Languages and Life: Gary's log (Italian, Spanish, German, Japanese, bits of French)
Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 4:53 pm
New year, time for a new log!
I'm Gary, I'm from Scotland, and I've been learning languages and writing about it on here and on the old forum for a good few years now. Here's my log from last year, or rather the portion on this site.
About the name: it's for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I see languages as a part of my life, as opposed to just some isolated academic subject, and I like to write about how they fit into my life and my experiences of using them when socialising and travelling. Secondly, it's about the balance between languages and the rest of life, and how I feel that I should base my language learning on what's happening in my life as opposed to trying to fit my life around the language I'm learning as I have in the past.
For this second reason, I've come to realise that long-term goals and challenges aren't right for me: life is unpredictable and always changing, and committing to a plan doesn't allow me to be flexible and adapt. Goals just add stress to something that I'm doing for fun, and in the past they've led to me continuing down a path that was no longer right for me. So I'm not going to participate in the TAC, Super Challenge, or Output Challenge this time around. That's not to say I don't have long term ambitions though; I've been interested in and committed to my languages for a long time, and I don't really do wanderlust. It's just about keeping a flexible approach to my priorities and activities.
Onto the interesting part: Languages!
Italian
I've been studying Italian for four years now, and it's been my main focus recently. In CEFR terms I'd say my receptive skills are in the Cs and my speaking is a high B2. In other words, I understand very well and I speak quite well but there's plenty room for improvement. My main interest is in conversational ability, but I'm currently undecided on whether to aim for improvement or just maintenance. I started learning the language because I had Italian friends and became very interested in the country and culture, but these days I have fewer opportunities to use it. I do think I could squeeze out some more improvement, but it's a question of whether it's worthwhile.
Currently I watch films and TV, I speak when I have the opportunity, and I'm trying to improve my pronunciation and accent as that's still a weak area. I usually visit Italy once per year and probably will do again this year. If I do decide to keep working on improving my speaking, I'll aim for regular iTalki lessons and/or language exchanges.
Spanish
I decided to learn this for similar reasons to Italian: social, travel, culture. I live in a city with tens of thousands of Spanish speakers, mostly from Spain. I've studied it on and off over the past couple of years; thanks to my Italian I picked up the basics and decent listening comprehension fairly quickly, but my speaking is limited by a weak grasp on the verbs and a small vocabulary.
For the moment I'm mostly focusing on input and listening comprehension, and I converse occasionally. Sooner or later, hopefully this year, I intend to make it a higher priority: work through the FSI course to help activate my knowledge, and start conversing more regularly. I might well travel to Spain at some point in the year.
French
French was my first language love, but I lost interest a while ago due to lack of opportunities to use it and too many negative experiences with native speakers. For now it's firmly in maintenance mode: I occasionally watch a film, read a book, or have a conversation. It was at a similar level to my Italian (good understanding, quite good speaking) but now it's gotten rusty and my Italian has overtaken. I plan to continue this way, but if it became useful again for social or travel reasons I'd happily pick it up again.
Other possibilities
- I'm considering a visit to Portugal, and since it would be low-hanging fruit with my current Romance knowledge, I'd happily learn some Portuguese basics before going. Covering at least the phonetic system and the important similarities and differences with related languages would make it much more transparent.
- Greek has been on my mind for a long time, because of my family roots: I'm half-Greek but I didn't learn the language as a child and I've not really had strong connections to Greece other than a few relatives who I see very occasionally. I'd like to get more in touch with this side sooner or later, especially since my grandparents there won't be around forever. So maybe this year I'll find time for it. It's not an easy language, certainly a whole difficulty level above the Romance ones, but even basic speaking ability and decent comprehension would be nice to have. I did learn some basics a couple of years ago before a trip there, but I don't remember them well.
Learning methods and resources
I've been thinking a bit about my general philosophy and strategy for learning languages recently, and trying to apply my ideas. It's all a work in progress, so I don't claim to have all the answers. But over the years I have tried to consider what is important for me. My main priority is conversational ability; anything else is secondary.
