Cris has spoken to her pre-recorded SSiW tutor more than irl people this week

[crispfencer]

Good evening! Let's talk language learning:

I've been going hard on the Welsh recently, since language learning is the only hobby I can do without thinking "shouldn't I be doing something better with my time?" I've always been the bottom of my class in languages at school no matter how many hours I put into studying, but this has never deterred me from trying! Maybe I'm just boneheaded. 

I'm following SaySomethinginWelsh, a course which prides itself on being hard as nails. Their ethos is basically 'learning 2 hours a week at an adult education class won't make you fluent quick enough, so let's bash you over the head with verbs until you get concussion'. This would be hellish for my self-esteem, only the man doing the voiceover is kind, reassuring presence who praises you for trying and is well aware that "you've been pausing during these lessons to swear at me". He's a cruel master, but I'd take him over the glassy-eyed Duolingo owl any day.

It's tricky, and I know I'm a lot slower than most, but I'll get there. My reason for learning a language is extremely important to my motivation; if I find no reason why I should carry on learning, it's harder for me to practise. For example, German used to be my main language for about 3 years until I realised I'd drifted away from all my German friends, and didn't care much for German-language TV etc. Similarly with Japanese, I've always wanted to learn because WEABOO but I care a lot less than I used to? Welsh is perfect for me at the moment because there's so much Welsh Language culture that I want to enjoy, I'd like to move there in the future and, uhhhh, Elis. ^^; Which are all reasons that give me the motivation to keep trying! 

What I'd like to know from you is this- 

1. What languages do you know?
2. What languages are you currently learning?
3. What languages do you wish you knew? 
4. Your general experience of language learning at school, personally, etc.

Comments

[marginaliana]

Welsh does sound cool as something to learn!

I know English (my first language) and I'm pretty good at reading Spanish (but my speaking/listening is wayyyyy out of practice). I did a few years of Italian in college and it's close enough to Spanish that I think I could read there, too.

I've dabbled in a bunch of others, sometimes for tourist purposes and sometimes because I'm like, 'I should probably know some of that,' and sometimes just from interest. So I can get through asking directions and saying hello in French and Icelandic. I did some German but got bored and I don't think I've retained any of it. I also did a year of Arabic in college, but I haven't retained any of that, either.

And I started on the Duolingo Navajo module but it's pretty minimal and the language is complicated enough that I think it needs something more advanced than what Duolingo can provide. I wish I could get more of that, but I'm not sure there is a good source for learning it.

I think in general I'm good with languages, but I struggle with the available online tools. It seems like all the modern methods want you to focus on learning in a real world context of conversation, which I definitely think is useful, but I ALSO want to have a chart of verb forms and be able to memorize numbers in order and so on. Sometimes I just need to recite and drill! Everyone says that's a bad idea, but I think it has its place. So maybe I should take a real class... but that means taking a real class. :/

If I had to focus on one language, I think I'd have to work on getting my Spanish up to scratch just because it's the most useful and I'm the best at it. But if I'm allowed to pick anything regardless of utility, I'd probably say Navajo.

[crispfencer]

Ooh, it's cool to know so many languages, even at a tourist level! Navajo sounds wicked, but have you ran into any trouble finding material/classes where you live? With Welsh the classes are often subsidised by the government, who only have jurisdiction in uh, Wales, naturally. Being in East England makes it difficult to access resources (for example, a county-wide directory search revealed that there are ZERO Welsh-language books in any library within 100 miles of me), so have you found Navajo better catered for? If I'm honest, I don't know much about its status in America like, is there an active governmental effort to increase the number of speakers? Please enlighten me!