It's been a while since I had any definitive goals (well, non-academic ones anyway). Now that I have my results and a job (though not a starting date, for various bureaucratic reasons), I wanted to think a little bit about my priorities over the next 9-12 months. None of these are going to be SMART goals, just because I want a general picture and some flexibility. As always, I have quite a lot of general goals, and several of those I want to do in English for one reason or another.
(Potentially) in order of priority:
French: I speak French at a B2 level, but there is definitely a lot of work to be done for me to get to the C1 range. I think that for me, one of the big challenges is going to be moving from 'getting by' to real precision. I can watch and read things without a struggle, but there are always chunks that I miss and I lack a real recognition of the detail. I suspect that one of the main issues here is that my vocabulary is solid, but definitely needs expanding. I really want to emphasise reading here, because I think that will have a knock-on effect on my other skills. I absolutely want to just read more - on anything, for pleasure, etc - but I know that I am coasting a little bit in doing this, so I also want to push LWT and intensive reading. I think that will make a huge difference to my vocabulary. Finally, I just need to be doing some/any grammar and writing practice. I do want to take the DALF C1 exam - in a year or so, I probably will be applying for more jobs, some of which will ask for French skills. I'm not sure that December exam will be the best time, given other priorities and the fact that it isn't cheap. So, I think the vague goal is to pass the DALF C1 in March 2019.
Russian: My Russian skills are pretty similar to my French, just a little behind. I definitely don't feel that my Russian is at B2 (although I will say, based on CEFR descriptions I don't think my French is at B2 but they passed me!). However, though my Russian is worse than my French, I think in some ways it is a bit more precise, because of the tasks I've done through my degree. I do want to keep pushing this and get it more rounded. But I don't particularly have any level related goals - I have a degree so I don't really need certificates. I think my goal is to continue to use Russian to explore film and some political stuff. I read and watch general Russian stuff (youtube, trashy novels, magazine articles, BBC news) but I'd like to push myself more and get more technical abilities.
Spanish: Given that I didn't do any Spanish for years, I can't complain, but it's so shaky! I've gotten a bit spoilt, because I can get by in Russian and French, so I forgot what it's like when you're stranded between beginner and intermediate. Because of that (and because I always adored Spanish) a part of me wants to really push forward with Spanish - I think a short spurt would get me somewhere that I would be happier with. It could also offer me some job potential in the future, though this is unlikely. I had been thinking that I should let Spanish be a fun language with no pressure or goal, so I could focus on French and to a lesser extent Russian. But I keep persuading myself otherwise. So I think I am going to give myself until mid-September to really push Spanish and get it to a solid B1 level. This will probably involve a lot of binge-watching and minimal "study" so it should still get to be a fun thing.
Other...?: I would really quite like to study a new language and will probably take a course from September, but I am very torn as to what. I have a vague dream of learning all the UN languages, so Arabic and Mandarin are strong contenders. However, I have tried studying Arabic in the past and took a really long time to gell with it. I also do want to do a group class and have had mediocre experiences with Arabic courses. I also would probably rather study a dialect rather than MSA, based on my previous experience. But I have no real sense of which. I might be able to find some jobs where Arabic would be a plus in the future, but not many and I doubt my Arabic would be good enough for it to really help.
I do have several Mandarin speaking friends and would love to know even a little Mandarin. They are almost all in Russia, though (none are nearby). I struggle to remember pictures, don't hear well and am terrified of learning a tonal language. However, I think the benefit of Mandarin (other than how many people speak it, the fact that I have friends who do, and the sheer quantity of resources) is that I wouldn't start to beat myself up about it. This would absolutely be a bonkers passion project, so I would let myself off the hook a bit and that would be very good for me. I don't want to start feeling persecuted by a new language, and I suspect that my other options might do that.
A final possibility would be Portuguese. I've never had any real connection to Portuguese or a desire to learn it, but I am sure there is lots of Portuguese (language) content that I would end up finding interesting. Mostly though, this would be a responsible decision. When I was applying for jobs, I was quite intrigued to find that a lot listed Portuguese as a desirable criterion. Given that I've studied French, Spanish and Latin, I'd have a real head start on Portuguese. But on the flip side, so much potential for confusion between French/Spanish/Portuguese (this is 100% why I don't want to study another Slavic language).
Any thoughts? Anyone want to decide for me?
There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)
- MamaPata
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Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)
I like the idea of having a "fun language"...but if Spanish ever led to a job opportunity...that would be good motivation to really make it a priority.
I always vote in favor of Spanish.. just because
I always vote in favor of Spanish.. just because
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DOUBLE Super Challenge
Spanish Movies
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Spanish Books
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- eido
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Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)
There's always the advice that you should get the languages you're most likely to get mixed up to a high level so you don't mix them up as much. In other words, if you're thinking of Portuguese, maybe get Spanish up to B2 and French up to at least C1 before you think of adding Portuguese. But what do I know, I'm just a newbie.
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- Ani
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Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)
You should definitely not learn Portuguese when your only reason is responsibility and potential job opportunity. That's a recipe for misery.
I say Mandarin. Have fun with it. Drop it if you need to now and again. Use whatever materials make it fun and learn to love studying languages again.
I say Mandarin. Have fun with it. Drop it if you need to now and again. Use whatever materials make it fun and learn to love studying languages again.
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But there's no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.
- MamaPata
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Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)
Thanks for all of the advice guys! I will bear those thoughts in mind.
Either way, I can promise Spanish will be getting a look in.
Yeah, I think that's always good advice. I suspect it's probably possible when you're at B2, but as my Spanish isn't there, that doesn't really help!
Very wise. I am sure I would find new reasons once I started, but it's not quite enough!
Obviously, since posting that, everything got much busier. Which is great, but means that there has been basically nothing for the languages I'm actually meant to be working on! So a new one - no chance!
I finished reading my crappy romance novel in Russian, so I am bizarrely on track for the Russian reading section of the Super Challenge. Given how little I read in Russian in the last one, I am very bemused by this. But I guess it's proof that I have made progress, which feels good! Otherwise, not much Russian. One of my big tasks has involved some watching of Russian clips, which has been an interesting exercise. Even when I can follow a scene in Russian, when trying to note the exact phrases, I find that I still miss a lot. I think I'd like to work on doing some really intensive work, maybe trying to transcribe stuff. We'll see.
I also had to go to the Russian embassy for boring document stuff, so got talked at by Russians briefly. It wasn't my finest hour, but I'm not too worried about that. I'm out of practice and I find it very hard to hear through that kind of cashier window. But entertaining to see my Russian in that sort of situation.
Spanish - just Drops. Because my tablet is in French, the Drops app gives me the definitions in French, which is fun. I also have a book from the library, so hopefully will get some reading in soon. (And go back to some series).
I've started reading Femmes de Dictateurs - one of the few French books my local library has (the others are Pride and Prejudice and Anna Karenina, potentially a Dickens). Obviously this is hardly an apolitical book, so I'll try and keep it on the language side of things!
I think the author is Belgian, but this seems to have been originally written in French. I'm not particularly enjoying it, which is interesting as I was really intrigued by the idea. I find it hard to tell whether books are good or not when I'm reading in a TL, because I don't know how much is my missing stuff and how much is the book itself. This I am pretty sure is not about me - the order itself is really weird and actually slows the reader. (But if other people have read it, I'd be intrigued to know how you found it). It has sections on different figures - the first is Mussolini, who I don't know masses about. She doesn't actually give much of his biography - perhaps she assumes the reader will be familiar - which I find quite annoying. The next sections are on Lenin and Stalin, who for obvious reasons, I know more about. So we'll see if my comprehension spikes/I like the book better.
NoManches wrote:I like the idea of having a "fun language"...but if Spanish ever led to a job opportunity...that would be good motivation to really make it a priority.
I always vote in favor of Spanish.. just because
Either way, I can promise Spanish will be getting a look in.
eido wrote:There's always the advice that you should get the languages you're most likely to get mixed up to a high level so you don't mix them up as much. In other words, if you're thinking of Portuguese, maybe get Spanish up to B2 and French up to at least C1 before you think of adding Portuguese. But what do I know, I'm just a newbie.
Yeah, I think that's always good advice. I suspect it's probably possible when you're at B2, but as my Spanish isn't there, that doesn't really help!
Ani wrote:You should definitely not learn Portuguese when your only reason is responsibility and potential job opportunity. That's a recipe for misery.
Very wise. I am sure I would find new reasons once I started, but it's not quite enough!
Obviously, since posting that, everything got much busier. Which is great, but means that there has been basically nothing for the languages I'm actually meant to be working on! So a new one - no chance!
I finished reading my crappy romance novel in Russian, so I am bizarrely on track for the Russian reading section of the Super Challenge. Given how little I read in Russian in the last one, I am very bemused by this. But I guess it's proof that I have made progress, which feels good! Otherwise, not much Russian. One of my big tasks has involved some watching of Russian clips, which has been an interesting exercise. Even when I can follow a scene in Russian, when trying to note the exact phrases, I find that I still miss a lot. I think I'd like to work on doing some really intensive work, maybe trying to transcribe stuff. We'll see.
I also had to go to the Russian embassy for boring document stuff, so got talked at by Russians briefly. It wasn't my finest hour, but I'm not too worried about that. I'm out of practice and I find it very hard to hear through that kind of cashier window. But entertaining to see my Russian in that sort of situation.
Spanish - just Drops. Because my tablet is in French, the Drops app gives me the definitions in French, which is fun. I also have a book from the library, so hopefully will get some reading in soon. (And go back to some series).
I've started reading Femmes de Dictateurs - one of the few French books my local library has (the others are Pride and Prejudice and Anna Karenina, potentially a Dickens). Obviously this is hardly an apolitical book, so I'll try and keep it on the language side of things!
I think the author is Belgian, but this seems to have been originally written in French. I'm not particularly enjoying it, which is interesting as I was really intrigued by the idea. I find it hard to tell whether books are good or not when I'm reading in a TL, because I don't know how much is my missing stuff and how much is the book itself. This I am pretty sure is not about me - the order itself is really weird and actually slows the reader. (But if other people have read it, I'd be intrigued to know how you found it). It has sections on different figures - the first is Mussolini, who I don't know masses about. She doesn't actually give much of his biography - perhaps she assumes the reader will be familiar - which I find quite annoying. The next sections are on Lenin and Stalin, who for obvious reasons, I know more about. So we'll see if my comprehension spikes/I like the book better.
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Corrections appreciated.
- brilliantyears
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Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)
MamaPata wrote:I think quite a few people on here studied or study a language or language-related course in higher education. But in general, I think these degrees get a bit of a bad rep on this site (though less so lately). So I wanted to talk a little bit about my experience, as a bit of a counter to that.
I completely missed this post! But yes, I think language or language-related degrees get a bad rep in the language learning community and I also disagree with it. Your experience matches mine in a lot of ways (I studied Japanese, also with 2 years in NL, one year in Japan, and the final year back in NL). It was a fantastic experience, my Japanese was quite good by the end of it, and all the culture/history/politics/etc classes were brilliant.
Maybe I should also write a post about it?
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- tarvos
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Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)
The reason for that is partly because you studied in Leiden, and Leiden is an absolutely fantastic university when it comes to the humanities. A lot of universities just aren't Leiden, you know.
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Is a girl.
Is a girl.
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Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)
tarvos wrote:The reason for that is partly because you studied in Leiden, and Leiden is an absolutely fantastic university when it comes to the humanities. A lot of universities just aren't Leiden, you know.
To be fair, I have also studied briefly at Leiden and I was not convinced at all.
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Corrections appreciated.
- tarvos
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Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)
I wasn't convinced either, but their Japanese programme has an immense reputation, as far as I know. Part of my undergraduate degree is from Leiden, but I haven't studied there since... 2008 or 2009-ish. Think it's 2008. I did most of my university studying in Delft though, and I studied chemistry at Leiden university, so nothing to do with the humanities. But I'd still like a go at one of the humanities courses, if only I had the money to do so.
Last edited by tarvos on Fri Jul 20, 2018 6:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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I hope your world is kind.
Is a girl.
Is a girl.
- brilliantyears
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Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)
Devil's advocate: that could be because it's technically the only Japanese programme in the Netherlands at a university level?
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