A language learners’ forum

rdearman wrote:Also if you are going to swap out a language for German, why not another European one like Polish or perhaps Italian?

They’re not languages I intend to learn/ have ever been overly interested in. If I dropped out German due to confusion with Dutch and/or Norwegian, I’d avoid Italian due to already learning Spanish, otherwise more confusion is likely to arise. Polish I’m just not keen on. Russian or Arabic are possibilities.

iguanamon wrote:

PeterMollenburg wrote:...This plan will kick off late November 2019.
[color=#0000FF]Version française :
PROJET DE CINQ LANGUES
le français
le norvégien
le néerlandais
l'espagnol
l'allemand

Wow, two Germanic languages at beginner levels, plus resuming Dutch?! Personally, I'd find it difficult to have any two languages on the go at beginner levels still, I'll be looking forward to see how you progress with all this on your plate . I do like your idea of having a smattering of those languages at least. I wonder if beginner courses are the most effective/efficient route to take for gaining a "smattering" of languages, or if mastering something like FSI/DLI "FAST" courses might be more appropriate.

PeterMollenburg wrote:...Now, I need to get focused on the French exam in November, which by the way if I decide to skip again, this plan will still go ahead. If I fail or pass the exam, this plan will still go ahead.

Sounds like fun, and a man with a plan- a PM plan, of course !
Bòn chans !

Thanks for your feedback iguanamon. Yeah, 3 Germanic languages, I know. And we have discussed that before, you and I. You always have wise advice when I request it (or anyone else) on language learning. I can only try and if I end up with issues (not convinced I will, I’ll just see what happens), then German goes, and as mentioned with rdearman, I may/may not add another language in it’s place. I know Russian and Arabic a massive undertakings, so if I took one of them on, I’d be very realistic about the idea that progress would be super slow. Or I might just add the extra time to more Dutch, a language I need to progress in a little quicker than the others - a reason I need to be efficient. Thankfully Dutch is very familiar to me.

Anyway, yep, hopefully I have a lot of fun with it! Hope your studies are going well too!

Looks like fun!! I like it. Now for the hard part: not changing your mind between now and November.

Lianne wrote:Looks like fun!! I like it. Now for the hard part: not changing your mind between now and November.

You must have read my mind, I was just thinking the same

overscore wrote:Are there really that many false friends?

Elsa Maria wrote:I don't know any German, so I have no idea. Maybe Kat or trui will give an answer. I think that there is a lot of overlap with vocabulary but the grammars are very different. That would be hard for me to keep straight until I was really strong in one of them. But, hey, we're all different.

I think false friends aren't the main problem, even though there are plenty of them. A lot of Dutch and German words are similar but not quite the same. I can't think of any good examples at the moment (my brain doesn't work properly when it's close to 40 degrees Celsius), so I'm just going to mention one small issue that comes to mind:

In both, German and Dutch, the infinitive of verbs ends in -en. When you pronounce them, Germans usually skip the "e", while Dutch people tend to skip the "n". It's not hard, you just need get used to it and I imagine that it's confusing when you are trying to learn both forms at the same time. You'll see things that look the same and different rules apply.

PeterMollenburg wrote:PROJET DE CINQ LANGUES

le français
le norvégien
le néerlandais
l'espagnol
l'allemand

Congratulations PM! I must say that I am surprised that Norwegian made it to the list, but if there's one person who's dedicated enough to stick with a language for X years, it's you!

Skynet wrote:

PeterMollenburg wrote:PROJET DE CINQ LANGUES

le français
le norvégien
le néerlandais
l'espagnol
l'allemand

Congratulations PM! I must say that I am surprised that Norwegian made it to the list, but if there's one person who's dedicated enough to stick with a language for X years, it's you!

Thanks, Skynet. I appreciate the positive support. I doubt that consistency will be an issue in terms of motivation, although, who knows what the future holds. However, consistency may become an issue where potential outside factors encroach on time available for study, that will likely be the biggest challenge.

But I am quite excited about studying all these languages. French - well that’s a given, it’s so nice to have come so far! Dutch - I’ve been itching to return! Norwegian - it’ll be really cool to study a new language from scratch. Spanish - I’m very keen on working my way through Destinos. German - I’m not so keen on the upcoming grammar headaches! (but at least it’s not Finnish!), and German was my first love, so it’ll be nice to return and hopefully move beyond where I’ve ventured in the past.

Thanks for stopping by Skynet!

I like your plan, PM. In fact, I am taking notes since my current plan is the pursuit of five languages.
And I will soon be joining you with prioritizing Dutch.

Elsa Maria wrote:I like your plan, PM. In fact, I am taking notes since my current plan is the pursuit of five languages.
And I will soon be joining you with prioritizing Dutch.

Thank you, Elsa Maria. I’ll be curious to see how we both go. A reminder though, I’m not commencing this plan until late November (after the date of the French exam). I’m keen to know which five languages you’re going to study, so I’ll watch your log for details.

It’s a bit after 4am here. I was sleeping on a futon and all of a sudden in the middle of being fast asleep, I felt a falling sensation... I was sleeping right on one side and unbalanced the futon causing it to tip (it’s quite light), and so I fell out of bed. No, I’m not overweight.

I have a long day ahead of me now, and unfortunately too much to do today on a day off. And speaking of such, managing my sleep better needs to be a priority if I’m to successfully complete 3 hours of language learning per day and still get everything else done... I know that sounds less than ideal and a little dubious, but truth be told, managing my sleep properly, eating healthily and staying fit will be my main priorities in that order if I’m to stay on top of it all and not fall apart. I am determined, though What better excuse than thinking that learning five languages is a good way to improve my health, right!

PeterMollenburg wrote:

Lianne wrote:Looks like fun!! I like it. Now for the hard part: not changing your mind between now and November.

You must have read my mind, I was just thinking the same

As predicted, I’ve already been considering other options. I contemplated adding more languages (particularly keen on a long journey with Arabic, Russian to a lesser extent), but at only 219 hours per year with 5 languages, I think reducing that number would not be wise. I didn’t want to reduce the number of languages either, so it remains unchanged at 5.

Another question I continue to ponder, is whether or not I should skip the French exam in November and go straight for the 5 language mission in the coming days. I mean I cannot seem to gather the energy and summon the best frame of mind to focus on the exams in November - I seem to be rejecting it internally.

I think I’m burned out, and have been for a long time with just doing French alone. I don’t mind watching, reading or choosing a course that I like, but the idea of doing a lot of tough French day in day out for the coming few months then sitting the exam, doesn’t really tickle my fancy. I’m definitely not ruling out doing the exam just yet, but the alternative would mean that, were I to leave for Europe on the 1st of January 2022, the total hours studied for each of the 5 languages would increase from 462 hours, to 529 hours. And since I already have a B2 in French, and French will continue to remain a part of my daily life with my family (and hopefully I’d gradually improve), I’m wondering if time and energy might be better spent starting this mission sooner rather than later.

In theory, after arrival in Europe 1st Jan 2022 (this date is also theory and def not fixed), I am likely to have less time to study day in day out, again theory.

I know I could be a source of frustration for some of those who follow my journey, and so perhaps, here I am again, frustrating some. Still, I think these are very logical ponderings, all things considered. A final note, of course it would be great to have a C1 or C2 in my back pocket, but despite what some people think of my French level, it would take a LOT of work to get me familiar with and ready for the exam itself and what is expected by November. I just don’t know if I have that energy, nor if I want to spend it doing just that. Wanderlust is speaking logic!