People, Passions & Projects #7: Jaimin L.S.P

JS = Jinal
JP = Jaimin

JS: Thank for being part of my blogging series! How have you been?

JP: I've been good thanks, actually been watching Downton Abbey recently.

JS: Ah I've never seen that show, what's it about?

JP: It's a drama about essentially a rich family who own an Abbey in Downton (as the title suggests) during the early 20th century. The series goes past World War 1 I think, I haven't got up to that bit yet but it's been interesting.

JS: I'm actually waiting for Money Heist season 5 to come out now, really looking forward to that! It's the Spanish series about bank robberies.

JP: I've only seen the first episode of that one, but I'll keep an eye out for it!

JS: So I know you've got a few projects going on, would you mind outlining which ones you are currently working on?

JP: Yeah so the things I do include engineering related stuff, programming, language learning, essays and poetry.

JS: And for each of those is there anything specific that you focus on?

JP: So with the languages, I've got a list of about 15 that I want to learn. Whether I get to 15 or not, who knows, I doubt it highly. Right now I'm learning Japanese and about a month or two ago started German. I think I'll continue with those for another 6 months and then try start another one.

JS: With your coding, I know you've done MATLAB through our Civil Engineering Course, but is there anything else you've looked at apart from MATLAB?

JP: So there's Haskell and Python. Haskell is interesting as it's a functional programming language, all the other ones (including Python) are imperative and object orientated, which are the programming paradigms, and so the overarching mechanism by which the language works is completely different to Python and MATLAB.

JS: And I know you also have a website, what do you use that for?

JP: My website encompasses the essays, poetry and programming as well. Ultimately in terms of the essays, I've split it into 3 main topics: Philosophy & Religion, World and Miscellaneous. Poetry and Programming are also other sections, so there's 3 main sections overall.

JS: Looking at all these hobbies you have, they're quite unrelated to what you do on a day to day basis which is studying Civil Engineering. So how did you ever find that you were interested in these areas?

JP: Programming was something that I started doing when I was in Year 7. I think when anyone is young they mostly think 'Ah that looks cool, let's try it!', and that was exactly it for me. I started off with Java, then looked at C, C++, Python and then Assembly Language, which was a very nice language to try and learn because you had to learn about computer architecture, so how the CPU, memory etc works. Since then I've been continuing on with it, but it's only been in recent years where I have solidified my knowledge in certain programming languages. Language learning were since A-Levels (2017) and essays since 2019.

JS: So we're now going to look at your languages in a bit more detail. What motivates you to learn new languages?

JP: That question I've had a bit of a ponder on. Depending on the phrasing you could ask 'why did I learn Japanese?' or 'why did I learn German?'. Those are specific things, and then you hear from people who make videos on learning languages say 'get your motivation right and get something specific going'. I think that works for specific languages, but here the question is 'why would you learn any language, or a new language?'. It's the same reason as why I played basketball, swimming and table tennis when I was a child - it's cool. That's quite a naive answer though, but in all honesty I don't think that diminishes it's power. The reason I learnt new languages was that I think it's cool to do it - you get to know more stuff, you get to talk to new people, you get to look at artwork in a new light, and to me that's what I appreciate.

JS: Even though you have quite a simple answer to a complex question, it does fit it nicely. So when you are trying to learn a new language, are there any techniques that you use?

JP: When I started learning Japanese, which was the first language that I ever learnt (excluding the haphazard French at school!), I was just trying to find a strategy that worked. It was a lot of trial and error for the first 3 months. But what I find now is that it helps for me to look at new languages as if it was going to be my mother tongue. If I say the word 'tree', what you immediately think about is the image or substance of a tree. It's linking the two, the symbol of a tree and the actual tree, and vice versa. It's about getting that kind of relationship between the reality and the language, with a new language. As to how to do that, it's about immersing yourself in that new language. If you can, go to the place where that language is spoken. You'll be putting yourself in an environment where the reality and language is so closely linked. The usual way of learning is to translate, which to use the symbol in the new language, but going through the English word and then to reality. The translation gets in the way of attaching the word directly to the symbol/image.

One of the techniques I used to enforce that is to talk to myself in the new language. When I talked to myself, e.g. 'It's cold outside', what you're doing is your instantly taking in a scenario and immediately outputting that as a statement, even if it's just in your mind. If you can do that with a new language, as soon as you do that you're subconsciously making that situation in reality directly map onto the new language. I think that is very powerful as it's giving the new language a meaning, whereas if you didn't do that the language only has a relation to your mother tongue, not reality itself.

JS: I've never really thought about it as a pathway that you're trying to connect, so that was definitely a refreshing way of thinking about it. I know you mentioned visiting the place where it's spoken can be useful, have you managed to visit Japan?

