Language related New Year's resolutions for 2019

[NoManches]

Smallwhite posted the same thread around this time last year

https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =14&t=7369

So let's hear it! What are your language learning related resolutions for 2019? How did your 2018 resolutions go?

I have many plans and resolutions for the upcoming year...but I'll share them later after I think them over for a little longer.

Use this thread to share your plans, resolutions, and language learning dreams for 2019. Also, I think it's really cool that the super challenge ends on December 31st. I plan on incorporating the super challenge into my 2019 resolutions!

[languist]

I actually just posted about mine in my log, so here they are:

1. French - achieve solid B2 level, possibly with qualification. Reevaluate and aim for C1 if it seems feasible.
2. Spanish - achieve A* at GCSE (supposedly B1 level), aiming for solid B2. Reevaluate and aim for C1 if it seems feasible.
3. English - achieve TEFL qualification, begin teaching on italki.
4. Coding - learn swift programming language, make fully functioning app (language-learning related)

There are many other things which I'd like to achieve, but for the first time, I'm going to focus on a small and specific set of goals - hopefully this will yield more results. I'm sad to be leaving behind my interest in a few other languages (Russian, Kabardian, Arabic), especially as I have a few trips coming up, but this year I've decided that I need to develop my skills in order to broaden my career and life opportunities. I guess that's the true new year's resolution - to open the doors to a happier life.

[Deinonysus]

I feel like I've been on this forum forever, but I only started posting regularly at the beginning of this year.

In this past year, which seemed like several years, I studied my long term languages, French and German, but also spent some significant time (between a week and several months) on a wild variety of new languages:

1. Xhosa
2. Danish
3. Korean
4. Indonesian
5. Irish

And I also spent some time on Hebrew and Spanish, which I had learned in the past but never reached a high level in.

While this is not necessarily bad, since I learned a great deal about languages and cultures that were new to me, it did divert time and energy that I could have been using towards getting fluent in French and German.

I have been auditing a German class which has really helped me to focus. I'll be auditing another German class this coming semester. I hope 2019 will be a year of significant progress in German, possibly even opening the door to fluency.

So here are my three new years resolutions:

1. Focus heavily on German, with a goal of being able to read novels without a dictionary.
2. Spend some time on Hebrew. I've been putting it off for too long. My goal is to reach a comfortable conversational ability so I can start speaking it with my family.
3. Be a bit more conservative with adding new languages. This is the resolution I'm the least confident in.

[David1917]

I'll go ahead and declare it here and now then. I'd like to sit the HSK this year. Perhaps level 5, I have a lot of latent knowledge and have been pretty lackadaisical in my 8 years of studying Chinese (it really stings when you put it that way...), so I think if I pull myself together and get on a rigid plan I can do that. I was thinking about trying to get a Chinese certificate from whatever grad school I go to but the idea of sitting in a language class sounds abysmal, so I'd better just get it taken care of myself before then. I will be starting grad school in September, so ideally I'll take the test in August. I might start a log.

On that note, I also need to just spend as much time as possible between now and September on language learning in general while I have the free time to do so. This includes: Bringing German and French to advanced and getting as far as possible in Persian, Hindi, and Arabic. Basically by the time I'm in school I'd like to be more or less "done" with structural/beginner's books in the first 2. If I'm using readers or advanced grammar books that don't really need the kind of daily commitment needed at the beginner's stage, I'll be happy. I wish I could include Irish, Tamil, Korean, Turkish, Swahili or Japanese on this list, but that would be irresponsible. Finally, I'll be doing some explorations in the Slavic, Romance and Germanic families (Czech, Latin, Icelandic being the first endeavors in these categories). These will be very slow/superficial studies.

[Querneus]

I really, really, really hope I won't regret writing this post.

- Study Mandarin, Cantonese and German for a non-trivial number of hours. Count a minimum of 400 hours for Mandarin and 100 for the other two. In practical terms, this means at least 65 minutes of Mandarin per day, and a bit less than 20 minutes per day for the other two.
- Macronize and make audio recordings of a few ancient books in Latin for that site a guy I know is making. Do a minimum of three books by July 2019. Post the texts and recordings on my own website if the guy in question doesn't get to make his by July 2019.
- Finish writing the first drafts of two of the free Spanish resources I want to make by December 2019, ideally earlier. So far not much progress has been made.
- Finish the Biblical Hebrew course-slash-sidequest, which I've been very slowly working through since this summer, by November 2019.

Now give me a few hours as I write a SWOT analysis for each of these goals...

[lingua]

I had to check to see if I even made any last year and I did not.

My only goal is to take pass the CILS DUE (B2) in Italian next year which means I continue to study grammar, speak, listen, read and write.

