Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5336 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian
| Message 1 of 111 09 August 2014 at 7:06am | IP Logged |
I do not know to which point this is a familiar expression to native speakers - but we use it a lot in Norway to
express something you trust that it is possible to do in the long term, but that you know is very hard to
achieve.
I found the following definition:
A Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) is a strategic business statement similar to a vision statement which
is created to focus an organization on a single medium-long term organization-wide goal which is audacious,
likely to be externally questionable, but not internally regarded as impossible.
We use it just as much on an individual level, and not necessarily for a single goal either.
So what would be your hairy goals in your main target language and any secondary languages? ( And yes,
Serpent, it is perfectly all right to list hairy goals for 10 languages:- )
For Russian my main goal would be to read the Russian classics, and more specifically to finish the books
that are on my bedside right now:
- Tolstoi: Anna Karenina
-Tolstoi: War and Peace
- Bulgakov: The Master and Margerita
- Three volumes of Chekov's short stories
- Lermontov: Heroes of our time.
I may actually start on 'The Master and Margerita' or 'Heroes of our time' or Chekov's short stories pretty
soon. I will only catch 20-30 percent, but I may still do it.
Tolstoi's work is definitely more of a long term vision thing.
Then another goal is to read any Agatha Christie book in Ukrainian and Polish. Those are really hairy goals,
as I am at lesson 13 and 5 respectively in the Pimsleur courses, so I am an A0 in both, possibly a false
beginner in Polish since I did actually learn a little Polish 20 years ago.
But hey, that is what hairy goals are for! I still remember the time when getting through a single page in
Russian seemed like an impossible feat, and managing to 'read' through my first Agatha Christie book in
Russian is what gave me such an adrenalin kick that I started the Super Challenge.
So what are your hairy goals?
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Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4236 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek
| Message 2 of 111 09 August 2014 at 7:47am | IP Logged |
Мохнатая цель :D That's a funny term :)
English:
- be able to watch things without subs
- read classics (e.g. Austen) without problems
German:
- understand lyrics of all the German songs I listen to
- read Stefan Zweig's books
- be able to write and communicate without being ridiculous
Swedish:
- read Millennium
When I will be brave enough...
French:
- read Les Rois maudits
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eyðimörk Triglot Senior Member France goo.gl/aT4FY7 Joined 4101 days ago 490 posts - 1158 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French Studies: Breton, Italian
| Message 3 of 111 09 August 2014 at 8:07am | IP Logged |
I don't really think of my goals in that way. Others may be less adversely affected by that sort phrasing, but I don't find it useful to focus on difficulty. Time, yes, to maintain motivation. Thankfully, the people I surround myself with don't seem to question my ability to follow through on my goals, and even the nay-sayers of my childhood and youth have changed their tune (or at least stopped singing).
My current longish-term language goals include…
French
Write well enough to sell articles/ghostwrite. This is my day job and I would like to expand into the francophone market. I would estimate that I am currently solidly in the B2 category.
Italian
Read my all-time favourite novel Il gattopardo in the original. I haven't started learning Italian yet and won't until my French has levelled up a little and my Breton speech has caught up a bit more with my Breton understanding/writing.
Anything longer off is in the Someday Maybe pile and doesn't qualify as a goal.
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eyðimörk Triglot Senior Member France goo.gl/aT4FY7 Joined 4101 days ago 490 posts - 1158 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French Studies: Breton, Italian
| Message 4 of 111 09 August 2014 at 8:11am | IP Logged |
Via Diva wrote:
When I will be brave enough...
French:
- read Les Rois maudits |
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Cool! That's actually next on my reading list! You can get the whole series on Kindle for 27€. I just have to finish Henri Loevenbruck's L'Apothicaire first (but I'm not particularly enjoying it, so I keep procrastinating even reading it).
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AlexTG Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 4640 days ago 178 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Latin, German, Spanish, Japanese
| Message 5 of 111 09 August 2014 at 9:57am | IP Logged |
Spanish
Fool a native from another country into thinking I'm an Argentine.
German
Read 5 million words. (I think I'm approaching 0.2% of this target right now)
Japanese
Comprehend maybe 50% of a movie or TV show. (haha never gonna happen)
Edited by AlexTG on 09 August 2014 at 10:10am
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Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5336 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian
| Message 6 of 111 09 August 2014 at 10:01am | IP Logged |
AlexTG wrote:
Spanish
Japanese
Comprehend maybe 50% of a movie or TV show. (haha never gonna happen)
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Never say never :-) That's the point of a hairy goal. To aim at something which may seem impossible, but
which you deep down know you can do if only you are persistent enough.
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Darklight1216 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5102 days ago 411 posts - 639 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German
| Message 7 of 111 09 August 2014 at 10:53am | IP Logged |
French:
Be mistaken for a native speaker... regularly.
Spanish:
Stop hating it first and foremost.
Secondly, I'd like to reach a level in which I can basically live my life (outside of
work and church) entirely in this foreign language.
I would prefer to do that with French, but Spanish is the only possibility that does not
require me to move.
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Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4236 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek
| Message 8 of 111 09 August 2014 at 10:59am | IP Logged |
eyðimörk, well, I guess I will end up L-Ring it (I have audiobooks in French) even if I won't be really learning French at the time. I have read some books as a little kid, when I got the access to the Internet I have read the whole series and re-read it a few times, I just adore these books.
If I will be really learning French I also consider reading Les Grandes Familles or even everything that I can find from Druon :)
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