A language learners’ forum

First of all...Hello everyone! I'm Artem and am very happy to have found these forums. I didn't find an introduce yourself thread here, this is my first post so wanted to get that out of the way. I'll be lurking around and will try to contribute to the forum as much as I can with grad school going on. That said, my goals for 2017:

Russian: No real goals for improvement, just try to make time to read more, watch interesting movies, etc. I talk enough with family and friends. Can work on my writing when/if I have the time and urge.

Spanish: Live through the language every day as I've been doing, through reading/movies/talking/etc. Finish all of the Harry Potter series in Spanish (over 1 million words!), and then move on to more and more reading. Goal is C1/C2-ish by the end of the year and to be comfortable enough to talk to natives in the NYC streets without effort.

Italian: Work on Italian every day with it taking a backseat to Spanish until around the spring/summer, when my Spanish will be on full- autopilot mode and a completely ingrained part of my life and Italian will be able take the front seat. Goal will be B2-ish by the end of the year.

And the most important goal of all is to remember to ENJOY my languages every day, stay consistent, to relax and have fun with the process. Good luck everyone!

Finnish: This is the year to really hammer on the vocab for Finnish. Would like to get to better reading ability, able to read news without dictionaries. Still looking up too many words and that makes it miserable.

Japanese: Another go at JLPT N2 assuming I failed 2016. Focus on listening. I'm still in a fog really with this language. I pick out words and guess at what people are saying. I'm not really fluently hearing it.

Resolution: keep bookshelves in check by reading more than I buy. I aim for twice as much. Reading all the unread books I have would probably take a lifetime. I also want to get rid of an equivalent amount of books.

Goal French: Speak and write at B1 level. Read at B2 level.

Goal Russian: Read at B1 level.

Other goals: Get past the basic hurdle in Vietnamese and Arabic (i.e. get a grip on the writing system/pronunciation and acquire basic vocabulary and grammar to form some simple sentences)

If I had had a lot of new years resolutions I would have broken the only one I had - namely not to let myself be pushed into making lofty plans at new year just because others have that tradition. I'm more likely to stick to resolutions I make by my own accord at any other time of the year.

Even though January is half over, I am still feeling the New Year, New You vibe.
Here are my goals for 2017:

GENERAL
Become a regular (as opposed to sporadic) participant on this forum. I find that to be very motivating! And people are nice here
Start a new log and post at least weekly.

DANISH
Right now, my focus is on reading and writing. I have a mental block about writing, and it is high time I overcome it.

RUSSIAN
I am an absolute beginner. No real goals yet, but I resolve to start learning Russian.

ESL
Become and ESL (English as a second language) volunteer tutor in my community. I have already been to the information session, and I will attend the training sessions in January. I expect to begin tutoring in February.

What new languages do you want to start? Which old languages do you want to finish?

Restart French and German. Finish none.

What new goals will you set? Which old goals from last year will you carry forward?

English
I plan to go on an English reading spree. I'd really like the books to be non fiction, preferably history, but I don't feel ready for that yet so I might go for Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels. They seem quite light and catchy so that might be easier for me. I already started the first to see if I like it.

Also, I'd like to brush up on my grammar and watch more tv without subtitles. I've been relying too much on them and it's starting to become a hindrance.

Having a conversation at least once a week is also high on the priority list.


Russian

Stop sucking so bad would be nice. This is the language I'm really focusing on right now, which is bad as I feel stuck and it's frustrating. I guess I need to focus even more!

I will study grammar more regularly and massively listen-read. Continue with Anki. Lots of input.


French / German

Just Assimil and some input. These will be in the back burner.

What level do you want to achieve? How will you measure it?

English
I want my speaking skills to be on par with my listening. Ok, well, pretty close.

Russian
I would be content being able to half understand a tv show or light movie and read teen novels without too much difficulty by the end of the year. Doesn't seem really feasible, though.

French / German
I have no expectations for these two.


I'm new here. I mean newly registered, been reading this and the old forum for some years now.

Stealthy Intruder wrote:I plan to go on an English reading spree. I'd really like the books to be non fiction, preferably history, but I don't feel ready for that yet so I might go for Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels. They seem quite light and catchy so that might be easier for me. I already started the first to see if I like it.

Also, I'd like to brush up on my grammar and watch more tv without subtitles. I've been relying too much on them and it's starting to become a hindrance.

Ian Mortimer (history writer) has a readable style. Alison Weir might be another straight history option. (Ms Weir's books sell well, but I've not read any of them).

DaveBee wrote:

Stealthy Intruder wrote:I plan to go on an English reading spree. I'd really like the books to be non fiction, preferably history, but I don't feel ready for that yet so I might go for Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels. They seem quite light and catchy so that might be easier for me. I already started the first to see if I like it.

Ian Mortimer (history writer) has a readable style. Alison Weir might be another straight history option. (Ms Weir's books sell well, but I've not read any of them).

Thank you, I'll check them out.

Stealthy Intruder wrote:
English
I plan to go on an English reading spree. I'd really like the books to be non fiction, preferably history, but I don't feel ready for that yet so I might go for Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels. They seem quite light and catchy so that might be easier for me. I already started the first to see if I like it.

Perhaps try Barnard Cornwell's historical fiction? His Sharpes books sound promising.

Barnard Cornwell's historical fiction and his Sharpes books are lots of action. And he loves blood and killing especially, so if you are up for that then he is your man.