Week Two

Life has been…busy. Between classes, homework, and some community activities, it’s hard to find time to do anything else. Classes are in full swing in their second week now. Here’s a list of what I’m taking:

Articulatory Phonetics - This class is about the sounds that the human mouth can make. In phonetics we learn to identify, write down, and produce all of these sounds, as well as the theory of how they are made. The class is foundational to the other classes and is being taught in only 3 weeks, which places a lot of stress on both the students and the teachers. Luckily, attempting to make a lot of the sounds that we are studying often ends up in laughter, which provides a needed relief.

Sociolinguistics - Society and language and interrelated, and this class explores how. You can imagine for yourself how people across the socio-economic spectrum speak differently. Upon meeting someone you probably immediately make some guesses about them based on their accent or the words that they use. The implications of this interaction are the primary subject matter for the course.

Language and Culture Learning – Just like it sounds, this class is about how to learn a new language and culture. Complete with a practicum, I’m now learning some Ilocano, a language spoken in the Philippines.

Principles of Sociolinguistic Survey – This one is a graduate level course on language surveys. Basically we’ll try to cover the whole gambit from the need for surveying, to planning, execution, analysis and reporting. This course is the most related the work I believe I will end up doing, and is for me the most interesting. With only 3 people in the class, it allows for a dialogue with the professors and the other students instead of a lecture.

But life here is not all work(though it’s very close!) Last Saturday a bunch of us students and staff took a hike up to some waterfalls in a provincial park. The Coast Mountain range runs right along the ocean in British Columbia and is spectacular. I’m still fascinated by mountains, probably because I’ve never lived in a place that was anywhere near them. The picture I have posted here is one I took at the destination of our hike.

I’m more convinced than ever that I was God knew what he doing when he brought me here, and am now talking with some people about starting the application process to join Wycliffe. I’ve been very impressed by the commitment these people have to see a Bible in every language, as well as to work with the community in language development, and to produce high-quality linguistic work. The work that SIL does is well respected even within academia, and I think that’s right on. Given what’s at stake, we shouldn’t have any excuse to be doing second-quality work

Keep praying! I have a little bit of a cold, and that’s making phonetics class rather interesting….