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Sabrina’s Language Learning Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Sabrina VG Pentaglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5217 days ago 37 posts - 41 votes Speaks: Dutch, Flemish*, English, German, French Studies: Swedish, Welsh | Message 1 of 9 06 May 2011 at 1:41pm | IP Logged |
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Following the example of many others on here, I've decided to start a language learning log for myself. I figure it will help me to stay focused as I have big plans for my language learning! Having to post something here every few days will enable me to keep track of what I'm doing and not to lose sight of the goals I've set for myself.
So, where do my languages stand at the moment? Dutch/Flemish: this is my native language, so no further development required. French: I've been speaking this language for 25 years now (ever since primary school) so it's on a pretty decent level (I'd say B2/C1) but I do notice that I'm beginning to forget certain words and I'm also not as fluent as I used to be. The company I work for will have a project in France in a year or 2 so I'm hoping to take my French to a C1/C2 level by then. English: I've been speaking this language for about 22 years and I also lived in the UK for 4 years so without being pompous, I think I can say this is on a C2 level. I speak English in work on a daily basis so no further active studying is needed for this language. German: I have been speaking this language for a bout 20 years and it really should be on a higher level than it is now. The problem is that I don't use my German enough, so it's dropped to a B1/B2 level and I really need to get It to a B2/C1 level at least. Spanish: I had 5 years of Spanish in secondary school and at university but I never used it again afterwards, so I've nearly forgotten everything about it. I guess you could say my current level is A1. Where do I want to get? What are my goals for the languages I currently speak? French: achieve C1/C2 level by the end of 2012. To do so, I'm not going to follow a course or a textbook, but I'm simply going to read articles on the internet in order to extend my vocabulary and I'm going to try to listen to some French online radio. Speaking and grammar is not an issue, it's really just a question of learning more words. German: achieve B2/C1 level by the end of 2012. Again, same approach as for French (online articles, online radio, maybe see a DVD in German) but if I could find a decent German grammar book, that would be great as I could do with brushing up on that. Spanish: I plan on taking up Spanish again from scratch some time next year. I would like to get my level of Spanish to B1/B2 by the end of 2013. I think this should be possible, after all, I had 5 years of Spanish already so it should be more a case of getting my brain to remember it all again. Now, new languages... In the next 2 1/2 years to come (so up until end of 2013), I plan on studying Welsh, Swedish and Spanish. Welsh: I only just got started on this, my aim is to get this to B2 level by the end of 2013. Why Welsh? I've lived in Wales for 3 years and I totally fell in love with the place! Being able to speak Welsh has always been one of my dreams. Swedish: I would like to get started on Swedish by the end of this year. I want to focus on Welsh a bit first before I get started on another language. Hopefully, I'll get Swedish to a B2 level by the end of 2013 as well. Spanish: As said above, I hope to get my Spanish back to a B1/B2 level by the end of 2013. I plan on starting this language some time during the summer of 2012, once I have some basic knowledge of Swedish. Looking beyond 2013, there are many more languages on my hit list: Afrikaans, Danish, Norwegian, Old Norse, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, etc. but first things first... :-) Sabrina 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Alexander86 Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom alanguagediary.blogs Joined 4987 days ago 224 posts - 323 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, Catalan Studies: Swedish | Message 2 of 9 06 May 2011 at 1:53pm | IP Logged |
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Lots and lots of languages, brilliant! It seems like a really good plan, plenty of time
and well-set goals as well. Plus, the range of languages is excellent. Maybe you should watch French TV as often as possible? This is how I keep my Spanish up as well as learn new vocabulary etc. It takes a while to find something you actually like watching, but once you have found something that grips you then it's just like watching TV normally, except it's in another language. Indeed there's some good crime drama in Swedish too, which I should probably stop mentioning in every other post... Welsh!!! I look forward to seeing your progress with this beautiful language. I can't wait to join you in studying it from September (when I don't have a big fat thesis to write...). If you need any help on materials then give me a PM, as I live in the capital of Wales - although you don`t hear much Welsh here... (I used to like in North Wales and I heard Welsh every time I went out into the street). Hwyl. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sabrina VG Pentaglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5217 days ago 37 posts - 41 votes Speaks: Dutch, Flemish*, English, German, French Studies: Swedish, Welsh | Message 3 of 9 08 May 2011 at 8:59pm | IP Logged |
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Right, I didn't get as much done as I had hoped on the weekend... I only managed to do 2 dialogues from my
Teach Yourself Welsh textbook, whereas I had hoped to do at least 3. I guess discipline is still something I need to work on... :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Alexander86 Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom alanguagediary.blogs Joined 4987 days ago 224 posts - 323 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, Catalan Studies: Swedish | Message 4 of 9 09 May 2011 at 1:41pm | IP Logged |
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In language learning anything is better than nothing. I tend to listen to German radio
for 15 minutes every morning, but it works! Just keep the frequency up =) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Vos Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5572 days ago 766 posts - 1020 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Polish | Message 5 of 9 09 May 2011 at 2:28pm | IP Logged |
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Tienes una lista de idiomas muy interesante y tengo muchas ganas en seguir tu progreso a lo largo del año y los
que vienen. ¡Mucha suerte con tus estudios Sabrina! You have quite the interesting list of languages there Sabrina and I look very much forward to following your progress throughout the year. Good luck with your studies! Also I like that you've given yourself a reasonable amount of time to achieve all your goals, realistic and thought out. No doubts that you'll be well in the vicinity of where you want to be by 2013. Groetjes. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sabrina VG Pentaglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5217 days ago 37 posts - 41 votes Speaks: Dutch, Flemish*, English, German, French Studies: Swedish, Welsh | Message 6 of 9 13 June 2011 at 8:47pm | IP Logged |
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Health issues and then a 2-week holiday totally disrupted my language studies I'm afraid... but I'm back now and I
hope to be able to pick up my Welsh textbooks again very soon! :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| akprocks Senior Member United States Joined 5292 days ago 178 posts - 258 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 7 of 9 18 July 2011 at 8:14pm | IP Logged |
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Here's what I used for learning Welsh: Teach yourself and colloquial obviously. But oddly enough my
favorite resource was a free one, saysomethinginwelsh.com. You guys should try saysomethinginwelsh and tell me how you like it. Good luck with your studies and don't burn out like I do! Edited by akprocks on 18 July 2011 at 10:36pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sabrina VG Pentaglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5217 days ago 37 posts - 41 votes Speaks: Dutch, Flemish*, English, German, French Studies: Swedish, Welsh | Message 8 of 9 22 November 2013 at 2:01pm | IP Logged |
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Right, we are now more than 2 years down the line and this is what happened...
Shortly after my last post on this log, I was diagnosed with PSVT (paroxymal supraventricular tachycardia) which is a heart rhythm condition. I had to start taking medication which did help a bit but I still suffered a lot. As a result, my language studies nearly completely came to a standstill. The only thing I managed to do was go on an evening class in Swedish. 2 months ago, I underwent cardiac ablation, which is a type of surgery to 'cure' the heart rhythm condition. I'm happy to say the surgery was successful and I'm slowly 'getting back on my feet' (so to speak). This also means I can start thinking about picking up languages again. I did do 2 years of Swedish in the meantime, but the other language goals were not achieved (ie. I made no progress in Welsh, didn't start Spanish from scratch, etc.) Time to actively start thinking about all that again! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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