Categories: family, linguistics, study, reading
Date: 22 September 2007 03:57:41
Thank you for the prayers for gran; her infection on one of her lungs is still there and a cause for concern, but her time in hospital appears to be helping.
Thank you also for the suggestions on North Wales. Debd's suggestion of Hay-on-Wye was interesting, particularly as I'd read about it only last week in David Crystal's very entertaining, and informative, By hook or by crook: a journey in search of English. I may have to try and stop off on my way from North to South Wales, taking a full wallet with me.
I enjoy David Crystal's books on language and linguistics, perhaps as I find languages so very fascinating. And David Crystal writes very well, keeping you informed and entertained throughout. I also find him refreshing in that he is very much in the "language does change" camp, so those uptight about the changes in language would get little sympathy from him I believe [though he isn't one, nor am I, for casting off all: there is just an admittance, which I agree with, that language is always changing, always evolving: and the English language in particular]. By Hook or by Crook is more a travelogue than a constant exploration, with excursions down every narrow lane and jaunts across fields whenever Crystal feels like it. In that sense I love it: one thought or comment about languages leads to something else, which moves to something else and before you know it you are miles away from where you started -- but informed, and you've had a wonderful ride.
At times I think I truly am in the wrong career. Though perhaps it is good to have such interests, and interest so very different from work, in one's life outside the job. I do know that the various reading I do, as well as the courses I'm continually throwing myself into, do help to keep me moderately sane. I was considering returning to uni next year to do a postgraduate course in IT where I did my undergraduate degree: there is an information evening next Wednesday which I thought I'd go along to. I am considering the Graduate Certificate in Information Technology Management as it appears my role is increasingly moving in this direction, and I think such studies may help me.
However, the allure of languages is still strong: I hope to get back to Arabic study soon, and I wouldn't mind continuing in linguistics from where I left off with my TESOL certificate at NCELTR -- the National Centre for English Language Teaching & Research. While, at least in my current state, teaching is not for me [God willing, it may change as I would like to teach, but my confidence is nowhere near the stage where I could as a career], I did find the study of linguistics and language learning fascinating.
Or perhaps I'll just sit at home. It has its benefits too. :)