, not everyone in the world is good, and not everyone in this world will accept us for who we are. There will be people who will try to use your ignorance against you, there will be people you will try to insult you without you knowing it, and goddesses forbid this ever happens but should you find yourself in trouble or ambushed they are not going to be kind and speak in a language you know. Your ada and I do because sometimes there are things that you and Miyuki are not yet ready to know, but the difference is, we've always intended for you two to know the same languages that we do."
Which was obviously was not going to happen with Andarien but that was a different kettle of fish.
"In fact, you might not know this because this was far before you were born, but Aric and his wife pretended to only know high elven when we first met them. He once said the best way to tell how people are was to see what they would say in another language thinking you can't understand them."
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:21 pm
Andarien's brow furrowed slightly as he processed what Lin had told him. To him, most of what she had said was brand new: first of all that people would not accept them - why wouldn't they? They were just like everyone else, weren't they? - and because the very thought that someone might be mean - try to insult him, hide things from him, take advantage of him - was foreign.
"I don't understand," he frowned finally.
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:45 pm
To be young again... Lin wondered when she stopped believing the world was so nice.
"You're young," Lin murmured, "One day you'll understand, but until then trust us when we say you need this. You cannot just keep thinking that there will always be someone around to translate for you, because there is always a chance there might not."
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:02 pm
"There is another option," Iorlas spoke up from where she was sitting with Daeron on the other side of the wagon, "though I have to say ... I'm not certain you would like it."
"Anything is better than stupid lessons that don't help," Andarien grumbled.
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:40 pm
Lin suppressed another sigh and reminded herself that Andarien was not old enough to understand the importance of just trying. Even she herself hated the sciences, and maths and plowed on through. Granted it was only because then she could get out of school and take other lessons, and it wasn't like she got a particularly high grade in them.
"Let's hear it first," Lin told Iorlas.
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