Everyday language, focus on the basics
I believe that a good grasp on the basics of conversational language is the most important thing, as opposed to having a huge vocabulary or knowing fancy expressions. 20% of the language makes up 80% of conversation and all. Even in my more advanced languages I feel that there are big gaps in my speaking knowledge and I could improve my ability and automaticity with basic verbs and structures. I try to focus on TV/films/books that have a lot of everyday conversation, and practise this stuff with conversations, self-talk, and writing. For Spanish, FSI drills should help. When I write, I try to write as I would speak, avoiding the temptation to use more literary language. This year I'm going to make a conscious effort to focus more on conversational language and less on literature, journalism, etc.
Input versus Output?
I'm still not sure where the right balance is here. Input helps but I seem to need specific practice for speaking too, so I aim for a balanced approach. I think the important part is to be focused. As I said in my last log, the important thing is to be focused and present on whatever I'm doing: pay full attention when watching films, be in the moment when conversing, concentrate. This has been a difficulty in the past.
Pronunciation
I think good pronunciation and accent are important, but it's something I've always struggled with and I'm still trying to figure out the "secret" to learning good pronunciation and keeping it without old incorrect habits coming back. It seems to just be a very slow iterative process of finding mistakes and replacing them with more correct habits. I've recently started reading a book aimed at actors, "How to do Accents". It's focused on different English accents as opposed to accents in foreign languages, so some of it isn't relevant, but it seems light-years ahead of most of the material aimed at language learners. I'll write more on this soon.
Confidence
Recently I've been becoming less shy and more confident about using my languages, mistakes and all, so I'm hoping to continue with this! Speaking is the most difficult skill for me, but part of that is just mental obstacles rather than technical ones. I've also often been too perfectionistic with my goals so I'd like to be more realistic, accepting that I'm in an English-speaking country and my time and speaking opportunities are limited so I'm probably not going to reach a very advanced level.
I'm Gary, I'm from Scotland, and I've been learning languages and writing about it on here and on the old forum for a good few years now. Here's my log from last year, or rather the portion on this site.
About the name: it's for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I see languages as a part of my life, as opposed to just some isolated academic subject, and I like to write about how they fit into my life and my experiences of using them when socialising and travelling. Secondly, it's about the balance between languages and the rest of life, and how I feel that I should base my language learning on what's happening in my life as opposed to trying to fit my life around the language I'm learning as I have in the past.
For this second reason, I've come to realise that long-term goals and challenges aren't right for me: life is unpredictable and always changing, and committing to a plan doesn't allow me to be flexible and adapt. Goals just add stress to something that I'm doing for fun, and in the past they've led to me continuing down a path that was no longer right for me. So I'm not going to participate in the TAC, Super Challenge, or Output Challenge this time around. That's not to say I don't have long term ambitions though; I've been interested in and committed to my languages for a long time, and I don't really do wanderlust. It's just about keeping a flexible approach to my priorities and activities.
Onto the interesting part: Languages!
Italian
I've been studying Italian for four years now, and it's been my main focus recently. In CEFR terms I'd say my receptive skills are in the Cs and my speaking is a high B2. In other words, I understand very well and I speak quite well but there's plenty room for improvement. My main interest is in conversational ability, but I'm currently undecided on whether to aim for improvement or just maintenance. I started learning the language because I had Italian friends and became very interested in the country and culture, but these days I have fewer opportunities to use it. I do think I could squeeze out some more improvement, but it's a question of whether it's worthwhile.
Currently I watch films and TV, I speak when I have the opportunity, and I'm trying to improve my pronunciation and accent as that's still a weak area. I usually visit Italy once per year and probably will do again this year. If I do decide to keep working on improving my speaking, I'll aim for regular iTalki lessons and/or language exchanges.
