Acoustic Mess
This book is a total headache. It is clearly meant for an advanced phonetic student, not for an innocent layman like me. But I pretended that I was a true phonetician. Janet even told me that I must read it as a preparation for my acoustic experiments. So, with blind guts and absurd confidence, I personally ordered it from the Melbourne University Bookshop. One week later, it was specially delivered to my doorstep with my name correctly spelled and printed on the price tag at the back of the book. I was over the moon and feeling special. But the worst was yet to come.
Written by Keith Johnson, a Professor of Linguistics at Ohio State University, this book is not at all like a lovey-dovey novel that I can take to the toilet and read it with pleasure during private hours. After a few first brave attempts, I reminded myself not to read Acoustic & Auditory Phonetics before sleeping because I might end up having a sleepless night again, thinking of all those grandiloquent, pompous, high-sounding, technical jargons I’ve never heard before.
Yes, reading this book was a torture. It seemed like forever to finish just one page. How would I do it for the next 182 pages? The intellectual challenge was real and threatening. But I kept moving on and moving on. Each time I completed a chapter, I celebrated my little achievement by listening to my favorite song and reminded myself that life was not all about getting a PhD. When I came back to reading, I felt refreshed, not because I understood a thing, but because I was ready to fall into another intellectual amusement again. I was certain that I would soon understand and appreciate whatever rubbish I was reading. It was like traveling in a big and noisy city – I have to get lost first in order to see the perfect picture of the city. All I need is patience and passion.
So how did I keep my patience and passion while reading a technical book like this? I used a lot of tiny yellow stickers. Each time I found a new disturbing terminology, I would write it down on a sticker, peel it off and nicely stick it on the corresponding page of the book. It was not just a mere reference telling me that I should come back to it in the future and read it again for better clarity. More importantly, it served as a happy reminder that I was an acoustic nut dreaming and trying hard to be like an old phonetic professor. I was so motivated and excited playing with this silly-or-not-silly game that I ended up with 37 stickers! What a childish and bizarre technique. But it’s enough to keep me focused, happy and sane.
It’s the toughest book I’ve ever read in my life, but I like the challenge. I am still a learning fool.
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Mr Darren, a facilitator in one course that I attended in December 09 said “Anda tahu kenapa team Malaysia boleh menang bola sepak Sukan Sea? Bukan sebab mereka kuat, juga bukan sebab nasib, but because of their passion dan itu boleh dilihat dari mata mereka”.
You’ve the passion, sticker2 comel kuning sbg bukti.
Enjoy your reading (walopun mesti cam ada rasa nak termuntah kot.
So far, I don’t feel like termuntah. But if I do, that’s okay. It’s a passionate one
I hope you have a thick wall separating your home from the neighbours’, mate. Don’t want them to hear the funny noises you’ll be trying. purrr….meow!
Haha.. I think they know me enough – a crazy to-be phonetician like Mr Higgins in My Fair Lady
When I read this post, I spontaneously remembered a book review in The Star. The reviewer wrote about a novel, which she wrote that the second reading is more enjoyable than the first. When we finish the first reading, already know the story ending, only then we understand the connections and significance of every little things mentioned in the story plot. Then we will feel so ever compelling to read the novel again, this time to fully appreciate the novel, every bits of them.
Clearly, your acoustic book is designed with the same gene, to be ‘enjoy’ times and times again!!!!
True Azrai. That’s the art of a passionate reading. People read the same stuff again and again for the same passionate reasons. I’m not sure about my acoustic book, but I’m working really hard on it!