"Do you see what I'm sitting on? My butt."

[lavengro]

First off, a note of explanation concerning the thread title. It arose irresistably for me after coming across the line in a revived thread (https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=7521) about the fascinating and recently deceased Father Reginald Foster, a passionate Latinist (and self-described part-time nudist) who "looked like a stevedore, dressed like a janitor, swore like a sailor (usually in Latin) and spoke Latin with the riverine fluency of a Roman orator" and who taught Latin "with a piece of chalk in one hand and a wineglass — sometimes the whole bottle — in the other."

While I am not planning on studying Latin this year, I am very pleased to open my 2021 study log with this partial quote from an interesting individual, in the vain hope that doing so will invoke even a tiny fraction of his passion and energy for language. Also, I actually do sit on my butt a fair bit.

[lavengro]

I am intending in 2021 to work at Japanese and Italian, in roughly equal measure.

Japanese

Over the coming year - essentially the first of a planned two year beginner's Japanese approach - I anticipate proceeding on the basis of three concurrent streams:

1. Wanikani - continuing to learn kanji and vocabulary items through daily Wanikani sessions, introducing new items on the basis of keeping Apprentice items to 100 to limit daily review #s. I am still working on level 5 and will be starting Level 6 shortly. I am hoping to complete the first 30 levels by the end of 2021, and complete all 60 levels by the end of 2022;

2. Genki - I am just beginning Genki 1 (2nd edition), and am planning on studying with the assistance of Kitsun.io for srs'ing vocabulary items from Genki, and with the assistance of Bunpro for reviewing Genki grammar points. I will probably go slowly at first until I get more kanji under the proverbial learning belt via Wanikani and then hit Genki harder. I am hoping to mostly complete Genki 1 by the end of 2021, and then Genki 2 by the end of 2022; and

3. Mango Languages - I've just recently started working through Mango Japanese lessons. On the basis of one lesson per day, six days per week, I should be through all 600 lessons by the end of 2022.

Italian

Likely approach will divide language learning time equally between:

1. Italian language materials (either native or dubbed/translated) - movies, TV, podcasts, books and similar. At present, I have been working in an excruciatingly intensive rather than extensive manner; and

2. explicit learning materials, including Mango Languages, Duolingo, Memrise (official courses), Nuovo Espresso 1 and 2, the edX Wellsely Italian Language and Culture courses (beginner, intermediate and advanced courses), completing PMP Complete Italian Grammar and revising Pimsleur 2 through 3 and working through Pimsleur 4 and 5.

[lavengro]

Week 1

Japanese - 10:20

Wanikani: Level 5 - still working through the vocabulary items
Genki: Introduction, Japanese Writing System [and Memrise practice of katakana], Greetings, Greetings Culture Note sections and review of Genki greetings vocabulary on Kitsun.io
Mango: Part 1 (Introductions), Chapter 1 (Salutations and Small Talk) (lessons 1 through 3 of 600)

Italian – 4:35

Italian language materials: Curon (intensively), Easy Italian News
Study materials: Duolingo (completed crowns #221, 222 of 330), Memrise and Mango (lessons 1 through 11 of 548)

[lavengro]

Some bumps encountered by me in mid-January – practically gave up for a while on any plans to study any language. For Japanese, my Wanikani kanji/vocabulary review items are now over 500, whereas previously I would usually keep daily review items below 100 and would clear them daily. I am terrified to open Wanikani now – all the squiggles seem utterly unfathomable when I look at them now and I much fear that the Crabigator is dangerously hangry. I have been away from Italian emotionally long enough that all I really remember is Italy is the boot-shaped place. I think.

So I figured the best thing to do is to learn Haitian Creole, started working through Mango Languages and collected a bunch of resources. Then decided against continuing for now. Decided instead to learn Norwegian, working concurrently through Duolingo and Mango Languages. That lasted a week or so, and then decided to learn Welsh – lots of learning materials and folks committed to teaching it. Started with Duolingo (and learned that there are texts coordinated with Duolingo’s Welsh course) and have started working through daily SaySomethinginWelsh daily lessons.

Pretty sure there is something seriously wrong with me. I would be inclined to look into this, but frankly I don’t have the energy and in any event I have already kinda lost the thread of where I was going with this thought anyways.

[lavengro]

I decided mid-February that I would really benefit from picking and sticking with just one language for a period of time. I randomized the language selection process by assigning a number to six candidate languages and then throwing a die.

Luckily, it eventually landed on the assigned number for Norwegian after only about eight or nine die rolls, so Norwegian it is! Norwegian has long been high on my secret list of languages, and Norway is definitely an eventual travel destination for me. Current plan is to focus on Norwegian (Bokmål) daily until the end of August.

I have started working through the first volume of Mystery of Nils including online audio of the dialogues, as well as working through Duolingo Norwegian on a cascading approach through Levels 1-3, using the typing rather than word choice option. Assuming one reads the grammar tips as well as the discussions under each exercise (available on the web but not the app version), Norwegian appears to be one of Duolingo's stronger courses. And at 172 skill units in the current tree, one of the longer ones.

