What are your Language Goals for 2022?

Open Forum
41

Hey MikeMac,

This is just a note to wish you well. What an amazing thing it is to be able to communicate in this way! I’m sure that you know the difficulties in SA - so many of them frustratingly avoidable - so all I’ll do is echo your wishes for a good language journey. Stay well!

Harold

42

I am also working on a daily output goal of two 30 minute sessions. It does take time and most importantly planning. It gets esier with time. I spend the most time on my T1 Spanish and my T2 Swahili I spend only about 1-2 hours per week on output with my tutor. I need a solid 500 hours of input in my T2 language so I guess I need to start walking and listening to Pimselur more dialy :slight_smile:

43

I want to start learning Japanese. I wanted to study Japanese in order to get into the culture of this country, to try to understand the mentality and to understand some historical aspects of the development of this country. The thing is that I’m studying at university and I’m studying the history of social problems. At https://edubirdie.com/examples/social-issues/ I find a lot of useful information about social inequality in Japan and beyond.

44

75 Books? You are a beast! :slight_smile:

45

Aha, I don’t know about that. Stubborn and dedicated definitely :).

46

I think this year is going to be a year of reading for me. I would like to finish all of the Harry Potter books. I have 5 more to go! And then listen to them on Audible.
I would also like to read though the Narnia books. I just started reading the first book of the series and it is so good!!!

47

Sounds great. I also started reading and really enjoy it. I have one book of the Narnia series. Looking forward to reading it too. Enjoy your books and happy reading.

48

My goal is to get my Romanian up to 5,000 known words. I also want to learn the Hebrew, Greek, and Farsi alphabets. Even to learn to read in those languages (not understanding), to get used to the language and basic pronunciation.

I want to start Italki soon to get started speaking Romanian. At least one hour a week. As well as reading faster in Romanian to dig through content faster.

49

Wow, so cool! Do you have any tips for learning Greek coming from your English background? Major Challenges? Breakthroughs?

50

Same, but with the Bible in Romanian. I heard ring bound flash cards are the secret to making memorizing practical. One side your native language/s, the other your target.

51

Hi David, I started learning Greek around 3-4 months before discovering LingQ and the input hypothesis. Initially my first exposure was duolingo; I then started going to lessons but was quickly frustrated at the slow pace and arbitrary nature of breaking up concepts like colours, time into separate lessons.

Around this time I discovered Pimsleur, and without plugging them too much on a competitors website, I found it to be very helpful in breaking the first barrier. It’s full of English explanations so treat it as a more economic/efficient version of going to classes. In hindsight, I would’ve inputted alongside this.

The Greek alphabet is very easy to learn/read it might be even easier than Romanian (although I wouldn’t know). You can search for videos by Greek teacher on the alphabet. Write out the letters with pen and paper and use Anki to memorise letters. After a 3-4 weeks you should be able to read without a problem.

After that… just keep inputting with LingQ.

Nowadays I use Glossika alongside LingQ to hammer in grammar patterns and activate my vocab. I think the further you deviate from your native language, the more you’ll have to rely on SRS and deliberate learning.

52

Previous year I learned Polish (because I leaved near Poland couple of years ago, but not leaving now there) and Albanian, just simple words and phased (because I planned to go to Albania for a Holiday, but did not). So, both goals was interesting, but I did not had a chance to implement results in a real life, which disappointing a bit.

However this year I would like to

  • Have more speaking English. I lost a progress during pandemic (last 2 years). Top1.
  • Resume German, so I can listen and say some simple words. I like this language and hope some day I will have some clients or business partners form Germany. (Probably, Top2 priority because it is good to learn something new sometimes. But still need answer myself on question ‘why?’)
  • improve Polish, so I can read and talk. Maybe I’ll take couple of speaking lessons before traveling, when will know about travel. (Mid priority)
  • And continue Albanian (low priority), so I will feel better in vacation, in case we’ll go there

But the most important is enjoy the process!

53

Wow, that reminds me of my journey a lot too. Specifically the grammar patterns. In high school I did learn hiragana and katakana by using the method you described for learning the Greek alphabet so its comforting to know I can use the method again.

I appreciate your feedback, thank you.