#welsh:reflections

Sí, he fet el càlcul i tinc la setmana correcte...benvinguts i benvingudes a la vuitena setmana del repte! La cosa va bastant bé, heus aquí els números:

basc* (1129/1903 mots = 59%)

gal·lès* (477/1632 mots = 29%)

romani (355/715 mots = 50%)

amhàric* (687/1646 mots = 42%)

Tot i el progrés que he fet, no crec que arribi al final dels cursos abans que acabi el repte. Dit això, mai he passat la fita de mil paraules en un curs de Memrise, així que ja ha valgut la pena. I penso seguir, si puc, durant l’any. Però primer, cal enfocar-me en les quatre setmanes que em queda, perquè amb això ja hi puc fer bastantes coses.

També estava pensant, i crec que estic en el moment ideal per fer un “level up” amb el gal·lès i el basc. És a dir que gairebé els sé parlar – no dominar, però simplement que em comencen a sortir frases i paraules sense haver-les planejat abans. Per això, vull tenir més hores d’estudi amb aquests dos, perquè si començo a entendre sèries/cançons/converses/et cètera, ja tindré més hores de pràctica i que no em faci mandra. Perquè amb el català ja tinc més de 100 hores aquest any (i amb la resta dels idiomes, menys de 20), només perquè miro sèries i vaig a hores de conversa i tal. Per tant, aquest és el meu repte per finals d’any.

Crec que havíem passat el punt del mig alguna setmana per aquí, no n’estic segur perquè fa tant de temps que no faig un post sobre el repte que ni sé en quina setmana estem (crec que la sisena però no us ho sabria dir segur). Però vaig estudiar molt durant el viatge, probablement perquè no tenia Tumblr per ocupar-me, i vaig avançar bastant. Aquí els percentatges i els números:

basc* (982/1903 mots = 52%)

gal·lès* (327/1632 mots = 20%)

romani (239/715 mots = 33%)

amhàric* (578/1646 mots = 35%)

rus* (455/4995 mots = 9%)

He deixat de banda el rus perquè el curs té àudio, cosa que m’és molt útil, com que no llegeixo bé el ciríl·lic, però que em fa molta mandra :P La resta em van bé, he après gairebé (o potser més de) 200 paraules cadascuna. I no hi ha cap curs amb un percentatge de menys de dues xifres! Així que estic bastant content amb el progrés que faig.

He canviat una mica alguns objectius per a finals d’any però ja us ho explicaré més endavant.

English below cut :)

Well, that’s another month over! I set really ambitious language goals at the beginning of the month, and...did not achieve them at all. I did do some interesting things this month that I hadn’t done before though, and I’d kind of like to reflect on them a bit.

I’ve read a lot of things about goal-setting, one of which was that goals need to be specific and achievable, and I think this is one of the hardest things about setting goals for languages. It’s definitely something I’ve struggled with in the past; it’s very easy for me to set daily/weekly goals of tasks I want to achieve, but there’s very little way to measure my progress between that and a general feeling that I’ve improved over the course of time. This month, though, I tried to experiment a bit with that.

Looking at estimations of how much time you need and how many words you should know in order to advance to the next CEFR level, I managed to create a better overarching goal, based in hours of language study. That way, I can feel like I’m working towards something specific even with languages where I’m not going to be able to speak fluently by the end of the year. CEFR levels on their own are not super helpful for me, since for most of the languages I’m learning they either don’t have the test, my goals don’t align with CEFR’s, or both. But looking at the time commitment gave me a good idea of what I needed to invest in all of them, as well as a more long-term vision of how to get there. This was really nice to have, since the idea of “fluency” or “understanding” is just sort of...exhausting?? Like, it doesn’t exist, and so if you set it as your goal you’re never going to get there. I need to learn how to just check off a box and be like I did that, I don’t need to worry about it anymore. Neverending tasks tend to make me want to give up before I’ve even started.

Okay, so I’ve finally finished up with basically everything that I was supposed to do in June, which means it’s time for a reflection post!

Unfortunately, June coincided with the end of my quarter, packing up my dorm room, saying goodbye to everyone for the next four months, and coming home, the last of which has proved lethal for my language studies. Put simply, I did not get to do as much work as I would have liked. That being said, June/the beginning of July weren’t as bad as I’ve made them out to be, and I actually did do some stuff that I said I’d do - I put lots of effort into Arabic and made good progress, and I just finished the Advanced Learner Challenge for Welsh.

I didn’t officially finish my Arabic course, but that was a conscious choice on my part, as the last parts were mostly an assorted miscellany of expressions which I didn’t particularly want to take extensive notes on. I did, however, take extensive notes on all the sections before that, including LOTS of verb conjugation practice, and now I feel like I actually vaguely get how Arabic verbs work?? (a true miracle) I’m also trying to learn some Mashrou’ Leila songs and the lyrics have been easier to learn than before so clearly something’s clicking in my brain.

Welsh was a bit more of a struggle, but I was fairly consistent in my studies throughout the beginning of the month and was on track to finish, if not on time, just a bit late, but then I slacked off and took a couple of weeks to finish the last five challenges. That being said, I do feel like my Welsh is a bit more solid after having practiced so much, and I think there were concrete benefits, even if I didn’t finish on time.

January ended a few days ago, so I just wanted to post a small reflection on the progress I made with my languages! At the beginning of the month, I set a few goals, and for the most part I reached them. It was a very rewarding experience; not only did I get stuff done, but it actually produced results.

For Romani, I wanted to get through Ronald Lee’s book, which I did with ample time. I also wrote a story in the language for the final week, which was fun to do even if the result was godawful. I’m really happy with the progress that I’ve made, but above all, I think that I’ve fallen deeply in love with the language, something that has been a pleasant surprise. I started the month thinking I would give it a try, and by a week or two in I was already deeply invested in it. I think this was mainly because I could already understand simple lines in songs without having studied the language for long at all, and this was really rewarding (I also realized that it’s the first Indo-European language I’ve learned since Catalan, so that’s a thing too). Anyhow, long story short learning Romani has been wonderful and I love it a lot — so much so, in fact, that I’ll be continuing it next month as well!

Welsh was not as intense of an experience, and while I may not have made massive amounts of progress, I did increase my comprehension a bit. By the end of the month, I could definitely listen to Pigion without being completely confused, but I still couldn’t understand the full story. I won’t be doing Welsh next month, but I think that perhaps in the coming year doing some more intensive study would be beneficial. I didn’t have enough time to actually sit down and learn stuff every day, and that’s probably what I would need to make notable progress, but I’m satisfied with the work that I did, and I think it was good at least as a review.