An accomplished lady

[gwendolyngrey]

"It is amazing to me, how young ladies can have patience to be so very accomplished as they all are;  I am sure I never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being informed that she was very accomplished...  they all paint tables, cover screens, and net purses..."

"A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word." 

"Yet to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading."

It might be a silly fancy on my part and Jane Austen might have sometimes been a little sarcastic concerning the topic of ladylike accomplishments, but for a while now I've wanted to possess all the accomplishments of a 19th century lady.  I can confidently say that I have a good start.  I can draw, dance, do all sorts of needlework, play more than one instrument (although my skills at the piano and at singing more resemble Elizabeth Bennet's level than that of Georgiana Darcy), and try to frequently read and expand my mind.  And while they are not fine accomplishments, I can also cook and clean tolerably well.

Where I really fall down, however, is "modern languages",  a phrase which most likely referred to French, Italian, and German.  I took one semester of French, and while I loved the language, I didn't have the time to study it further (something that has always frustrated me).  Last night, though, I had a stroke of positive genius!  Where I work, a lot of talking is discouraged but personal ipods are allowed.  Instead of sitting and listening to music for eight hours a day, I can use that time to listen to French lessons and various French podcasts and audio books.  I might not be able to speak along with the lessons while at work, but it certainly can't hurt.  Perhaps I'll finally be able to communicate in French better than a toddler!

And while I might be planning too far ahead (a bad habit of mine), after French I'll tackle German.  I'm not really interested in Italian and will mostly likely take on Spanish instead if I get that far, but there are plenty of people in the world who speak three or more languages, so why not me?  If I put in the work, it'll be completely possible.  Not only will it finally get me out of the camp of 'lazy-Americans-who-only-speak-English', but it'll properly round out my set of "accomplishments" very nicely.

Comments

Language learning

[islenskr.livejournal.com]

Yay for learning French!!
If you can afford it, I highly recommend the Rosetta Stone language learning series. It require time every day to use it, but I hear it's totally worth it. I have only used their demo version (Latin and Russian) and liked it very much, feeling that I was in fact learning something.

I'll warm you about German, though. It's *very* different from French. If you can speak French, Italian is pretty easy. Same with Spanish. I think the hardest thing with those is the difference in pronunciation.

Good luck!! Definitely write about how you're doing with French!

Re: Language learning

[idlewild-grey.livejournal.com]

I WISH I could afford Rosetta Stone! I tried out the French demo and you're quite right, I did actually feel like I was learning something. I suppose it's one of those things that might be worth saving up for.

Yeah, I kind of figured that French will be no help at ALL when it comes to German, but in way I find that rather appealing... as if I'll be figuring out two very different secret codes. And if I start learning German before mastering French, I probably won't have to worry about mixing the two up in my mind! ;)

I'll keep you updated about my progress! Hopefully one of these days I'll be able to write an entire LJ entry in intelligible French.

[chandra-miller.livejournal.com]

My husband and I are taking beginning German lessons at a local German Turn Verein once a week after work. So far it's been fun, but I'm sooo glad I took three years of Spanish and a semester of French, or I would be lost right now. The instructor hasn't been the best about explaining verb conjugations so I'm glad I remembered that. Good luck with the audio books/podcasts in French! It's a beautiful language.

[idlewild-grey.livejournal.com]

That does sounds like fun! It's always easier learning in a class instead of on your own... although it's a shame your instructor isn't the best.

Thanks for the good wishes! I've always loved the French language...

[saraquill.livejournal.com]

I recommend talking to yourself in the language you're trying to learn. I did that with Chinese, and it helps the words come to me to the point I'll speak it before it occurs to me to use English.

Also, good luck with spelling. I remember a lot of silent letters in French class.

[idlewild-grey.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That sounds like a very useful tip!

And there are a lot of silent letters in French, but for the most part it seems as if they follow fairly concrete rules. Learning the grammar will probably help me a lot with spelling!

[nuranar.livejournal.com]

That's such a neat concept. You're certainly ahead of me! I've got the singing and dancing and playing and needlework more or less accomplished, but I cannot draw worth a hoot and I don't know any other languages. I do feel inadequate! :D

[idlewild-grey.livejournal.com]

Well, you DO sing and play much better than I do, so it sort of evens out. ;) And at the moment I only have a very, very small head start on languages... one semester and a bit of self-study is next to nothing.