Peat and Repeat were in a boat. Pete fell out. Who was left? Repeat. Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete fell out. Who was left? Repeat. Peat and Repeat were in a boat…A silly children's joke that was repeated to me enough times that to this day I remember it.
There's something to be said about repetition. Some people seem to have an aversion to it, thinking, "oh please, not the same restaurant, or "not this movie again", or "I've heard this song on the radio 10 times...today!" But I think this repetition has more value than it is given. We need it to fully understand a concept. For example, my good old grandpa repeats some stories to me, and I would't have it any other way. For when the day comes and he leaves this world, I won't be able to forget the first lines of Momento Mori, Remember Death. Or the story of how he met his bride. Or where to get the best bread in town- Amy's deli, off of Washington Street in Pico Riviera.
My strategy for learning Portuguese in Brazil was repetition. To remember a new word, a new name. It didn't stick until I've repeated it about 1,000 times. The Brazilians I learned from also found it kind of funny or weird, depending on the individual, when I would always repeat the last part of what they had just previously said. I was doing it subconsciously, until a good friend pointed it out to me. It seemed as if I was clinging on to every word she was saying. Whoever disliked a good listener?
Conversely, this repetition can create a monster as we also find ourselves repeating the same mistakes over and over. For example, in learning Portuguese, up until the day I left Brazil I made the same grammatical mistake that would have translated to sounding like a little kid saying, "he is more big than you" or "she is more small than he is"...ugly right? These repetitive cycles of mistakes can become ugly habits, as was the case with the above example.
Some say practice makes perfect. I've also heard the modified phrase: perfect practice makes perfect. But at the end of the day, we are human. Perfection never made anyone chuckle. Little kids' speech always does. Enough said.
There's something to be said about repetition. Some people seem to have an aversion to it, thinking, "oh please, not the same restaurant, or "not this movie again", or "I've heard this song on the radio 10 times...today!" But I think this repetition has more value than it is given. We need it to fully understand a concept. For example, my good old grandpa repeats some stories to me, and I would't have it any other way. For when the day comes and he leaves this world, I won't be able to forget the first lines of Momento Mori, Remember Death. Or the story of how he met his bride. Or where to get the best bread in town- Amy's deli, off of Washington Street in Pico Riviera.
My strategy for learning Portuguese in Brazil was repetition. To remember a new word, a new name. It didn't stick until I've repeated it about 1,000 times. The Brazilians I learned from also found it kind of funny or weird, depending on the individual, when I would always repeat the last part of what they had just previously said. I was doing it subconsciously, until a good friend pointed it out to me. It seemed as if I was clinging on to every word she was saying. Whoever disliked a good listener?
Conversely, this repetition can create a monster as we also find ourselves repeating the same mistakes over and over. For example, in learning Portuguese, up until the day I left Brazil I made the same grammatical mistake that would have translated to sounding like a little kid saying, "he is more big than you" or "she is more small than he is"...ugly right? These repetitive cycles of mistakes can become ugly habits, as was the case with the above example.
Some say practice makes perfect. I've also heard the modified phrase: perfect practice makes perfect. But at the end of the day, we are human. Perfection never made anyone chuckle. Little kids' speech always does. Enough said.
