Postby PeterMollenburg » Wed May 10, 2023 6:48 am
French
I feel like that I haven't done enough French consistently enough of late to label myself C1 with confidence anymore. Still, I'm not concerned, as I continue to speak it with the kids, read a little of my own interests, read a fair amount with the kids. Basically it's present enough to not be lost.
I had a pleasant encounter today in my monolingual wasteland. At one of our nearby towns I needed to send sth from the Post Office to the UK this morning. I had not been into this particular Post Office before, but after 5 min or so I noticed a woman, who'd arrived after me, say a few French phrases to her child. Of course, I asked (in French) are you French?
Yes, she was from Lyon, lived in the town (married to a local) and knew no other French people in the area. She was impressed by my French and my children's stating it's almost as if you (ie me, the PM) have no accent, how is that possible? To which I pulled out a few massive trophies hidden in my back pocket, awarded to my by the French president himself, naturally - for being more French than most French people. It was at that moment that she threw herself on the floor demanding I leave my wife. I then insisted on her getting up off the floor and to stop making a scene. I got to tell you I'm getting a little over people asking for my autograph lately, or for me to spend my life with them. Beyond the joke!
Okay, back to earth... we exchanged a few niceties here and there in between managing (my) disruptive children and filling out the details on my international postage thingy. As she left I said something like maybe we'll see each other again. I just needed to get out on with posting the item and get the hell out of there before my kids broke something, but I regretted not attempting to exchange contact details... I really ought to try more to create a bit of a French (and Dutch) network, since at this stage it's almost as if I'm condemning myself to live in a monolingual wasteland. "Poor me, I'm so deprived of French speakers, no-one wants to hang out with me or my kids!" Huh? What? No, PM, you need to check yo' self, fool.
Dutch
Like French, I continue to use the language with ther kids. FYI, today is a French day, the last four were Dutch. The reading has been more exciting of late with the kids in Dutch because of the books they're really into. The French ones aren't bad, and we have a great little collection, but Dutch has really evened things up over time, especially lately. I still struggle to follow the Dutch news and I still have noticeable vocabulary gaps, but I don't care. It's okay, I work on that one day, but not for a while yet.
Norwegian
Progress has been real slow. Out kayaking I keep listen to a limited amount of audio courses on a big loop if you will. It's boring-ish, but still keeps me engaged and at least not falling behind.
With Nils, I've not progressed really much at all. I've managed to at least move slightly forward, as opposed to going backwards or forgetting things. I'm keener now, so I'm going to try to be more consistent from here on. The kids understand some basics and it's not going to go beyond that if I don't improve myself.
Spanish
I woke early one morning and in my half sleep, decided it was time to return to learning Spanish with some course work. I figured, despite not progressing much with Norwegian, despite being busier than ever in my life, despite exchanging a lot of my free time to focus on my kayaking, which has gone beyond the regular kayaking sessions to include some strength building now too, well work has been blissfully quiet more often than I would've thought, and if I exchange some TV time for Spanish and Norwegian studies, I might progress.
So I did. I started a few days back with Destinos - and I mean ALL components - workbook, textbooks, audio, video. I'm not 'cheating', as I want to do it properly to take advantage of the course in it's entirety. It's funny looking in the front cover of lesson 1. I've marked most times I've attempted this course with dates (at least years). 11 attempts spanning 25 years!!, so it's high time to just bite the bullet and get on with it. I'll do it when I can and just keep progressing.
Years back, learning solely French, I felt like I needed to do it all day if I could. I couldn't, so 2 to 3 hours was what I managed most days for several years. Now I feel like you can make decent progress with an hour most days, provided you just keep on keeping on. So, I plan to focus on Spanish and Norwegian courses an hour of each a day ideally and if that doesn't happen, I'll do what I can. Dutch and French are maintained via the kids. Not ideal, but acceptable nonetheless.
That's me. Throw a hater over your shoulder. Where the gators at? An' I ain't even fat, for realz.
15 x