Postby Elsa Maria » Sat Nov 30, 2019 3:32 pm
Well, I was right about my assessment of both my Danish and my Dutch - see previous post.
DANISH
I spent ten continuous days in Denmark. I spoke a lot of English the first two days. It took some time for me to warm up and to build up my confidence. But every day, the percentage shifted toward more Danish, less English. The breakthrough came when I went to a cafe with two friends (native Danish speakers) and we spoke only Danish for two hours. After that, I used very little English.
I was in the midst of families and groups of friends (all native speakers), and my comprehension was pretty high. But I had to stay focused 100 percent. One brief lapse in concentration, and I was OUT. I did get lost at times when the conversations turned to politics, religion, or literature.
I understood the snatches of conversation that I heard on the street or while on transport.
I made a lot of speaking mistakes. I often knew my mistake as soon as I made it. I asked one of my closest friends for an honest assessment of my mistakes, and nothing that she told me was a surprise.
My confidence in Danish was really bolstered by this trip. I am not a C-level speaker, but I do believe that becoming one is within my reach.
Oh, and I will never again take it personally if someone switches to English on me. At least not in the tourist spots. While we were in the touristy parts of Copenhagen, people occasionally switched to English when talking with my born-and-raised-in-Copenhagen friend.
I'll give a shout-out to the 365 Day challenge. I have a perfect score thus far, and I do believe it has made a big difference.
DUTCH
I can order food and manage simple transactions. I can catch bits of random conversations. I did OK with train announcements. Suffice it to say, my level remains very low.
I have been trying to force myself through Assimil, and I don't like it. Which means that I avoid it. I was enjoying Dutch a lot more when I was working through the learndutch.org materials and going to classes. My subscription ran out at learndutch.org, and I will force myself to get through Assimil before I let myself buy the subscription again. And I will read. I have a sizeable stack of children's books to read, and I'm going to work my way through them in order of difficulty.
I plan to return to the Netherlands again in May. I'd like to see how much I can improve between now and then.
LATIN
I kept up with my assignments while I was away. I cut the relevant pages out of my textbook and took them along. The book would have been too bulky to take.
EUROPEAN PORTUGUESE
This is my 6WC language. I really only started to give it attention this week. I tried the Linguaphone course, but I can't tolerate it while also doing Assimil Dutch. Blech. After I finish the Assimil Dutch, I can try Linguaphone. For now, I am using Pimsleur and I just took a subscription to Practice Portuguese. I'll try Practice Portuguese for a month and see how that goes.
6 x
Corrections are always welcome.