PM's Multilingual Family Adventures in a Monolingual Wasteland

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tastyonions
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Re: PM's Multilingual Family Adventures in a Monolingual Wasteland

Postby tastyonions » Tue Mar 07, 2023 2:01 am

B1 Dutch would be a solid help for German. I say go for it.

;)
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PeterMollenburg
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Re: PM's Multilingual Family Adventures in a Monolingual Wasteland

Postby PeterMollenburg » Tue Mar 07, 2023 5:17 am

tastyonions wrote:B1 Dutch would be a solid help for German. I say go for it.

;)


I should've mentioned that it was in order of priority... Still, priorities change. However, given a slow-motion hover or snail's pace progression with NO, I don't believe I deserve to change my language of focus.

5 to 6 years of French only and falling short of my target ≈ some kind of burn-out = permission granted (by the language learning authorities aka 'me' which was an arduous process overflowing with, ahem, self-imposed red tape) to switch languages. Switching again could land me in hot water with those same authorities, not to mention really mess with my head....

...Imagine a Norwegian beginner with a decent base in Dutch attempting German. It'd be enough to make me want to learn Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Catalan and Provençal together - An Assimil lesson of every one of these languages each day and I'd have about as much clarity between each language as the US vassal states of Europe and Co. who pretend to arrive at political decisions under zero duress and hammer their deceit through their local media. No pressure, just pretend to have separate grammar rules, but we're all really one ;)

Still, I know, you wanted someone, anyone (even a seemingly unstable nut) to share your brain-thumping torture that is the German case system. I'd rethink that if I were you :lol:

PS Given my wishlist and the amount of free time I don't have, looks like I'll be around these parts for a few decades yet.

I sincerely hope your German is coming along well Mr Onions. I feel for you!
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Le Baron
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Re: PM's Multilingual Family Adventures in a Monolingual Wasteland

Postby Le Baron » Tue Mar 07, 2023 3:21 pm

PeterMollenburg wrote:My wishlist as of today:

Norwegian B2 (currently A1)
Dutch B2 (currently B1)
French C2 (currently B2-C1)
Spanish B2 (current = A1)
German B2 (current = 00)
Russian!!! B2 (current = 000)

and yet, I've very little time... so...

I'm going to be boringly sensible and say: wouldn't the time available for Spanish feel significantly greater if the 'threat' of German/Russian wasn't lingering in the back of your mind?
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Re: PM's Multilingual Family Adventures in a Monolingual Wasteland

Postby rdearman » Tue Mar 07, 2023 3:29 pm

Everyday you burn through 86,400 seconds.

memento mori
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Re: PM's Multilingual Family Adventures in a Monolingual Wasteland

Postby lavengro » Tue Mar 07, 2023 5:50 pm

I am going to be annoyingly provocative and say: wouldn't your list look a little less sparse if you were to add Japanese?

(Yes, I am asking out of self-interest.)
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Re: PM's Multilingual Family Adventures in a Monolingual Wasteland

Postby rdearman » Tue Mar 07, 2023 10:30 pm

lavengro wrote:I am going to be annoyingly provocative and say: wouldn't your list look a little less sparse if you were to add Japanese?

(Yes, I am asking out of self-interest.)

Yes, it is very Euro centric that list. I also vote that Peter add more languages in order to increase the global diversity. So I think the list should also include.

Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese to represent Asian, but also Hindi for the Indian subcontinent, Setswana and Afrikaans and perhaps Swahili as well. Moving closer to home, I think Pitjantjatjara, or Warlpiri. Then of course South America, and although he does have Spanish on the list, I think Quechua and Guaraní. For North American, I think he should add Cherokee or Inuktitut.

Peter, if you could add those to the list please and get those done by next year, that would be great.
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PeterMollenburg
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Re: PM's Multilingual Family Adventures in a Monolingual Wasteland

Postby PeterMollenburg » Wed Mar 08, 2023 12:13 am

Le Baron wrote:
PeterMollenburg wrote:My wishlist as of today:

Norwegian B2 (currently A1)
Dutch B2 (currently B1)
French C2 (currently B2-C1)
Spanish B2 (current = A1)
German B2 (current = 00)
Russian!!! B2 (current = 000)

and yet, I've very little time... so...

I'm going to be boringly sensible and say: wouldn't the time available for Spanish feel significantly greater if the 'threat' of German/Russian wasn't lingering in the back of your mind?


