Friday 21 February 2014

Routines Are Profitable!



I had this roommate who after a quick intro with some English, only spoke Igala with me. And by the way, in Igala, we “sh” up our ch’s and “j” up our z’s. My people will understand this :). Okay, back to my story. At first I was surprised she couldn’t communicate fluently in English but somehow I continued and found it incredibly hard to get out of that routine with her for the whole stay. Even when I speak to her in English, I didn’t get answered back in English!

Did I mention she was an English Language Undergraduate? By today, I must’ve smiled at that memory at least a thousand times because what ensued in that room was pure awesomeness:).

Before then, I spoke some smattering Igala with my Dad but almost never with my Mum and always never with my siblings. With this roommate, I spoke not so good Igala from the start and slightly less terrible Igala after a few months, but within months I had improved drastically. This proves that consistency is good and it is incredibly hard to break a routine once you have set it. I’m really glad that I got into this one routine. It helped me speak my language better!

That period of my life is one of the many reasons I‘ve come to believe in consistency. One important lesson that really needs to be emphasized is that it is very hard to change things you are used to. As shown in my example above, I am as prone to this as anyone else, and I’m glad I didn’t  restrict  myself to the use of English!

The secret is to start and keep up the flow. With time you’ll be making dramatic progress towards your goals!

PS: I understand this may be an unconventional example to the topic of consistency considering the disposition of the object of this illustration but I hope I got my point across! :)

7 comments:

  1. Really Nice piece, Met a lady who is really fluent in Yoruba and Hausa and i was curious. She had a background that made her exposed to various language. She said something very profound, cos i told her i had challenges speaking my language. I often get laughed at most times was my complain. She said that is the only obstacle that we all face. And it got me thinking after reading your article that consistency is the only way to overcome challenges that come your way.

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    1. You're right, consistency is key. Thanks for dropping by!

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  2. How you doing dear? I just nominated you for a fun award game on my blog...the liebsters award. Please visit my blog for details when you can.

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  3. Great. Consistency key to success. Great people do consistently what ordinary people do occasionally. ........

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  4. blessings....
    Ah but your roomy is wise, its not that she couldn't speak English, its that she chose not to. If she were given no choices (meaning you only spoke English) then perhaps she would have wiped out the English. I have found that many non-English speakers seem to be ashamed of their mother tongue which baffles and infuriate me. English is not better it is simply another language choice, add it to your list of can dos/can speak rather that choose it over the other. Ones mother tongue is an assist not a deficit

    peace.
    Rhapsody
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