Quick General Update
It's been a while and I haven't posted in a bit... but thankfully not because I slowed down studying my languages!!! I figure I'll just put a general life/language update here, and that I'll use my other log just whenever I feel like intensively working on anything and logging it!
French
I completed my 15 book goal for 2022!!! Wooohooo!!! It was awesome. I think I'm aiming for the same goal, but I'd also like to hit 20, but I wont stress it. The highlight was definitely at the end with L'Événement by Annie Ernaux, the recent Nobel Prize winner. I was absolutely blown away it, and it is definitely the best book I've read in French. I reread L'Étranger to start of the year, and... well... I don't know. It was as good as I remember
. I guess I understood it more, especially the second half (which I discovered is not at all as difficult as for some reason I thought it was), but I think the novelty has just warn off. When I read it around this time last year, it was like a major goal of mine, and felt super cool to be able to (mostly) read a French novel. Now that's kinda just something I do, I guess. Not that that is a bad thing, I just feel like I'm in a different mode with French.For classes this semester, I'm doing an independent study with another student, and we are reading Madame Bovary and a (so far) undecided Congolese novel, as the other student is from the Congo. MB is funny so far, and definitely pretty difficult, but we're taking it somewhat slow and I'm still getting my footing in to Flaubert's writing style. I stopped reading Stendhal, since I wouldn't have enough time, even if the story was getting interesting and I was 100 or so pages in. I'm also taking a class on French humor, in which we will read BD, watch films, analyze some Molière, and learn about historical and contemporary French comedies. It's pretty fun so far! I'm loving Asterix.
Not sure if the trip will go through, but if it gets enough support, a couple students and I will be headed for Quebec City for a few weeks in May, which would be awesome! It isn't all good news for our French department, though, as the administration at my Uni are literally trying to dissolve the French department, even though it was that same administration which didn't require second language studies for Bachelors of Science (and at my Uni, Business is a Bachelors of Science...), so of course the French department is down in students.
Whatever, we make the best with what we got!
Russian
Slow and steady wins the race (maybe)! I'm really just taking my time with Russian, though I hope to be more consistent with it this semester, by making my Anki cards on Saturday and Sunday of each week and taking the week to get through 2 lessons. I'm currently on Lesson 31 (which is a somewhat abysmal pace), so I hope to get to around lesson 60 by the end of the semester, and then finish it by the end of the summer. I have 335 words "learned" on Speakly, which I mostly use for the listening exercises. I like it, and I think if you use it, its worth the 40-50 a year. Unfortunately I lost my streak... I only missed one day but that was it! I was almost at 50 too
.I was actually inspired to write on the forum today and post on my MIA board because I listened to the 1st Russian with Max podcast and actually got some information out of it! He studied IT at Uni, got a job and hated how much he was working, then went to China for a few years! He was talking about the breakfast he would have and was also talking about countries in general and Italy, as well. I was so surprised I understood, but also so happy!!! It is a very slow grind, Russian, but for how (relatively) little effort I have put in (not really immersing, just doing like 20-30 minutes a day on average) I'm getting some results! Cool!!!
Given that Russian hasn't deteriorated my French, I think I'll continue studying it, but also at a slow pace. If needed, I'll take a break in heartbeat to let my French have a breath.
Old English... oh yeah
That's right... we got enough students and Old English is officially a class running at my Uni. Despite it being the first week of classes (i.e we've only had 2 classes), Old English has to be my favorite so far. The other students who are in it are involved and excited and we are planning on starting a study group. The professor told me to not rush too far ahead as to not intimidate the other students, but thankfully we're all friends and they all know I really like languages. She meant no malice, just wanted to look out for the other students! Our first class was on Phonology, and the second more on grammar, particularly cases. We did phonology drills, and given the professor's laid back, understanding way of going about teaching it (knowing that it is tough, and that OE is usually taught as a graduate course) made it so fun! I've literally never had that much fun doing drills!
We are using Peter S. Baker's Introduction to Old English, along with his website "Old English Aerobics." Our goal will be to start translating Beowulf by the end of the semester, of which we bought a bilingual copy translated by Chickering. As some may know I was using Atherton's Teach Yourself Old English , which I got a few chapters into (but might restart and do on the side, sorry prof
), and bought a prose/poetry reader (by Sweet), but my sister-in-law also gave me Alice in Wonderland and a beginner Prose Reader by Baskerbill. I was also fortunate to find a poetry collection edited by Treharne and Wu of Old and Middle English poetry at a used bookstore. I'll have plenty to work through and read this semester and during the summer. I think I'll try to translate/read the rest of Beowulf during the summer.Well, that's my update. I hope everyone has been doing well.
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.... I'll try and figure it out. 
so hard to choose.)
