LunaMoonsilver wrote:One last thing... while I've been writing this (it
reallllllllly takes me a long time to write this stuff up
), I've been reading the new thread rdearman posted (
What happened to the challenges), so don't be surprised if I come back mid-week with a million things I want to try out!
Um yeah, it turns out I was
not kidding.
I'm now officially taking part in iguanamon's Free and Legal Challenge (FLC), which if you haven't seen the thread, basically entails trying to learn a new language using only material freely (and legally) available. There are variants,
all of which can be seen on the thread, but I'm going for the Pure FLC, as outlined here:
iguanamon wrote:Pure FLC- All internet based, no library, no illegal downloads or streaming including illegally uploaded youtube videos.
Fun, right? The goal is to see how far we can get—at least A2 level, hopefully, though there are timeframes for levels beyond that too.
Since I have absolutely no chill about this challenge, I've picked two languages to try out—
Polish and
Mongolian. Polish | Język polskiI've been wanting to learn Polish for a while, so this seems like the perfect opportunity to give it a go! I
have learnt a little Polish before (a couple of Pimsleur lessons, some Duolingo), but basically all I remember now is hello/thank you/excuse me, so I think this will work.
From what I've seen, Polish seems pretty resource-rich, especially since iguanamon linked me to the massive DLI Polish Basic course:
iguanamon wrote:I met a Polish couple the other day here and I downloaded the rather substantial and thorough (though 49 years old)
DLI Polish Basic Course (copyright free) from ERIC. There's no audio. I used the Haitian Creole course successfully without audio. You're going to have to get creative with this.
Misja Kraków is a free introductory course from Deutsche Welle. I'm curious about both! Maybe Misja Kraków can help to teach you pronunciation that the DLI course without audio is missing.
There's also a good-sized Polish community where I live, so I should have a chance to put some of what I learn into practice!
Mongolian | монгол хэлNot gonna lie, Mongolian is a bit more of a whim. A few years ago, I was studying in China for a while and had the chance to go to Inner Mongolia. It was only for a few days, but I loved it and was sure at the time I would, at some point, learn some Mongolian. Fast-forward five years later and I have not done that, but since I think I'd be satisfied learning some Mongolian even to a basic level, this seems like another good choice to try.
(Plus, I can't deny that the comparative scarcity of resources is intriguing...)
Right now, I've found a Peace Corps course (with no audio) and a YouTube channel that seems to cover aspects of Mongolian grammar. This one is a bit up in the air; if I decide I need to drop either language, it's going to be Mongolian, but I'm excited to see how much I can do.
Like usual, I'm going to try and update weekly, though I don't think I'll be making weekly goals for this challenge for a little while. For now, I've got to collect resources and drill pronunciation. Maybe learn some new words...
Good luck to everyone taking part! I'm sure we'll all do well
Tomorrow's my only day off this week, so I'm going to try and get as much done as I can as early as possible.
