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Luso’s Silk Thread - Yürükler, TAC Rare | ||
Tags: Arabic (classical) | Sanskrit | Arabic | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Italian | German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6059 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 65 of 162 28 December 2013 at 10:28am | IP Logged | ||
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It's time to evaluate the year's achievements and to set new objectives. I already wrote the evaluation on the first page of this log, as usual. The objectives will also end up there, but I'll expand on that here:
German Since having stopped studying in June, I haven't done anything relevant. I just joined TAC Team Spaẞ. I really need not to lose what I've learned. Italian Right now, Italian is the language I'm learning in the most traditional setting. I'm currently going through level C.1.2, which means that, if everything goes well, I'll be starting C2 classes in February or March. As with any language where I've reached an advanced level, there's a lot of maintenance to do. Arabic The great unknown. Will I be able to bring my knowledge of this most excellent language from the brink of oblivion and into the light it deserves? I surely hope so. Sanskrit It seems there's in Lisbon a couple more people I could learn this fascinating language from. It's good to know, but I'm starting to get along quite well with my teacher. I see this as the ultimate challenge in my learning process. A lifetime of passion for languages and all things Indian have brought me here. Edited by Luso on 01 January 2014 at 3:56pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4080 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 66 of 162 07 January 2014 at 3:44am | IP Logged | ||
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How do you manage to learn 3-4 languages simultaneously, Henrique? How do you find the
time? Per week, how much do you devote to language learning? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6059 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 67 of 162 07 January 2014 at 2:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've never learned 4 languages simultaneously. This will be the first time I'll be doing that. And the answer must be a bit long. Happily, since this is my log, I can do this without fear of being a bore.
For me, language learning was always a very organic process. I learned English and French in school and enjoyed it. Unlike many people, I always tried to build on what I had learned, and before I knew it, I had a very good level of both. If you add Spanish (some magazines, trips to Spain, a few books, a few friends), you have your tetraglot, so to speak. All very natural. There were a few periods in my life where I had skirmishes with the German language. Well, more than that: I managed to learn it regularly twice (one year at a time), but circumstances dictated that I could not go on. So, for many years, I had a smattering of German, and that was it. I also had curiosity regarding more exotic languages. If you try to make the mental exercise of going back some 20-25 years, you'll find yourself in a world without internet, and with a scarcity of learning resources. In my country, I had ready access to English, French and German. If I really, really wanted, I could learn Italian, and maybe Spanish (although the latter was never considered worth investing in, for proximity and historical reasons). For all the rest, it was very difficult. I remember calling the Luso-Moroccan Chamber of Commerce (after having looked it up on the yellow pages) and the operator telling me that there was a professor at the university who sometimes managed to open an Arabic class. And this was 1990. Around 2005, I went back to college, and I noticed that I liked learning in a classroom setting. Apart from other fashionable (and not-so-fashionable) subjects, I went back to learning German, and this is where I start answering your question. Quite a long introduction... ;) By then, my other languages, my learning compounded by years of reading (and working with), had reached full fluency status. Since I already had some previous knowledge of German, I made a test and skipped just one semester (my writing skills were found wanting). Anyway, the first couple of years went like a breeze. We were in 2007 or 2008, and courses in foreign languages were mushrooming all over the place. The internet had also opened new possibilities. So, I enrolled in an Arabic class. I had the time and German was not all that difficult. Since I didn't need neither one of the two, I could look at it as a hobby. As they used to say in Spain in the old days: "llega cuando llega". And so it went for some years. Now for the crux of the matter: there is a technique I started using when both became more difficult, and that was to make a sharp progress in one, while for the other I did just the essential, in order not to let it drop, so to speak. This is still my approach: for a period, focus in one language without fully dropping the others, then switch. With two more languages, it's bound to be more difficult, but that's misleading: whereas I'm trying to bring German and Italian to full fluency, I'm just getting started with Sanskrit (the thrill of discovery), and Arabic is somewhere in between. So there's always something different, and I'm never in a hurry: it's not like I want to learn 10 or 20 languages. Edited by Luso on 07 January 2014 at 2:22pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4356 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 68 of 162 07 January 2014 at 3:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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I like your mentality Luso. You'll do great for 2014. I think that less wanderlust + taking your time at the beginning = very solid long term results.
I'll be taking some lessons from you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4080 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 69 of 162 08 January 2014 at 3:34am | IP Logged | ||
Thanks for taking the time to explain Henrique!
Seems like an excellent strategy. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| agantik Triglot Senior Member France Joined 4633 days ago 217 posts - 335 votes Speaks: French*, English, Italian Studies: German, Norwegian | Message 70 of 162 09 January 2014 at 7:21am | IP Logged | ||
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Good luck with your Italian studies! You seem to be following an ambitious but efficient path!
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6059 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 71 of 162 18 January 2014 at 12:17am | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you all for your words. Maybe my technique will also inspire someone else. Who knows?
German Bought two books in a second-hand bookstore (one Euro apiece): Ostpreuẞische Sagen and Bildsprache der Märchen. The latter has a lot of classical kid's stories, such as Aschenputtel, Hänsel und Gretel, and Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten. These will keep me occupied until I can concoct a real maintenance strategy. Italian My presentation of Sardinia was once again postponed. In the meantime, I started studying for the written test that will mark the end of C1 level. It's not a certificate-awarding exam, but still... Sanskrit A box of (nice) surprises. It's hard to describe how it feels to learn this language when you've been passionate by Indian culture for ages. Ascribing names to things has proven to be a most interesting task, compounded by the "mystery" of a new alphabet. For instance, you learn the word for "box" and then the next word is "matchbox". You start your tentative reading of the word and notice that it's the same thing, preceded by "agni". Since Agni was the Vedic god of fire, it all falls in place beautifully. You just go "a-g-", and suddenly there's this thought "Oh, no, it can't be... wait, it MUST be!". Edited by Luso on 18 January 2014 at 1:03am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5164 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 72 of 162 18 January 2014 at 12:24am | IP Logged | ||
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Which books are you using for Sanskrit, Luso? The brand new Assimil? (Sorry if you have
mentioned this before). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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