End-of-the-year summaryThere are still a few days left of 2015, but I will be going on holiday as from next Monday and that means I will probably not have much time to post here, I thought I would do a very short summary of what I have done and where I am since a year ago.
I have progressed a lot in
Russian. I have done a lot of "semi-extensive" reading as well as intensive vocabulary study, so my reading skills have improved a lot. My listening skills as well, and I think that this is in some way due to listening to Russian pop music almost every day. This summer I did a small "song texts translation project" which was quite fun. I have also spent more time on Russian Youtube clips, such as trying to get the point of the sketches by
Уральские пельмени. My spoken production has advanced as well, although my practice is basically limited to my weekly classes. However, I am not in a hurry, I know that slowly but surely I will improve. However, I do want to work more on writing Russian. I like to write, but for some reason I procrastinate a lot when it comes to writing Russian, not only because I have to use a Cyrillic keyboard or cursive handwriting, but simply because I don't write as fluently as in other languages. Now I won't be able to write fluently in Russian unless I practise writing it, so that is my only New Year Resolution for 2016. That is also why I signed up to the Output challenge, much as I am no fan of challenges.
As regards my other languages I stick to the goal-less method.
Romansh is going along nicely, I mostly read books, watch TV programmes and listen to the radio at RTR, but I also find that I write it more easily than I did a year or two ago. As for speaking it, I don't really have any opportunities to do so - finding a Sursilvan language partner is easier said than done.
Catalan is another language in the same category as Romansh. Mostly reading, some TV and radio. I will just continue in the same way.
German is a language I do speak more often, because I go to Germany almost every week. I get along nicely, but struggle somewhat if I have a long and "deep" conversation in German. However, my mistakes are mostly about applying the wrong gender or case in certain constructions. I have the vocabulary to express what I want in most situations, but I do need to "warm up" in order to engage in a longer conversation.
I have not done much with
Latin this year, apart from the occasional read of
Ephemeris. They same can be said about
Italian.
As for
English, French and Spanish, these are languages I use every day all year round, so not much more to say really. They take care of themselves.
I had planned to start, or rather return to
Romanian this year, but it has not really materialised, due to lack of time. I'll keep it on my list though, as I would like at least to get back to speed when it comes to reading the language.
My wanderlust this year has led me to brief encounters with
Alsatian, Irish Gaelic, Luxembourgish, Friulian, Armenian and Corsican. And I should not forget
Ladino or Djudeo-espanyol -
iguanamon tempted me to buy Las Aventuras de Alisia en el Paiz de las Maraviyas a year ago, and from time to time I have taken it out of my bookshelf to read a chapter or two.
So my Resolution for 2016 is not to have any resolutions (Russian writing being the exception to the rule). I'll keep on enjoying using multiple languages and I'll let my wanderlust take me on unexpected voyages - who knows, maybe I will fall in love with Corsican, or Breton, or Welsh? In any case I will continue to update this log with whatever comes to my mind or captures my imagination, be that in Romansh, Spanish, French, Catalan, German or even Russian.