Ryan Greenberg

Here’s a quick experiment for you to try:

1. Get a pencil and a piece of paper
2. Write all the words you know
3. Count them

Done? After all that effort, you can probably empathize with the difficulty of learning another language. Just imagine writing two words for every one that you wrote (or would have written if you followed my instructions).

I’m no artist, but I found that it’s easier for me to learn words if I draw a picture with which to associate the word. It’s time consuming, but it beats asking for the word again and again. Here are a few snapshots from my miniature word notebook:

Typical errands:

Table placesettings:

And my personal favorite, things you eat or see wandering around the streets of Cochabamba (I ate the pig and saw the sheep—50 of them!—in the streets. Roy even has a picture of me with them):