I have also been listening to a number of youtube videos re: beginner's Norwegian, including the impromptu 5 second taxi/prime minister-based lesson on interrogative pronouns at 1:17 to 1:22 of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq7LTnwS7Bs&start=77

I am planning on also working through Norwegian on the Web (https://www.ntnu.edu/now), the Mango Languages Norwegian course, the seven Memrise official Norwegian courses and the two levels of Pimsleur Norwegian that are currently available. I figure all that should take me comfortably from scratch (null) to A2 rough equivalency by the end of August 2021, though I will have to work in some conversation practice in some fashion eventually.

To accustom my ears to the sounds and rhythm of Norwegian, I am playing native Norwegian language material in the background periodically during the day: on deck currently is the Ragnarok series (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9251798/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1), both for the Norwegian and "the Old Tongue." Heltens reise har begynt !

Duolingo, Crown level 1: 25 / 172
Duolingo, Crown level 2: 17 / 172
Duolingo, Crown level 3: 5 / 172
Mystery of Nils : 4 / 26
Memrise, 1 through 7: 156 / 2801
Pimsleur, level 1: 0 / 30
Pimsleur, level 2: 0 / 30
Mango Norwegian: 0 / 100
Norwegian on the Web: 0 / 10
Target hours to 2021.08.31: 26 / 300

[lavengro]

I worked primarily this past week at Duolingo, Memrise and Mystery of Nils, which compliment each other nicely and provide a metric tonne of audio.

I finished and enjoyed Ragnarok (the available first season) just as non-study passive background material - it is on my list to watch again and to actually study the dialogue when I can better understand the spoken Norwegian instead of 100% relying on English subtitles.

I watched some miscellaneous Norwegian language youtube stuff this past week, including a couple of micro-documentaries on life in Norway this past week - one regarding interactions between the prime minister and Norwegian citizens (to be honest, I had not been aware that minstrels were involved in the process), and the other regarding driving challenges (including questionable non-verbal communication methods) in what looks to be a charming city - and as a result, Norway moved quite a few rungs higher on my eventual travel list.







Duolingo, Crown level 1: 29 / 172
Duolingo, Crown level 2: 21 / 172
Duolingo, Crown level 3: 6 / 172
Mystery of Nils : 6 / 26
Memrise, 1 through 7: 220 / 2801
Pimsleur, level 1: 0 / 30
Pimsleur, level 2: 0 / 30
Mango Norwegian: 0 / 100
Norwegian on the Web: 0 / 10
Target hours to 2021.08.31: 34 / 400

[Mista]

in what looks to be a charming city - and as a result, Norway moved quite a few rungs higher on my eventual travel list.

I think that's in Oslo, but I should warn you, if you ever decide to go, that the "tourist areas" of the city are among the least charming parts of the city, unfortunately (unlike places than Trondheim and Bergen). In other words, it's well worth doing a little bit of research in advance.

[lavengro]

in what looks to be a charming city - and as a result, Norway moved quite a few rungs higher on my eventual travel list.

I think that's in Oslo, but I should warn you, if you ever decide to go, that the "tourist areas" of the city are among the least charming parts of the city, unfortunately (unlike places than Trondheim and Bergen). In other words, it's well worth doing a little bit of research in advance.

Thanks Mista!

Completely agree about research in advance. I am pretty notorious for driving travel partners crazy by a ridiculous amount of advance research before choosing travel destinations and then travelling to a new-to-me country. Norway is mostly a blank sheet for me right now, and I am looking forward to figuring out places to visit and things to do.

In the world's current circumstances, it looks like I still have some time to figure that all out even if Norway were to move to the top of my travel list - not planning on travelling outside of Canada likely until 2022. Incidentally, Norway dropped down one notch on that list now just on account of what appears to be its casual disregard for gravity, per attached You Tube clip.

.

[lavengro]

I continued this past week (Week 4 of the Lavengro Norsk-ification Project) with Duolingo, Memrise (finished Memrise 1) and Mystery of Nils, and I began Pimsleur's "How to chat up women in norsk" seminar materials (the local library has Level 1, units 1-16 available for loan; I will likely move on to Pimsleur's subscription service for the balance of Norwegian Level 1 and for Level 2). Poked around a bit at the NRK (Norsk Rikskringkasting - the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation) website for listening materials.

Duolingo, Crown level 1: 30 / 172
Duolingo, Crown level 2: 24 / 172
Duolingo, Crown level 3: 11 / 172
Mystery of Nils : 6 / 26
Memrise, 1 through 7: 305 / 2801
Pimsleur, level 1: 2 / 30
Pimsleur, level 2: 0 / 30
Mango Norwegian: 0 / 100
Norwegian on the Web: 0 / 10
Target hours to 2021.08.31: 42 / 400

[Iversen]

Harking back to the first post in this thread: yesterday I listened to a series of videos where people like Scorpio Martianus spoke in Latin, and you would not have been able to guess that Latin ranges as an extinct language - there are competent L2 learners out there, and the only problem is that there isn't a physical community around them. Latin is in the same situation as Esperanto.