Week Two - Feeling Lost

Hello again - it's nearly the end of week two in my project, and it's not going great! I've been neglecting my learning somewhat.. My trial on FinnishPod expired, and the free version is incredibly limited. I'm quite sad to have lost all my flashcards (premium feature only) as they were helpful and I'd learnt a few words. I'll probably be looking for a similar feature elsewhere, as I'd quite like to learn the 100 most used words, then 200, etc.

In Spanish I've been listening to a lot of music. This is the easy part of the learning project - I love music, and I have some Spanish favourites that remind me of my childhood. Yes, I was listening to Spanish even way back! In case you are interested, here are some of my favourites:

Juanes -La Camisa Negra

Jeanette - ¿Por qué te vas?

Manu Chao - Me Gustas Tu

The last song I linked is catchy and slightly funny (to me, anyway!). Jeanette, in my opinion, has amazing songs. If you like the one I linked, you may also like Frente a Frente, Corazon de Poeta.. This video has both, and they really are quite lovely. I like the poet one, because, well.. I'm a poet.. ;)

In Arabic, I've not done anything.. I feel very bad. I really must get back on track (perhaps a schedule would help, but I am notoriously bad at those). I really should review the words I know so that I don't forget them. In Finnish I still remember a few things, but it's the same thing: I would remember more if I reviewed. I found another Spanish resource website yesterday, so I will be using that too.

I hope to find more Finnish resources online, too. In Spanish, I also have two books called Bitacora, that I had bought for a class I attended last year. (It was helpful, but it didn't really work out that well - timing and distance.. sadly..) Luckily my Spanish level is good enough that I feel self learning is entirely possible - with some input from natives at some point. Next time I meet one of my Spanish friends I will try to have a mini conversation with her.

Are you learning a language, or two? How is it going? Do let me know your thoughts and ideas in the comments below! Thanks for reading and see you next week!

The Beginning

Welcome to my new blog! Some of you may already have read my posts on my main blog, The Tiger's Sterne, where I blog about literature, art and poetry. This will be my secondary blog specifically about my language learning.

I have mentioned my language learning in passing before, but recently decided to talk about it in detail. It has been suggested by many people on other language blogs that writing about the learning process can actually help you to learn, so, here I go!

I may have been learning on and off for a while now (in a mix of languages), but for the purpose of this new 'project', I've decided to call this the beginning. This is where my language learning gets serious. What I learnt in the past will be useful, of course, but it had no real structure, and though it felt like a long time overall, the actual learning time was probably minimal. This can be Week One.

Week One has been more like an 'intro' week - trying to figure out what methods I will use, how and when I will be practicing, etc. I have taken on three languages: Spanish, Arabic, and Finnish. My main language is Spanish, partly because I know I can learn it faster, and partly because it is the language I've always wanted to learn, and the one I identify with the most. It is also the one in which I have the most passive vocabulary, that is to say, vocabulary I can read and hear, and understand, but somehow hasn't become part of the vocabulary I can use at will. I want to change that, and make it into active vocabulary.
I suppose it is an advantage, but it also feels like a problem - because I understand a lot, I can get a little bored when doing lessons (podcasts, for example), but also frustrated when I know exactly what is being asked, but I'm not quite sure how to formulate my response. During the next few weeks I will be working on my speaking and writing to try and level it with my reading and listening skills.

My second language is Arabic. I started learning it last May, first doing a little every day using Memrise, then letting days pass without any practice, and then I was stopping and starting for a while. It is one of my weaknesses, and I know it - I get bored or frustrated and then get distracted. I'm having a similar vocabulary problem in Arabic - learning lots of passive vocabulary. I also have a list of words I know and can use, but sadly no sentences to fit them in. I also hope to change that.

Finally, Finnish. This will be more like a challenge, since I don't think there is much chance of me needing Finnish in the near future. However, I feel it is useful to know at least a few phrases in a language, and it will come in handy if I do finally go to Finland for a holiday (it's not a priority, I'll admit. Canada calls louder!)

To recap:

I will be attempting to learn Spanish, Arabic, and Finnish in the next few weeks/months. I have no set time yet - I'll be thinking about that this week. I also don't expect to be fluent at the end of my project, but I do expect to have a large number of handy phrases and at least some writing skills. In Spanish, I do expect to have a higher level than Arabic and Finnish.
After the project, I will be deciding whether to continue, and how, depending on my circumstances.

In the next post, I will talk about what I have done this week, and what I hope to achieve next week.

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Are you learning a language (or two)? Leave a comment below and let me know about your progress! I love to read comments and always reply.