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crispfencerGood 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-
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-
- What languages do you know?
- What languages are you currently learning?
- What languages do you wish you knew?
- Your general experience of language learning at school, personally, etc.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-25 02:50 am (UTC)What I like about babbel is that it teaches you the grammar and verb tables and all that other stuff that Duo tends to skip bc that's not what Duo is for. And I really loved that about babbel. Gods bless me with a job so I can give babbel all my money for language courses in lieu of in person classes.
And, well, for Latin and Middle Egyptian, I really just want to be able to read and write them for scholarly purposes, not necessarily for corresopondence, though there are more people than you think who can correspond in these languages.