For the past seven months I have
been studying Russian. Russian is the lingua franca of Eastern Europe and Central
Asia. After searching around I concluded that only the University of Nebraska
at Omaha had a class that met my time schedule and was affordable. As it turns
out I was very lucky indeed.
I had purchased some Russian language
instruction CDs to listen to whilst on the treadmill doing the gym thing. But
when I showed up at class I found that I could not differentiate the subtle sounds
present in much of the language. So I sat right up front and tried as best I
could to catch the endings. It was a humbling experience as I desperately tried
to match spoken sounds to the Cyrillic alphabet I was learning simultaneously.
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| Professor Novikov, noted author and adventurer Fritz, and best Russian student ever Harrison |
After a week I concluded that my
wife and children might, just might, be correct in their assessment, which they
had been hammering at me for the last five years. “Dad – you need hearing aids”.
Oh the devastation! The ultimate symbol of geezer hood. The dreaded hearing
aid.
So I went to the audiologist to
see if indeed that was the problem. It was. Apparently I have been a bit hard
on the ears over my life. And I was pretty deaf in the left ear, and getting
there fast in the right ear. The hearing limitation would make it very
difficult to learn Russian without some enhancement.
The short version is this: I
bought hearing aids, and my Russian professor, Tatyana Novikov, was very
supportive and understanding. I must have asked her to repeat words, sentences
and phrases hundreds of times. And she did it so I could learn.
I should also note that Professor
Novikov is an excellent teacher. When the class first started out we had about
27 people signed up. After about 2 classes I concluded that Professor Novikov
had been teaching Russian to students with no Slavic language background for a
long time. Methodically and patiently she led us through the course. I learn
languages very rapidly (when I can hear). Russian is difficult. In fact, I was
longing for the good old days of Caesar’s Gaelic Wars. At least I could read
the alphabet.
I also got lucky and found a
tutor. My tutor is Ksenya Feyordova, a 16 year old Russian exchange student at
Westside High School. Every Tuesday or Thursday I would spend an hour or so
with her just reading aloud or going over numbers, colors, and some of the
grammar. It was very helpful because I got the one on one attention I needed
due to my hearing problem. Ksenya is from Novgorad; and if time and
circumstances permit I would like to visit her home on this trip.
I am far from fluent in Russian,
but I know a lot more than I did seven months ago. On my last trip I decided
that I would spend time building my Spanish language skills. My logic was and
is that if I can speak the language I can always find the parts and someone to
fix the motorcycle. But if my skills are all mechanical, I cannot even ask
directions. Besides, I need to be able to read road signs, menus, and official
notices in Russian on this trip. So that means learning the Cyrillic alphabet
at a minimum.
The best part about learning
Russian at UNO is that I was a 63 year old deaf guy slugging my way through
with 19 year olds on the same journey. My classmates were a bit taken aback
at first because I was far and away much older than any of them. And I wished I
had their spongy brains to absorb all the new language skills. But I got to
know some of them very well and I count them among my friends. I invited the
whole class to my going away party.
What I also learned is that it is
difficult to learn a new language when one is old. I would say anytime a
person is over 40 she is going to have a tough time. And it does not matter if
the person already speaks a couple languages. I just do not think the mature
brain absorbs the sounds and vocabulary as rapidly as a youthful brain. I do
not know if this type of brain exercise staves off dementia, but it cannot
hurt.
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