We all suffer from some memory loss, and often joke about it. But when I consider, at the end of the day, that I spent about an hour when broken into all the different times then pulled together, when I was trying to remember something, I want to cut back on memory difficulties.
I've heard a good technique is actively learning something. Not repeating words as crossword workers are doing, or adding numbers as Sodoku workers are doing (though I think those are definitely work!) - and certainly not playing "find the..." games. I need to push myself to learn something new.
So I had to drop out of our Spanish Conversation class, thanks to a pandemic. I don't know how, but I want to learn Gaellic.
Then I found out there are 2 major ones, and probably one of those is broken into 3, and the other broken into 2 very different dialects...and they might not be able to understand each other's Celtic brogue.
Now I started to say, Irish would be good. But maybe Scottish would be a better idea.
And I looked on some Irish pronunciation sites with common phrases, and geese, I couldn't remember one of them, even after saying them out loud.
Well, I admit I seldom remember any names or phrases I had just heard, even by saying them.
This is going to take a lot of effort, and time (of which I have plenty daily, though not so much yearly).
So if anyone should have some good techniques or suggestions, please let me know. I think I'm going to see if any language learning tapes on CDs are available through the library. I need to repeat and repeat after hearing the correct pronunciation. Maybe one phrase a week...or one word!
My Irish ancestor was Francis Beattie, (1715-1791) But come to find out, he was also a Scottish man, with the Ulster Scotts...though the birth of fathers and grandfathers is confusingly either Ireland or Scotland.
But I had other ancestors who were Ulster Scotts...or Scotch Irish as they are now called.
So I think Scottish Gaelic is the way to go after all!
Barbara, Any mental activities are alleged to help maintain our fading memories but learning Gaelic will certainly push the envelope. My wife and I can usually remember things...if we work together on whatever it was we're trying to recall. My wife has family in Scotland and just trying to learn the Scottish version of English is challenging. They use a lot of slang too, which makes understanding them even harder. Good luck with your mental endeavor! Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
ReplyDeleteYou left a comment on my blog and asked if the books were in Portuguese? That particular book store carries each book in 4 languages:English, Portuguese, Spanish, and German.
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