Until you find what works

I know it is because I am in school, but I keep thinking back to something on my mission.

My mission was to work with Laotian refugees in the San Joaquin valley.

The Lao language has a completely different alphabet, there are tones that affect which letters get used for some sounds, and there are not many cognates with English.

I had studied French, Spanish, Italian, and even bits of German and Norwegian, but there were no helps with that here. (Well, there were two Lao words that had been pulled from French, but that was about it.)

Previously learning languages had been pretty easy for me. I am not saying that there wasn't any studying or difficulty involved, but reading over the information and looking things up worked pretty well. 

That was all off the table in Lao.

Also, a lot of our work was with younger people who spoke English pretty well, often better than Lao.

We had time set aside each day for language study, but I was not using it effectively. I didn't know how.

This got worse in Modesto, where someone had donated a box of old church literature. There were some old scriptures in it, but also a lot of magazines. I would get distracted reading those magazines. I had always done a lot of reading before, but what we were allowed to read was very limited. Here was a treasure trove. There was a relief to reading in English when I did not feel like I was getting anywhere with the Lao.

Eventually my companion told me that it was a problem and she would have to tell the mission president. I started buckling down for that, because no one wants to get called into the principal's office. I did anyway, because someone else said I had a lot of potential but wasn't fulfilling it (my worst nightmare, other than vampires).

Those are not happy memories, but there is also one huge regret that has gotten worse.

When I did start studying effectively, the key for me ended up being writing. I suspect that is because the different alphabet was not entering my head as well; I needed to get it in via my hands as well as my eyes.

What I later realized would have been perfect was translating the magazines. It would have given me a wide range of vocabulary and given me practice writing and I still would have been able to read the magazines that I found so compelling. 

I still regret that I didn't think of it then. It really would have been perfect. 

I suppose in some ways it was a harder adjustment for me than for some other missionaries learning Lao. I was used to language coming easily, but the process I was using wasn't working. If they didn't have that experience, maybe that made it easier to just keep trying different things until something worked. 

Then again, maybe the first thing they tried did work, even if it required more effort.

In school I keep having to figure out how to approach various assignments. Often the first one that seems logical also feels wrong. 

I won't immediately give up the way that feels wrong, because there could just be some aversion to schoolwork or procrastination going on. However, it is important to remember that lots of different approaches are possible. Not only is it okay to change things up, it may be vital.

I suppose I am also thinking about this because on the main blog I am writing about different options for resisting. There often seems to be some failure of imagination. If you always do what you've always done...

The point is, don't give up. 

Do give it more thought.