my languages
Posted: Fri May 01, 2020 3:23 pm
Warning: this post will probably get edited as I think of more languages I've had an interest in.
These are in more or less chronological order.
Lifelong interests
Past interests
Ephemeral interests
English:
I chose English over German as my first mandatory language school subject (LV1 in the French school system) in the 6th grade. That year, our school made us buy tapes, but the teacher never assigned any listening homework, nor did she explain how to use the tapes for self-study. Needless to say, I never used them.
I kept English as LV1 through the rest of my school and university years. Total 12 years of classes ranging from 4 hours to 1hour a week. I also started reading novels in English when I was in university. Passed the CAE at some point (apparently my writing and reading are good enough to compensate for the fact that my pronunciation is terrible).
German:
My first contact with German was from lots of French movies in which the bad guys shouted orders at poor Occupied France civilians. I also had a summer vacation friend whose father was German.
As a child my conclusion was that German sounded harsh and I didn't want to take it as a school subject.
As an adult, I started learning it from a pocket book, but never persevered long enough to gain any kind of proficiency.
Spanish:
When it came time to choose an LV2 (8th grade), I had a choice of German, Spanish or Italian. I didn't like German and played classical guitar. I had Spanish classes at school for about 6 years (also ranging from 4 hours to 1 hour a week). Four of my five teachers were just awesome.
Latin:
Also started in 8th grade, found it interesting enough to take it for 5 years (2 hours/week).
Only one of our teachers was a man, who made us (16yo all female class) read Ovid's "Ars Amatoria".
The last year of high school I didn't review for the Bac and got a 0 (edit: meaning zero, not "outstanding").
Berber (Taqbaylit):
I first thought about studying Berber in middle school. My family has relatives who speak Taqbaylit and we went to visit them one summer, so I learnt a few words from some cousins.
Afterwards I found out that some of my classmates took Berber language and culture lessons in my hometown, but these were mixed with religious classes so I never attended.
However I got one of the kids to lend me their Taqbaylit textbook and photocopied it. This was the start of an on and off study of Taqbaylit and accumulation of textbooks that lasted until now.
I never gained any sort of proficiency beyond a few basic words and sentences.
Persian:
I learnt a few words from a classmate in high school. Just because I thought it sounded cool.
Italian
Found my grandpa's Italian textbook in the attic.
Portuguese:
A neighbour gave me a pocket book about learning Portuguese.
Various Occitan dialects:
As a child I learnt a single word of patois, which the farmers shouted to call their cows back to the stable in the evenings. Later on, I bought the Assimil "L' Occitan" book, which I did not study. Basically I was tempted to learn the local dialect of any place I lived in or visited often enough in South Eastern France.
Japanese:
At some point during my late teenage years, I started accumulating Assimil books about all kinds of languages. I didn't buy the expensive tapes, and at the time I never studied those books long enough to learn anything from them either. However years later (around 2001/2002 ?) the small "Japonais sans peine tome 1" book was my companion during long underground+train daily commutes, and to my surprise, I finished it.
I promptly gave up Japanese to study Arabic.
Restarted learning Japanese two years ago.
Modern Standard Arabic:
Around 2002/2003 I had an opportunity to take Arabic night classes at a renowned higher education oriental languages institute. I though this could be a good way to learn some Arabic sounds which could be useful for my on and off Berber study. Registration was easy, the fee was ridiculously low, the classes were ridiculously overcrowded, attrition during the first year was ridiculously high, all standard public university undergraduate conditions/practices in France at the time.
I mostly self-studied the textbook for the next two years and only occasionally attended class. I did use the tapes this time, as well as pronunciation training files found on the internet.
Passed my language exams without a hitch, flunked the geography, history and literature exams (they had no night classes and no textbooks for these subjects).
I gave up during the 3rd year as the level was much higher, there was no textbook anymore so I couldn't pre-study at my own pace during the summer, and my vocabulary and free time were clearly insufficient.
Dialectal Arabic (Darja) :
Bought several books, considered attending classes at the same institute as above, but they had no night classes and no official textbook. I self-studied for a few weeks.
Finnish:
Considered learning it as my company at the time was working with a well-known Finnish company. Went through a few pages of the FSI course.
Dutch:
It looked easy. Bought a book. Didn't study.
Chinese (Mandarin):
In 2009 I went to China and came back with an obsession about learning Chinese. Started with my old Assimil books, but this time I got the tapes and didn't stop after the first few lessons.
Passed HSK4 at some point. Studying Chinese occupied 100% of my free time for several years, but I never got beyond B1 at the highest.
Most of it was self study, with a few group classes thrown in.
Recently I have been barely maintaining my Chinese by listening to podcasts and other low-effort activities. But Chinese has been part of my daily life for the past 11 years with a few off months here and there.
I think I must have been tempted by Greek, Hindi, Punjabi, Russian, Cantonese, Hebrew, Korean, Esperanto and a few other languages at some point...
