The last few years have been an interesting, meandering, organic journey at least language-wise.
I stopped trying to learn a language a month... Tried to focus on romance languages.... Then tried to get serious about Spanish... Saw some proper teachers who were expensive and discouraging. Learned a bit of Ukrainian in solidarity with the brave people of Ukraine.... Started working with a client in the middle east and learned the Arabic alphabet (and not much else), took another trip to Japan and half heartedly tried to resurrect my Japanese... Oh, and I did a week's study at CLIC in Seville where they found me to be a B1. ... I also tried to understand / read Catalan.
It feels like a lot of effort that hasn't achieved much, but it is all part of the learning spiral and it was fun and I wasn't hurting any body so who cares!
I have a whiteboard on my desk and in 2022, I wrote that I would be a C1 in Spanish by 2025. I guess it could still happen? But to be honest, I don't mind if it doesn't. I am enjoying myself and I have made some friends along the way.
My priority for the week ahead is Spanish:
- Grammar exercises: I want to minimise the silly errors I make when speaking, especially with verb conjugation and sentence structure. Seeing where I go wrong in exercises helps me to pinpoint what I don't know.
- Speaking practice: I am going to continue to have an Italki chat at least once a week and I am proud of myself that I have kept at this for a few months now in spite of the shame of not being good enough which has, in the past, often led me to cancel in the hope that I can do lots of grammar and get better on my own first. I also need to find other ways to practice, like recording monologues. This thread has some good ideas.
- Immersion: I started a new Netflix series on 60s music, called 45RPM. I have a book of ensayos sobre la musica de La Rosalia! In the future I also want to read more about rockabilly and lindy hop dancing in Spanish. I have been watching Spanish language YouTube that stacks up with my other interests, like learning guitar and analysing songs. Here are some great examples:
