What and Why?
Vietnamese: Intend to visit the country and maybe even work there, there is a demand for my job and I have a list of reasons why I'd want to move there, but it's a big decision and one I've yet to make. Even if I dont, it'll be a good place to visit more than once. And I liked the idea of learning a new language and would like to speak Vietnamese when I go to Vietnam, so I started learning it.
Tuvan: I have been learning Tuvan throat singing. The interest comes from a rabbit hole I dug myself into, it started from taking an interest in Mongolia, its culture, history and music and it broadened from there and found an interest in Tuva too. I ended up buying a Morin Khuur (in my avatar) and started to learn and joined a couple of online groups related to it. And then I saw an advertisement in a group for Tuvan throat singing lessons and I jumped at the opportunity. The guy teaching me lived in Tuvan until recently and his fiancé is Tuvan. As part of my learning to sing in Tuvan, I will need to learn some Tuvan.
But if I am going to learn some Tuvan, why not learn some fluency in Tuvan? I know it's an endangered language, so it feels silly to miss the opportunity to learn it. Especially as I have people I'd be able to practice it with.
Mongolian: I am wanting to learn it for similar reasons to both Tuvan & Vietnamese. But, as to not over do it, I am not learning Mongolian straight away. I've had months with Vietnamese and just started Tuvan. And given there are Mongolic influences in Tuvan, I figure it makes sense not to start them at the same time. Once I am confident enough, I may challenge myself with a 3rd language.
The plan:
Make Vietnamese my first priority. It is the language I've progressed the most with. I am taking lessons 2x a week and am at a point where I need to focus on practice and expanding my vocabulary and getting better at listening & speaking. And the following may help:
- More online interactions in Vietnamese and language exercises. This will help me develop my written Vietnamese and expand my vocabulary & practice the rules I've already learned. Such as through iTalki
- Keep regular sessions with my tutor, we're getting more and more conversational, so I can keep it up and he can correct me or offer better ways of saying things.
- Once more confidend, see if I can find Vietnamese language partners to speak to for a variety of speakers
With Tuvan, I am pursuing the Mango online course, which I have started and I will make sure I write down what I learn because I retain information better that way. I will focus on the sounds to start with, because a) the sounds are important for my singing and b) it's one of the parts I struggle with when learning a language, and I think nipping that in the bud early will help when I learn new words. It's something I wish I did with Vietnamese.
I will need to learn Cyrillic, but Mango makes it easier for me to learn this as I go along. My singing tutor might be able to offer Tuvan lessons, depending on budget, I will consider it. Vietnamese is my priority and my tutor budget is currently spent on that and my singing lessons.
I will aim for 1 lesson per day on Mango to start with and then at least 1 review a day after wards. I know after time, one lesson a day is less sustainable and I may look at twice a week like I am with Vietnamese. But I think it is good to get a good rhythm going whilst I have new language motivation.
The Challenge
I know learning more than 1 language at a time can be a challenge, so it is something I am conscious of. I'm not an experienced language learner and have looked up advice for doing this, which I will refer back to occasionally so that I do not lose sight. Fortunately I have a good headstart on Vietnamese and the two languages are very different and there are things I've learned from studying Vietnamese that I can apply to improving my learning of Tuvan.
The biggest challenge I expect will be when I add Mongolian to the mix, because there are Mongolic influences in Tuvan. I will cross that bridge when I get to it.