Roxy TS #8

 Amir and I talked about the flexibility of Russian as compared to that of English. He explained that, in Russian, you can build upon words more and more, and even invent entirely new words with parts of others, and people will understand what you are saying. We compared this to English, which Amir says feels more strict and less workable. I wonder if this is because of how much he has left to learn. As a native speaker, I think I feel that English is mostly freeing, a fluid language I can move through, although, at times, I can feel stuck or like I am searching for the right words but they don’t exist. My understanding, though, is that everyone can feel this way in their native tongue. I am still trying to figure it all out. Speaking with my tutee about these sorts of things makes me think hard about the student’s perspective, approaching the language as they are from the outside. We also talked about pronunciation issues, like the ‘th’ sound in ‘weather,’ which Amir pronounces like a ‘zee,’ and the ‘v’ sound, which he often pronounces like a ‘w,’ such as in the word ‘very.’ We will have to sit down and work on the issues we identified soon. I think the simplest approach, and the one I will use first, must inevitably be the repeat-after-me approach.

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