Yesterday I was coerced into buying a textbook to learn hiragana, which is the syllabic alphabets that make up one of the 3 writing systems used in Japanese. (Katakana and kanji are the other two.)
In the book I am provided space to practise my penmanship. I feel like a nursery student all over again when learning to pick up a new writing system. Perhaps the verb “pick up” trivializes matters; it certainly is not easy trying to learn another writing system. I’m so far past the critical age of language acquisition already this is beginning to resemble an impossible mission.
Nonetheless I will press on. I may have some aptitude for languages, who knows.