JP: So in 2019 just before university (and a pandemic!), I was there for 3 weeks. I had been learning Japanese for a year and a half prior to that, and it was a really good experience. The food and culture in Japan is really good, the landscape and nature is on another level. Learning the language helped, it's the small things but they really really do matter, like being able to order food. It made the experience twice as good, it really helped and let me understand the culture a lot more.

JS: Did you find that your language skills improved after those 3 weeks?

JP: Definitely. Going there made me realise what kind of vocabulary was used in everyday scenarios. It made me realise where I was lacking in terms of vocabulary.

JS: Now looking at the other type of languages, coding languages, what benefits have you seen from learning other coding languages?

JP: That's a really interesting one, you've probably seen those YouTube videos on learning how to code, saying that it will 'expand the way you think'. I think there is a truth to that, but more often than not it's more constrictive, as you have to think like a computer. It forces you to be more logical and precise, which is a good thing. There is definitely utility of coding in engineering, where we try to put analytical methods into coding programmes. There's great capabilities with learning programming languages. One of the exercises I did with Haskell was to verify a credit card number, which follows a certain set of rules. It's called the Luhn algorithm. There's no way I would want to do that by hand, so stuff like that is useful. Coding is a bit like Minecraft, you can simulate reality to a high degree, but there are some constrictive aspects.

JS: You also have your website going which you mentioned at the beginning. Any particular areas with that that you want to elaborate on?

JP: On my website it's mainly essays and poems, and out of the two I like writing poetry the most, but essays are also useful and more direct I feel in terms of problem solving. Out of all the essays I enjoyed writing 'My View on Religion', which is a series of essays of my view on religion, due to it's broadness. It's in the Philosophy and Religion section. It forces me to think about new ways every time. A key thing with my essays and website is that what I write at the time does not necessarily mean I still think or feel that same way, and so I've written about 4 entries, each having an alteration on the previous one.

With religion you have to think about your audience, and I want to make it as accessible as possible, and I hope I've done that. There's also another one on paid international schools in Japan, and a couple of entries on education. It gets me thinking about the problem, I think while I speak but I also think while I write.

JS: Now we're going to try and tie all these hobbies and interests that you have together. You do a lot outside of your studies, how do you keep them all in check over a period of time?

JP: That's a good question as it doesn't just apply to what I'm doing, it applies to what anyone is doing. One thing I have is a timetable, in the format of a collection of A5 sheets. I have 7 circles in a row on a sheet, and the activity will be written inside one of the circles. Each circle represents a day in the week. Language learning and reading is everyday, even if it's just for 5 to 10 minutes. Things like poetry and essay writing take on a different form, I try to make it as flexible as possible. The smallest it gets in terms of time frames is the day, I have a list of things to do in the day but not when and for how long, so it's flexible.

I also prioritise everything alongside timetabling. There's a thing with timetables though, about when and how to stick to them. And I would be lying if I said I stuck to my timetable everyday. Sometimes things pop up that I have to do. It's about whether you put yourself above or below the timetable. If you put yourself below the timetable then you get problems, what you're saying is that your life had to fit into that framework. You have to keep yourself above the timetable. If you have to do something outside that timetable it's ok, it just means you see it as a higher priority.

JS:  Leading on from that, what motivates you to keep them all going?

JP: I have my languages, poetry programming, essays and engineering, and I'm going to include engineering here as it organises everything that I do. You want to put your hobbies in perspective with your career in some way. So why would I do any of those things? These things are just what I do, it's just like asking, 'Why read? Why do a sport? Why run in the morning? Why eat breakfast?', though it's not as simple as that. It goes back to what I said about them being 'good'. That's subjective depending on what you see as being good, someone else may not see it the same way. But the reasons I see all of these things as being good is that they all seem to help others, to some degree, whilst being useful to me. What I share with others may be useful to others, and the messages that they convey. Some ways are a more direct way of helping people, such as engineering, but also the ideas I portray in my essays.

Having an aim is important. Whether you reach the mark is another thing but I think having an aim is key. The reasons why I do these things is that it gives me an aim.

JS: You've said it quite plainly and honestly which is good. Any advice for people looking to try something new?

JP: I think there's a key point in terms of balance when it comes to this. As Shia Labeouf once said, "Just do it!", but there's a balance to that. I've heard people say 'Don't think, just live', and there is some truth to that, but in reality I'm not too sure how anyone can live without really thinking. I would say to think about your actions and put some thought into what you want to do. How I came to want to learn languages and program was partly through me seeing it being 'cool', but it's about finding that balance and right judgement.

JS: Thanks for this discussion! How can people find you on the web?

JP: I've got my website, which I would be very grateful if people wanted to pay a visit to it. I've also got Instagram, and my email is: jaiminsymondspatel@gmail.com