Spoon's 2018 attempt at success [ ES | IT | EO | DE? ] + Greek FLC
Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 7:04 pm
Bienvenidos/Benvenuti/Bonvenon/Willkommen/Welcome to my 2018 log!
Previous log: Stirring up 2017 with Spoon [ Español | Italiano | Esperanto | Deutsch? ]
Well, here we are again. A new year, a new start. Now I'm not going to dwell too much on how lacklustre I thought 2017 was, as I aim to make a conscious effort this year to look forward at what I am going to do next, rather than backwards at what I wanted to do/should have done but did not do.
If anyone is interested, my bio, language history etc. can be found on my previous logs and of course, I am always open to questions, so if there is anything in particular you would like to know, fire away.
In the interest of looking forward but not setting myself too many objectives to fall short of or goals which are hopelessly out of reach, I'm starting the year with some simple guidelines I would like to follow and I would like to share an idea I have floating around in my brain, just in case I ever get around to doing something with it.
Español
The short time I have spent chatting in Spanish with friends over Christmas has reminded me how much I love being able to speak this language at the level I do. However, it has also highlighted the gaps in my knowledge and overall decay in my level of fluency caused by speaking English 99% of the time. Sea como sea, I have to make using Spanish a more prominent part of my life this year; be that by hiring a tutor, trying to find a conversation partner online or even going to the Spanish conversation evening I never had time to go to in my old job.
Italiano
Poor Italian was left to look on from the sidelines in 2017, but that won't be the case this year. One evening last year, when I was feeling particularly positive, I bought the Routledge Reference Grammar of Modern Italian and I have every intention working through at least some of it. I also want to make actually using Italian a priority, as watching my favourite youtubers every day is all well and good, but I am not going to improve the quality of my Italian output that way. I'll probably start by taking part in more Telegram chat groups to build up my confidence and then look for a conversation partner or something, as with Spanish.
Esperanto
I am painfully close to finishing the Esperanto tree on Duolingo (yes, I still haven't finished that yet ) so I'm doing that this year, just to say that I've done it. I also really want to go to an Esperanto event, so I'll have to start planning that when I've earned a few more holiday days at work (it's complicated). Finally, Amikumu is a thing, so I am going to go back to actually using it and hope to reconnect with the one other esperantist in my area.
Deutsch
Hmm, German... I'm not actually sure what I'm doing with German at the moment. I still listen to the couple of bands I mentioned on my previous log (Saltatio Mortis and Subway to Sally) when they come on shuffle on Spotify. I also still watch 'Learn German with Anja' on Youtube which is, as always, quite fun. Actually, now that she is using more German in her videos, I am finding that I understand more and more without looking at the subtitles or waiting for her to translate what she just said. Again, these are just baby steps, but it's nice to be puzzling through a new language again.
Other:
I also aim to read more and use more, varied forms of media (such as podcasts and tv programmes, rather than my usual Youtube) in all my languages this year, including English.
The idea
Now, the bit you have all been waiting for (or maybe not); it's time for me to reveal my big idea. I'm thinking about making a podcast! I'm not actually sure whether 'podcast' is the right word to use here, as my first idea was to simply upload my target language ramblings that I record occasionally onto my log here (somehow), as a kind of audio log. However, I didn't think anyone would want to hear me chatting away about my sad little life in mistake-laden Spanish/Italian and I was sure I would have to edit out the more personal things I talk about. That made me consider creating something deliberately planned out and edited, such as a podcast, which lead on to thoughts about what the hell I would talk about, as I do not think I have anything new or interesting to share that has not been done before. So that's where I am now...
Previous log: Stirring up 2017 with Spoon [ Español | Italiano | Esperanto | Deutsch? ]
Well, here we are again. A new year, a new start. Now I'm not going to dwell too much on how lacklustre I thought 2017 was, as I aim to make a conscious effort this year to look forward at what I am going to do next, rather than backwards at what I wanted to do/should have done but did not do.
If anyone is interested, my bio, language history etc. can be found on my previous logs and of course, I am always open to questions, so if there is anything in particular you would like to know, fire away.
In the interest of looking forward but not setting myself too many objectives to fall short of or goals which are hopelessly out of reach, I'm starting the year with some simple guidelines I would like to follow and I would like to share an idea I have floating around in my brain, just in case I ever get around to doing something with it.
Español
The short time I have spent chatting in Spanish with friends over Christmas has reminded me how much I love being able to speak this language at the level I do. However, it has also highlighted the gaps in my knowledge and overall decay in my level of fluency caused by speaking English 99% of the time. Sea como sea, I have to make using Spanish a more prominent part of my life this year; be that by hiring a tutor, trying to find a conversation partner online or even going to the Spanish conversation evening I never had time to go to in my old job.
Italiano
Poor Italian was left to look on from the sidelines in 2017, but that won't be the case this year. One evening last year, when I was feeling particularly positive, I bought the Routledge Reference Grammar of Modern Italian and I have every intention working through at least some of it. I also want to make actually using Italian a priority, as watching my favourite youtubers every day is all well and good, but I am not going to improve the quality of my Italian output that way. I'll probably start by taking part in more Telegram chat groups to build up my confidence and then look for a conversation partner or something, as with Spanish.
Esperanto
I am painfully close to finishing the Esperanto tree on Duolingo (yes, I still haven't finished that yet ) so I'm doing that this year, just to say that I've done it. I also really want to go to an Esperanto event, so I'll have to start planning that when I've earned a few more holiday days at work (it's complicated). Finally, Amikumu is a thing, so I am going to go back to actually using it and hope to reconnect with the one other esperantist in my area.
Deutsch
Hmm, German... I'm not actually sure what I'm doing with German at the moment. I still listen to the couple of bands I mentioned on my previous log (Saltatio Mortis and Subway to Sally) when they come on shuffle on Spotify. I also still watch 'Learn German with Anja' on Youtube which is, as always, quite fun. Actually, now that she is using more German in her videos, I am finding that I understand more and more without looking at the subtitles or waiting for her to translate what she just said. Again, these are just baby steps, but it's nice to be puzzling through a new language again.
Other:
I also aim to read more and use more, varied forms of media (such as podcasts and tv programmes, rather than my usual Youtube) in all my languages this year, including English.
The idea
Now, the bit you have all been waiting for (or maybe not); it's time for me to reveal my big idea. I'm thinking about making a podcast! I'm not actually sure whether 'podcast' is the right word to use here, as my first idea was to simply upload my target language ramblings that I record occasionally onto my log here (somehow), as a kind of audio log. However, I didn't think anyone would want to hear me chatting away about my sad little life in mistake-laden Spanish/Italian and I was sure I would have to edit out the more personal things I talk about. That made me consider creating something deliberately planned out and edited, such as a podcast, which lead on to thoughts about what the hell I would talk about, as I do not think I have anything new or interesting to share that has not been done before. So that's where I am now...