Indeed it would! Maybe you're onto something. However...

rdearman wrote:Everyday you burn through 86,400 seconds.

memento mori


Excellent point!

lavengro wrote:I am going to be annoyingly provocative and say: wouldn't your list look a little less sparse if you were to add Japanese?

(Yes, I am asking out of self-interest.)


I honestly have considered it. I even completed a lesson of Le japonais en douceur (thanks iguanamon ;) ) with the kids a couple weeks back. Nothing since, though.

So here's the new list:

Norwegian B2 (currently A1)
Dutch B2 (currently B1)
French C2 (currently B2-C1)
Spanish B2 (current = A1)
German B2 (current = 00)
Russian!!! B2 (current = 000)

Japanese

rdearman wrote:
lavengro wrote:I am going to be annoyingly provocative and say: wouldn't your list look a little less sparse if you were to add Japanese?

(Yes, I am asking out of self-interest.)

Yes, it is very Euro centric that list. I also vote that Peter add more languages in order to increase the global diversity. So I think the list should also include.

Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese to represent Asian, but also Hindi for the Indian subcontinent, Setswana and Afrikaans and perhaps Swahili as well. Moving closer to home, I think Pitjantjatjara, or Warlpiri. Then of course South America, and although he does have Spanish on the list, I think Quechua and Guaraní. For North American, I think he should add Cherokee or Inuktitut.

Peter, if you could add those to the list please and get those done by next year, that would be great.


How inconsiderate of me!

And... even with all the languages on my list and with the additions of rdearman's additions, it's a very human-centric list. Incredibly disrespectful. Thus, I hereby quit identifying as human. Here's my new language shortlist:

• capuchin
• narwhal
• mouflon
• platypus
• tree
• bush
• stick
• shrub
• duivelbidsprinkhaan
• leaf
• antarctic ocean
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Le Baron
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Re: PM's Multilingual Family Adventures in a Monolingual Wasteland

Postby Le Baron » Wed Mar 08, 2023 12:24 am

I expect tree, bush and stick are just dialects, so you might be able to get away with just tree. With the others it's going to have to be Pimsleur all the way....

'Imagine you're an American man and you meet a leaf on a plane...'
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tastyonions
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Re: PM's Multilingual Family Adventures in a Monolingual Wasteland

Postby tastyonions » Wed Mar 08, 2023 12:59 am

rdearman wrote:
lavengro wrote:I am going to be annoyingly provocative and say: wouldn't your list look a little less sparse if you were to add Japanese?

(Yes, I am asking out of self-interest.)

Yes, it is very Euro centric that list. I also vote that Peter add more languages in order to increase the global diversity. So I think the list should also include.

Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese to represent Asian, but also Hindi for the Indian subcontinent, Setswana and Afrikaans and perhaps Swahili as well. Moving closer to home, I think Pitjantjatjara, or Warlpiri. Then of course South America, and although he does have Spanish on the list, I think Quechua and Guaraní. For North American, I think he should add Cherokee or Inuktitut.

Peter, if you could add those to the list please and get those done by next year, that would be great.

What, no Austronesian languages? Add Maori and Hawaiian at least!
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PeterMollenburg
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Re: PM's Multilingual Family Adventures in a Monolingual Wasteland

Postby PeterMollenburg » Wed Mar 08, 2023 1:26 am

Le Baron wrote:I expect tree, bush and stick are just dialects, so you might be able to get away with just tree. With the others it's going to have to be Pimsleur all the way....


Stick is a dead language, but not unworthy by any means. You're on the right track, Le Baron, as Stick is a great base (like Latin for the romance languages) for Tree and Bush (or Shrub). However 'Leaf' has often been compared to Basque - no obvious links to neighbouring languages.

Anyway, so far I've collected 27 courses for Leaf (6 in Dutch, 1 German, 2 Spanish, 5 Japanese, 17 French and 112 in Russian = 27 total if my maths is right), but can't get my hands on the audio for Assimil's 1987 publication Feuille sans cerfeuil. Anyone know where I might be able to find this (I already asked around in our orchard and the local gum trees)?

Le Baron wrote:'Imagine you're an American man and you meet a leaf on a plane...'


:lol:

And in the beginning (of Pimsleur) you'd assume this would be an easy task, but given the 16 non-resonating monosances, the declenching pottosances and portrootsonces, not to mention the gjibbering glooie vliegen, this is going to take up most of my sleep time, as I can't string more than two words together. In fact, it was only after 6 straight nights of no sleep that all this became very clear to me. And by 'this' I mean 'this' (in Leaf).
7 x


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