It's Not A Race

This afternoon I finished reading* the first book of the Game of Thrones series that has become so popular worldwide.  I don't watch the television show, although I have seen a few episodes here and there, and my interest in the book was rooted in the fact that I was able to purchase it written in Spanish, not that I am a big fan of fantasy novels.  That being said, I enjoyed it and I am proud to have completed it, as it is over 700 pages long.  Now, I should probably add that I purchased the book well over a year ago, possibly closer to two years ago.  Why has it taken me so long to finish?  Well, I suppose the first reason is that, like I said, I am not a huge fantasy fiction fan.  I didn't read hundreds of pages at once, and I would often go weeks without reading it at all.  The second reason it took me so long is, well, it was hard!

Game  of Thrones is not the first novel I have read in Spanish, but it is the longest and most difficult novel I have attempted to this point.  That's why when I say I finished reading it, I put an *.  Yes, I read the words on the pages, and yes, I comprehended the plot, but did I understand every word?  Of course not.  Were there times I read entire pages and realized I hadn't understood a single word of it?  Surely.  I even cheated a few times and went online to view plot summaries just to make sure I really was following along with the plot.  Despite some difficulties, I am proud to say I followed along very well.

In a moment of exaggerated optimism, I purchased the second novel many months ago and made it one of the few books I was able to pack in my bags when I moved to Spain.  I plan on starting it this afternoon, but with a better plan of attack in mind.  This time around, I want to really focus on learning as I go, so I plan on reading only one chapter at a time, but focusing on picking out words and phrases I don't know and adding them to my list to study.  As they say, slow and steady wins the race and while it may take me just as long, if not longer to complete this novel, I am hoping to get more out of it than I did from the first.  Sure, I managed to finish the first novel, but was I successful in learning much from it?  That's debatable.

I think too often, especially when it comes to languages, we try to move too fast too soon.  I know, I was right there in the beginning, trying to cram as many new vocabulary words as I could into my head, but the fact is, it's not a race.  Learning a language should be fun, and it shouldn't have a finish line.  Sure, it's great to have goals, but what's going to happen if you DON'T memorize 500 new words in six months?  So what if after two years you can only use the present tense of the verbs?  No one is going to come and punish you.  You're not a failure just because it takes a little longer to finish reading your first novel in a foreign language.  I think goals are great.  In fact, I think they're crucial, but we shouldn't be disappointed in ourselves if we fail to hit the mark each time.  I see so many posts of people who are disappointed for not hitting such and such goal in such and such time.  Instead of lamenting over what you haven't accomplished, why not celebrate what you have?  Just my thoughts.  Anyone else?