Spanish
I decided to learn this for similar reasons to Italian: social, travel, culture. I live in a city with tens of thousands of Spanish speakers, mostly from Spain. I've studied it on and off over the past couple of years; thanks to my Italian I picked up the basics and decent listening comprehension fairly quickly, but my speaking is limited by a weak grasp on the verbs and a small vocabulary.
For the moment I'm mostly focusing on input and listening comprehension, and I converse occasionally. Sooner or later, hopefully this year, I intend to make it a higher priority: work through the FSI course to help activate my knowledge, and start conversing more regularly. I might well travel to Spain at some point in the year.
French
French was my first language love, but I lost interest a while ago due to lack of opportunities to use it and too many negative experiences with native speakers. For now it's firmly in maintenance mode: I occasionally watch a film, read a book, or have a conversation. It was at a similar level to my Italian (good understanding, quite good speaking) but now it's gotten rusty and my Italian has overtaken. I plan to continue this way, but if it became useful again for social or travel reasons I'd happily pick it up again.
Other possibilities
- I'm considering a visit to Portugal, and since it would be low-hanging fruit with my current Romance knowledge, I'd happily learn some Portuguese basics before going. Covering at least the phonetic system and the important similarities and differences with related languages would make it much more transparent.
- Greek has been on my mind for a long time, because of my family roots: I'm half-Greek but I didn't learn the language as a child and I've not really had strong connections to Greece other than a few relatives who I see very occasionally. I'd like to get more in touch with this side sooner or later, especially since my grandparents there won't be around forever. So maybe this year I'll find time for it. It's not an easy language, certainly a whole difficulty level above the Romance ones, but even basic speaking ability and decent comprehension would be nice to have. I did learn some basics a couple of years ago before a trip there, but I don't remember them well.
Learning methods and resources
I've been thinking a bit about my general philosophy and strategy for learning languages recently, and trying to apply my ideas. It's all a work in progress, so I don't claim to have all the answers. But over the years I have tried to consider what is important for me. My main priority is conversational ability; anything else is secondary.
Everyday language, focus on the basics
I believe that a good grasp on the basics of conversational language is the most important thing, as opposed to having a huge vocabulary or knowing fancy expressions. 20% of the language makes up 80% of conversation and all. Even in my more advanced languages I feel that there are big gaps in my speaking knowledge and I could improve my ability and automaticity with basic verbs and structures. I try to focus on TV/films/books that have a lot of everyday conversation, and practise this stuff with conversations, self-talk, and writing. For Spanish, FSI drills should help. When I write, I try to write as I would speak, avoiding the temptation to use more literary language. This year I'm going to make a conscious effort to focus more on conversational language and less on literature, journalism, etc.
Input versus Output?
I'm still not sure where the right balance is here. Input helps but I seem to need specific practice for speaking too, so I aim for a balanced approach. I think the important part is to be focused. As I said in my last log, the important thing is to be focused and present on whatever I'm doing: pay full attention when watching films, be in the moment when conversing, concentrate. This has been a difficulty in the past.
Pronunciation
I think good pronunciation and accent are important, but it's something I've always struggled with and I'm still trying to figure out the "secret" to learning good pronunciation and keeping it without old incorrect habits coming back. It seems to just be a very slow iterative process of finding mistakes and replacing them with more correct habits. I've recently started reading a book aimed at actors, "How to do Accents". It's focused on different English accents as opposed to accents in foreign languages, so some of it isn't relevant, but it seems light-years ahead of most of the material aimed at language learners. I'll write more on this soon.
Confidence
Recently I've been becoming less shy and more confident about using my languages, mistakes and all, so I'm hoping to continue with this! Speaking is the most difficult skill for me, but part of that is just mental obstacles rather than technical ones. I've also often been too perfectionistic with my goals so I'd like to be more realistic, accepting that I'm in an English-speaking country and my time and speaking opportunities are limited so I'm probably not going to reach a very advanced level.