Learning a new language from scratch is like drinking alphabet soup and trying to make words, sounds, meanings from the overcooked letter shapes that glide through your teeth. As much as you try to catch them and form some meaning from them it’s impossible. They glide through and down before you’ve even really had a taste of them. There’s no way to recognize them as they go. You need something to bite into. More substance. More footing. To get any sort of traction. And it’s so subtle…that tipping point. It’s hard to say when it even really happens. The trick is to realize you’re on the other side of it and capitalize on the solid footing you’ve found. Spell words out in the dirt so it doesn’t matter what letters you drink in your soup.
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