[nooj]

My 2018 resolutions:

Improve:
Spanish, French, Catalan, Basque
Start on:
Russian
Maintain:
Arabic, Persian

Not:
Get distracted by any other goddamn language.

A mixed bag. I did improve on Spanish, French, Catalan, Basque but failed to maintain Arabic, Persian or Russian and I did get distracted by other languages, namely Italian.

I will be extremely disappointed in myself if by the end of 2019 I am not C1 in Catalan and B1 in Basque.

Here is my minimal list of resolutions for 2019. No ifs or buts. Do or die.

C1 in Catalan
B1 in Basque
Start on Wolof and go as far as I can.

[Brun Ugle]

I want to actually make some progress this year, so I resolve to stick to my focus languages (Spanish, German and Japanese), studying each at least 3 hours per week (except perhaps for during vacations/trips) and not listen to Rdearman and others who try to distract me with half-baked schemes to learn Setswana so we can have a secret language or some other nonsense. I also want to make an effort to polish up my Norwegian. These past few years I haven't really used it in a sophisticated way and I feel it is atrophying.

Spanish: Listen to a wider variety of stuff. Read more. Work on writing and speaking. Complete a full Output Challenge. Hopefully end the year able to speak and write comfortably without getting stuck or feeling too embarrassed by my way of expressing myself.

German: I'd like to get my German near where my Spanish is now. That means fairly fluent and mostly grammatically correct (or self-corrected), but sometimes awkward and uncomfortable. I still need to work on all areas, including basic grammar and vocabulary. I'm going to try for a half Output Challenge. I want to finish the A-level grammar workbook I've been working on forever. I've already done most of it, but I need to review what I've done and finish it. Hopefully, I can get through the B level as well. I also intend to read and listen a lot. I just wish I could find some German shows that were as much fun and as addictive as the Spanish language ones I watch.

Japanese: This is the language I've failed at most, so I'm just going to try chugging along. This time I will try to watch more TV and work more on listening comprehension. I just need to find something to watch. Other than that, I will review some old textbooks and other materials.

Norwegian: Read more. Try watching a bit of TV or listening to the radio. Spend more time talking to native speakers. Read through a grammar book to refresh some things I no longer feel so confident about.

[Vero]

My plan is to relax in 2019. I spent last three years studying Spanish very hard (several hours a day, no rest) and I feel I need some rest. Still, I have some resolutions:

Spanish
- Collect my old notes of all kind (smartphone notes, screen captures, sticky notes....), go through them, refresh the content and transform them in vocabulary cards, if it is reasonable
- Read more
- Continue watching my favorite TV shows (that's not a resolution, I do it for fun)
- Stick to keeping my diary in Spanish

English
- Get over my laziness and resuscitate my nice and elegant C1 knowledge so as I could feel comfortable instead of embarrassed when I use it everyday at work and still must think about every word

Then, I want to add something new for this year. I can't decide if I should refresh my French (that used to be a solid B2 at my university times) or start Catalan that attracts me a lot. French would probably be easier for me. On the other hand, I already understand 80 % of spoken Catalan because of my Spanish. I could probably use the Assimil Spanish-Catalan course. I've spent some time thinking about it but I still don't know - does anybody have the experience with both languages? Any thoughts?
If I go for French, my aim would be to refresh it to A2/B1 level, with Catalan I could get it somewhere between A1-A2. Needless to say, I want to limit the time spent with the new language to 2-4 hours a week to fulfill the main goal - the rest

[hagestolz]

Although a member here for quite a while I've never publicly posted my resolutions/goals, nor indeed have I ever posted a language log. Having read some posts in this thread and then some logs you have inspired me to action, so thank you! Hopefully if I start a log this will make me accountable and motivate me to keep going when things become difficult. I'd like to use a log to document shorter term goals within the global aims below.

German, French, Spanish
These are already at a high level, so I will speak German with my German wife and keep beating her at Scrabble. French I will read lots, listen to more and continue my weekly exchange. Same for Spanish with a particular focus on listening and weekly class/conversation with my Italki teacher.

Czech
This is my main focus and I would like to feel that I'm approaching C1 by the end of the year. Once or twice weekly conversation, continue the comprehensible input with the help of Readlang and Czech television and Goldlist vocabulary. I'd also like to read more around Czech culture and history while watching chat shows and series.

Greek
Just started a month ago, so I'll finish Michel Thomas and Assimil before moving on to some native content. Build a good vocabulary base and solid grasp of grammar before starting some formal lessons/conversation with a native speaker.

Dutch, Italian, Russian
Leave on the back burner for now. If things go well I'd like to start levelling up in either Dutch or Italian. Russian is a language I'd love to know better but until my Czech is at C1 it'll have to wait!

Good luck to everyone in 2019 and thanks again for your inspiration!