Why, herro there.
As you might be able to tell, I’m an aspiring polyglot. Unfortunately, I’ve done a lot of dabbling in the past — years of on-and-off studying without committing long enough to achieve fluency in any foreign language. That must change, hence the creation of this blog. Accountability and whatnot. But this isn’t just for me, this is for you… maybe. I’ve learned a considerable amount about efficient language learning, and further posts should reflect that and provide further detail.
To be clear, I’m an American with little ability to travel ’cause no moneys and little reason to travel ’cause no willpower. But language learning isn’t just a subject of study, it’s a change in lifestyle. So for me, this isn’t about a specific country to visit or a particular job to acquire, but rather the only way I feel that I can go about living my life with some satisfaction or sense of identity. Few other subjects (if not none at all) have ever been as consistently interesting for me as this, so I simply have to pursue it for the foreseeable future. Language is my thing, man. (And on that note, hey look over here I make literature too)
If you’re not familiar with what CEFR levels are, skim through this
As I said before, I’ve dabbled terribly in the past. But now, I’ve adopted a new rule to combat that: One language at a time, and no quitting until at least B2 fluency is achieved. With that in mind, let’s look at what I have under my belt so far (using ballpark estimates):
A1: Icelandic, Polish
A2: Japanese, German
A2~B1: Italian, Swedish
It’s hard for me to quantify my abilities in each language, but this feels accurate enough. As languages sit shelved without use, they start to rust, but can be quickly restored with some work to their previous state. In order, I studied Swedish, Italian, Icelandic, German, and Polish. Japanese was spotty from before Swedish all the way to only a few months ago, so that one is hard to plot.
My current language of study is German, which I technically started before my bout with Polish (and it was a bout in itself), but I picked it up again a couple of months ago. It is the most recent language I picked up, and therefore the first language under my new rule of finishing what I started; I’m chained to German until I hit that glorious B2~C1 fluency area, which will allow me to incorporate it into my life and thereby free me up to study my next language.
In following posts, I will get into more on German (it is my current language, after all), and eventually, I’ll make a post detailing my previous experience with each of those languages later. There are lots of posts I need to make still, really. The language bucket list and schedule, how fast a person can conceivably learn a language, the language learning methods and programs… Lots of stuff.
If you made it this far, you deserve a cookie. I don’t have one for you, though.
Ciriciao, und bis bald.
Tongue Quest 