Introduce yourself here

[robokey]

Hi everyone! I'm Key. I'm a native English speaker from the U.S. with a huge passion for language learning. I discovered this forum through a Reddit post discussing the Super Challenge and I thought it would be a fun idea to participate!

Japanese is my favorite language and I've studied it for many years. I'm also interested in French, and currently figuring out how to add it into my routine alongside Japanese. I dabble in Portuguese and Hebrew, with hopes to study them more in the future.

Looking forward to learning with you all!

[squirrel]

Hi, I'm squirrel, and I'm from the US. I'm currently learning German (A2), and I plan to learn Spanish once I get a more solid foundation in German. There are other languages I'm interested in learning one day (Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, etc.), but I probably won't start a third language for several years. I'm learning languages because I enjoy the process, but I hope to reach a good enough level to read literature from other cultures and communicate with more people around the world.

[dabedu]

Heys guys,

I'm dabedu. I'm from Germany but I currently live and work in Japan. I learned about this forum on Reddit and decided to join because I wanted to participate in the Super Challenge (and also, because it's kinda fun to be on an oldschool phpBB forum - real blast from the past for me ).

The language I've spent the most time on outside of English is Japanese, but I've also dabbled in Chinese and have some knowledge of French. My French is actually a bit of a special case, since I was born in France and spoke it fluently as a kid.
Unfortunately, it atrophied from disuse after my parents moved back to Germany and while my comprehension skills are okay-ish, my output skills are limited.
I hope that the Super Challenge is going to get me motivated to work on my French again - without neglecting my Japanese, of course.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to being part of a community of people who are as passionate about language learning as I am!

[fenkoli]

Hiya! My name is Elias, I'm 30 and live in the UK.

My strongest language (though that's not saying much) is probably Swedish, but I took up Finnish and German in January and have been making steady, solid progress in both. I'm a serial dabbler and also dipping my toes into Serbian, Norwegian, and Russian (which I studied for a few months at university years ago, got to A1, and then promptly gave up on because Japanese was eating up so much of my time, haha), with intentions of eventually studying, and hopefully becoming proficient in, a bunch more. I also have a Japanese degree and got to around N2 but dropped the language not long after I graduated last year. No regrets, though.

Aside from languages, I'm a nursing student, and intend to work abroad as soon as I can after I graduate.

Nice to meet everyone!!

[reverie]

Hi everyone! I'm reverie, I'm from the UK and currently living in Germany. I started studying German (A1/A2) two years ago but have not done much study for the past year. I studied French (A2) and Irish (A2) in school a while back but much of what I'd learned has long been forgotten.

I aspire to reach the point where I can comfortably browse through German bookstores. Libraries and bookstores are just no fun when 95% of the catalogue is in a language you can't understand. I miss book browsing :(

After German, I'm interested in potentially studying French, Spanish or Portuguese (or both maybe), Russian, Mandarin & Arabic. But that's neither here nor there.

[RosedesTempsAnciens]

Hello,

I am a French native speaker, I speak English (advanced/ fluent level), German (intermediate) and recently I choose to learn Hungarian - and it's so hard to find hungarian courses in French I bought an English book to study...

I also like litterature, sports, animal, History, music etc

[LingoPhil]

Hi All,

I'm a native english speaker from Ireland with a interest in language learning. I just recently discovered this website and am enjoying reading all of the posts about different study methods and other users' progress! I've been learning French for the past few years in my spare time, having past the offical B2 exam in November 2022. My goal is to continue improving and someday pass the C2 exam. Overall though for me, it's about enjoying the process

Thanks!

[jahnke]

Hi everyone! My name is Max. I’m originally from Brazil, but I now live in Germany.

I'm here in this forum for the Super Challenge. I was already motivated to consume a lot of German content for the coming months, but perhaps the Super Challenge will provide an extra boost.

For those interested, here's my language learning background:

I learned English in my 20s because I needed it for university, and I ended up achieving a very high level. While I haven't taken any official tests, I believe I'm likely at a C2 level. After all, if reading hundreds of books, watching thousands of hours of movies and TV shows, and writing both informal and formal texts for over 10 years doesn't get you to C2, then what does?

Even before learning English, I studied in Esperanto. I never got the chance to practice speaking, but I reached a decent passive level. I can understand Esperanto vlogs and read basic texts, like news articles on Libera Folio. Besides Gerda Malaperis and La Eta Princo, my reading experience is minimal, with most practice coming from listening to vlogs. Interestingly, I understand spoken Esperanto better than written.

I also tried learning Japanese, but I started losing interest in the Japanese culture and got discouraged. And, to be completely honest, the biggest problem was the long time it was taking to overcome the gap between studying and enjoying anime/dramas in Japanese.

About a year ago, I moved to Germany. I tried studying German before arriving, but the pandemic, political situation in Brazil and other life circumstances got in the way. After arriving, relying on English for communication became a habit, delaying even more my German studies. Anyway, by the end of last year I started to casually watch and listen to the Youtube channel Natürlich German, and in February I started using Anki to memorize vocab I was taking from reading/listening to beginner materials from Deutsch lernen durch Hören and from a grammar book. I can now watch dubbed TV shows and understand enough to enjoy them. Just to make it clear, I’m rewatching in German some TV shows I’m familiar with, so my comprehension is highly inflated because of this. Anyway, this has reinforcing the grammar and vocabulary I’m studying in a fun way. I'm heavily invested in learning German because depending on some upcoming news, I might get a chance to stay in Germany for longer. And, just to conclude, if things go well, I’m planning to attent some immersion classes in a few months.

Wish me luck!

[Neo-Stoic75]

Hi All,

My name's Ed. I'm nearly 50 and from the UK. I'm a Germanic languages nerd. I was a translator (mostly from Danish) for 22 years. Many years ago I did an MA in Scandinavian Studies and got a diploma in translating Swedish. I also did 3 years of uni Old English.

In recent years my attention has moved from Nordic languages to West Germanic languages. I've lived for varying periods of time in Denmark, Sweden, and Germany.

My current learning languages in order of priority: 1) German; 2) Norwegian; 3) West Frisian; 4) Old English; 5) Plattdüütsch; 6) Fering (North Frisian).

I read and write German and Norwegian pretty well, but my speaking isn't totally wonderful. I guess I'm more about the eye than the ear.

I'm mad about Germanic linguistics. I have my own website (which I'll link to in due course).

Nice to meet you all!

[tongue]

Hello everyone. I'm a 27-year-old native English speaker in the US. I started learning German in middle school and received the Goethe Zertifikat-C2 last year. My dream is to move to Germany and earn citizenship... sometime after I finish my PhD. I also started learning Russian in 2020, as I was adopted from Russia and desperately want to master my birth language. I hope to reach C1 in the next year or two. Meanwhile, I am extremely tempted to start learning Turkish for various reasons but not sure if I want to distract myself from my Russian studies.

I may start a log soon but will lurk a bit for now. Looking forward to the inspiration and potential connections with fellow language lovers.