These are in more or less chronological order.
Lifelong interests
Past interests
Ephemeral interests
English:
I chose English over German as my first mandatory language school subject (LV1 in the French school system) in the 6th grade. That year, our school made us buy tapes, but the teacher never assigned any listening homework, nor did she explain how to use the tapes for self-study. Needless to say, I never used them.
I kept English as LV1 through the rest of my school and university years. Total 12 years of classes ranging from 4 hours to 1hour a week. I also started reading novels in English when I was in university. Passed the CAE at some point (apparently my writing and reading are good enough to compensate for the fact that my pronunciation is terrible).
German:
My first contact with German was from lots of French movies in which the bad guys shouted orders at poor Occupied France civilians. I also had a summer vacation friend whose father was German.
As a child my conclusion was that German sounded harsh and I didn't want to take it as a school subject.
As an adult, I started learning it from a pocket book, but never persevered long enough to gain any kind of proficiency.
Spanish:
When it came time to choose an LV2 (8th grade), I had a choice of German, Spanish or Italian. I didn't like German and played classical guitar. I had Spanish classes at school for about 6 years (also ranging from 4 hours to 1 hour a week). Four of my five teachers were just awesome.
Latin:
Also started in 8th grade, found it interesting enough to take it for 5 years (2 hours/week).
Only one of our teachers was a man, who made us (16yo all female class) read Ovid's "Ars Amatoria".
The last year of high school I didn't review for the Bac and got a 0 (edit: meaning zero, not "outstanding").
Berber (Taqbaylit):
I first thought about studying Berber in middle school. My family has relatives who speak Taqbaylit and we went to visit them one summer, so I learnt a few words from some cousins.
Afterwards I found out that some of my classmates took Berber language and culture lessons in my hometown, but these were mixed with religious classes so I never attended.
However I got one of the kids to lend me their Taqbaylit textbook and photocopied it. This was the start of an on and off study of Taqbaylit and accumulation of textbooks that lasted until now.
I never gained any sort of proficiency beyond a few basic words and sentences.
Persian:
I learnt a few words from a classmate in high school. Just because I thought it sounded cool.
Italian
Found my grandpa's Italian textbook in the attic.
Portuguese:
A neighbour gave me a pocket book about learning Portuguese.
Various Occitan dialects:
As a child I learnt a single word of patois, which the farmers shouted to call their cows back to the stable in the evenings. Later on, I bought the Assimil "L' Occitan" book, which I did not study. Basically I was tempted to learn the local dialect of any place I lived in or visited often enough in South Eastern France.
Japanese:
At some point during my late teenage years, I started accumulating Assimil books about all kinds of languages. I didn't buy the expensive tapes, and at the time I never studied those books long enough to learn anything from them either. However years later (around 2001/2002 ?) the small "Japonais sans peine tome 1" book was my companion during long underground+train daily commutes, and to my surprise, I finished it.
I promptly gave up Japanese to study Arabic.
Restarted learning Japanese two years ago.
Modern Standard Arabic:
Around 2002/2003 I had an opportunity to take Arabic night classes at a renowned higher education oriental languages institute. I though this could be a good way to learn some Arabic sounds which could be useful for my on and off Berber study. Registration was easy, the fee was ridiculously low, the classes were ridiculously overcrowded, attrition during the first year was ridiculously high, all standard public university undergraduate conditions/practices in France at the time.
I mostly self-studied the textbook for the next two years and only occasionally attended class. I did use the tapes this time, as well as pronunciation training files found on the internet.
Passed my language exams without a hitch, flunked the geography, history and literature exams (they had no night classes and no textbooks for these subjects).
I gave up during the 3rd year as the level was much higher, there was no textbook anymore so I couldn't pre-study at my own pace during the summer, and my vocabulary and free time were clearly insufficient.
Dialectal Arabic (Darja) :
Bought several books, considered attending classes at the same institute as above, but they had no night classes and no official textbook. I self-studied for a few weeks.
Finnish:
Considered learning it as my company at the time was working with a well-known Finnish company. Went through a few pages of the FSI course.
Dutch:
It looked easy. Bought a book. Didn't study.
Chinese (Mandarin):
In 2009 I went to China and came back with an obsession about learning Chinese. Started with my old Assimil books, but this time I got the tapes and didn't stop after the first few lessons.
Passed HSK4 at some point. Studying Chinese occupied 100% of my free time for several years, but I never got beyond B1 at the highest.
Most of it was self study, with a few group classes thrown in.
Recently I have been barely maintaining my Chinese by listening to podcasts and other low-effort activities. But Chinese has been part of my daily life for the past 11 years with a few off months here and there.
I think I must have been tempted by Greek, Hindi, Punjabi, Russian, Cantonese, Hebrew, Korean, Esperanto and a few other languages at some point...