księżycowy wrote:I've been meaning to ask you Formiko, how much Mohawk should I be able to kearn from the Mohawk: Teaching Grammar? I'm figuring around A2-B1
(Assuming we're both using the same scale: A1=beginner --> to --> C3=Native speaker)
That is if you have experience with the book.
Yes, but without real speakers you'll never get out of A level, because you'll will have to be able to understand speakers as well. Native languages are different in that there is almost no written literature (besides the Bible) so you can't have a passive reading knowledge, which makes things harder. For example, I can read almost anything in German (I'm reading
Der lezte Zeuge by
Rochus Misch and it's VERY difficult, that's why I said
almost anything.), but creating grammatically correct sentences is my weak point. (Ask anyone in the German forum
), but with Mohawk, you can't have a passive knowledge (unless you live on the rez). I learned Cherokee from my grandmother, who spoke it to me every summer I stayed with her for almost 10 years), but I can't read it well at all. Although my knowledge of NDN languages is different, because it's more of an academic knowledge. I can read and write sentences, but that doesn't suit me in the real world
Although I can speak Navajo to impress tribal elders, but since Tlingit is so difficult, I might as well be a rank newbie.