linguaphile's log
Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2019 6:41 pm
So, I've decided to start a sort of log here as a way to get more practice in the languages I'm studying. Rather than a strict "this week I studied XYZ" thing, my idea to to generally track my progress in certain languages by writing about that progress in the respective languages. This is just an introductory post in English to note where I'm at now. I'm keeping this log for myself -- but do feel free to chime in, particularly in the languages that I've studied or will study, as that will "force" me to write replies in those languages too.
Short history of my language learning: Studied a lot more than a decade ago, pre-2008. Then spent much of the next decade traveling and generally living a chaotic life... during which time some of my languages improved quite a lot from extensive use, while others got completely neglected. Now that I have a bit more stability in my life, I'm finally getting back to studying a bit.
Anyway, my languages:
English - Native language
Portuguese - Arguably near-native at this point. Several years ago (when I was already fluent in Portuguese), I married a then-monolingual Brazilian, and Portuguese has always been the language we speak at home. My wife actually often asks me about correct Portuguese grammar/spelling...
Spanish - The first language I really dedicated myself to learning, though it's long since been passed by Portuguese as my "second language". I definitely would not say that I'm at C2... yet I've passed the DALF C1 for French, and my Spanish has always been better than my French. So I'd have to say somewhere between C1 and C2 at this point. (I currently live in a Spanish-speaking country, but I speak Portuguese at home and also work from home in English -- so I'm not really very immersed in Spanish, and it's not really improving much at this point. While it's not my very top priority at the moment, I would like to dedicate time to getting it up to a comfortable C2 at some point soon.)
French - As mentioned above, I've passed the DALF C1. That was back in 2011, and I haven't used French a ton since then -- but even if I've slipped below C1 by this point, I could probably be back there with a week or two of immersion and intense study.
Hindi - Lived on and off in India for several years. Was probably about a B2 at the time, though I haven't really used Hindi much over the last few years and may have slipped slightly below by now. Again, as with French, I could probably recover whatever feel I've lost for the language quite quickly with just a bit of immersion and study.
German - My top priority at the moment. I have a strange history with German. Back when I was studying languages more actively many years ago, German was my lowest priority and was actually the only one (of the seven foreign languages that I studied then) in which I never bothered to master all of the basic grammar -- declensions, cases, etc. It was firmly entrenched as my 8th language at the time. But several years later, by a strange twist of fate (maybe I'll tell the story in German in a later post), I ended up working extensively as a German-English translator for several years (close to a million words of translation). So I now have a really good passive vocabulary, for example, but STILL don't actively know the basic rules of declension, cases, etc. Just a huuuuuge gap between my passive abilities and active speaking abilities. I'm planning to work on changing that a bit over the coming months.
Hebrew - Pretty much haven't used it in more than a decade. Was probably between A2-B1 at best. Can still read pretty comfortably, but would probably have some trouble with even a basic conversation at this point. Plan to work on improving it at some point, though not necessarily in the immediate future.
Italian - Pretty much haven't used it in more than a decade. Was probably between A2-B1 at best. Can still read pretty comfortably and watch my favorite Italian movies without subtitles, but would probably have some trouble with even a basic conversation at this point. Plan to work on improving it at some point, though not necessarily in the immediate future.
Nepali - Spent the better part of a year in Nepal (over the course of about 6-7 separate trips) during the last decade, and managed to learn quite a bit. Was probably at an A2 level at best, but I haven't been to Nepal in more than 3 years now and have basically had no exposure to the language in that time, so I'm probably no longer even at a comfortable A1. Will look forward to picking it back up when another trip is expected.
Japanese - Recently started learning for work! (Another long story...) Not even at an A1 level yet -- but Japanese is currently a focus along with German. I may decide to take the JLPT N5 next year. Looking forward to being able to post something in this log in Japanese at some point next year, in any case.
Short history of my language learning: Studied a lot more than a decade ago, pre-2008. Then spent much of the next decade traveling and generally living a chaotic life... during which time some of my languages improved quite a lot from extensive use, while others got completely neglected. Now that I have a bit more stability in my life, I'm finally getting back to studying a bit.
Anyway, my languages:
English - Native language
Portuguese - Arguably near-native at this point. Several years ago (when I was already fluent in Portuguese), I married a then-monolingual Brazilian, and Portuguese has always been the language we speak at home. My wife actually often asks me about correct Portuguese grammar/spelling...
Spanish - The first language I really dedicated myself to learning, though it's long since been passed by Portuguese as my "second language". I definitely would not say that I'm at C2... yet I've passed the DALF C1 for French, and my Spanish has always been better than my French. So I'd have to say somewhere between C1 and C2 at this point. (I currently live in a Spanish-speaking country, but I speak Portuguese at home and also work from home in English -- so I'm not really very immersed in Spanish, and it's not really improving much at this point. While it's not my very top priority at the moment, I would like to dedicate time to getting it up to a comfortable C2 at some point soon.)
French - As mentioned above, I've passed the DALF C1. That was back in 2011, and I haven't used French a ton since then -- but even if I've slipped below C1 by this point, I could probably be back there with a week or two of immersion and intense study.
Hindi - Lived on and off in India for several years. Was probably about a B2 at the time, though I haven't really used Hindi much over the last few years and may have slipped slightly below by now. Again, as with French, I could probably recover whatever feel I've lost for the language quite quickly with just a bit of immersion and study.
German - My top priority at the moment. I have a strange history with German. Back when I was studying languages more actively many years ago, German was my lowest priority and was actually the only one (of the seven foreign languages that I studied then) in which I never bothered to master all of the basic grammar -- declensions, cases, etc. It was firmly entrenched as my 8th language at the time. But several years later, by a strange twist of fate (maybe I'll tell the story in German in a later post), I ended up working extensively as a German-English translator for several years (close to a million words of translation). So I now have a really good passive vocabulary, for example, but STILL don't actively know the basic rules of declension, cases, etc. Just a huuuuuge gap between my passive abilities and active speaking abilities. I'm planning to work on changing that a bit over the coming months.
Hebrew - Pretty much haven't used it in more than a decade. Was probably between A2-B1 at best. Can still read pretty comfortably, but would probably have some trouble with even a basic conversation at this point. Plan to work on improving it at some point, though not necessarily in the immediate future.
Italian - Pretty much haven't used it in more than a decade. Was probably between A2-B1 at best. Can still read pretty comfortably and watch my favorite Italian movies without subtitles, but would probably have some trouble with even a basic conversation at this point. Plan to work on improving it at some point, though not necessarily in the immediate future.
Nepali - Spent the better part of a year in Nepal (over the course of about 6-7 separate trips) during the last decade, and managed to learn quite a bit. Was probably at an A2 level at best, but I haven't been to Nepal in more than 3 years now and have basically had no exposure to the language in that time, so I'm probably no longer even at a comfortable A1. Will look forward to picking it back up when another trip is expected.
Japanese - Recently started learning for work! (Another long story...) Not even at an A1 level yet -- but Japanese is currently a focus along with German. I may decide to take the JLPT N5 next year. Looking forward to being able to post something in this log in Japanese at some point next year, in any case.