I’ve tried out a few things, reformulated my study plan on the basis of how these fared, and am ready to begin my new schedule again. One noticeable addition to the list below is my slow-burning side project in Ancient Egyptian (“Paddling down the Nile”), which is described in more detail towards the end of this post. Hence the change in title to “Five Little Birds + 1”, where the “+1” stands for “one old chick” 😉 Having previously made good progress in “Champollion’s Challenge“, I just had to fit it in somewhere.
Another tweak to the schedule is that I plan to study my key languages for only 4 weeks each month (excluding reviews), and reserve whatever days remain for satisfying recurrent “wanderlust” urges. Hopefully this will keep any distracting language flirtations at bay, as well as provide short breaks on both a weekly (i.e., Sundays) and monthly basis, which will help avoid potential burn-out.
Russian (3h15m)
I’ve watched 3 more episodes (49-51) of Кухня, studied and reviewed 10 chapters of Russian Assimil, practiced talking to myself in Russian during walks home from work, and submitted some free writing for correction. I only did this halfheartedly over a stretch of 4 days, so it’s not a lot, but it’s a start.
French (3h50m)
I found a cool new spooky series called “Les revenants”, and have already watched a couple of episodes with my wife (the context is relatively easy for us both to follow so far). Although we initially intended to start Assimil together last fortnight, my wife and I have rescheduled to start again tomorrow. In the meantime, she’s been reading “Parisienne French” on the bus to work, and I’ve submitted a couple of pieces of free writing for correction, and had a chat with a French taxi driver and a chef at my local organic supermarket.
German (1h)
Dipping my toes into the water, I reviewed German Assimil up to lesson 6, and practiced speaking to myself a couple of times by describing the moving landscape and any features in the environment that peaked my interest during transit. My main goal with German is to blow the cobwebs off my vocabulary and get back into using it on a more regular basis. Going through a basic textbook like Assimil is perhaps overkill, but as I’ve never actually completed any course books in German before (I mainly just used native materials whilst living in Germany, and worksheets way back in high school), I might as well try to fill as many gaps in my knowledge as I can.
Hawaiian (18h)
Between preparing for quizzes, haʻi ʻōlelo (short oral presentations in class), and other assignments, it’s been a busy fortnight for Hawaiian. The big highlight, however, was attending a 3-hour theater production of Lāʻieikawai at the University of Hawaiʻi completely in Hawaiian. Although I could only pick out words and short phrases here and there, I could follow most of what was going on, and really enjoyed the show. The actors, singers, musicians, and dancers were all amazing, and the production and set very professional. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for more shows like this in the future…
Irish (20m)
Just visited Duolingo on a few occasions to keep up reviews.
Ancient Egyptian (-)
Side Project: “Paddling down the Nile”
After my intrepid 2 week challenge to round off 2014 (Champollion’s Challenge), I admittedly let my paddle drop in the water and didn’t keep up with the ensuing wake of Assimil reviews for lessons 1-38 as planned. So it’s time to get back into the flow and christen my return to rowing with three new goals:
1. The first goal is to catch up with all my Assimil reviews for Ancient Egyptian, and be ready to continue where I left off (i.e., be ready to start from lesson 39). I plan to achieve this by gradually adding all these reviews to my current daily review schedule, one lesson a day, starting from lesson 8 (as I’ve already “assimilated” the first 7 lessons very well by now).
2. The second goal is to complete my initial mission for “Champollion’s Challenge” by reaching the end of lesson 50. I intend to pursue this at a more leisurely pace by studying a new lesson every week on Sunday (when I don’t have any other language study planned; just reviews).
3. The third goal is to complete all 101 lessons in Assimil’s “L’Egyptien Hieroglyphique” and reach my final port of destination charted by this excellent resource. At one new lesson a week, and accounting for all the ongoing reviews and any possible setbacks, this should hopefully take place sometime in 2016 next year.
Other (Tagalog 10m; Japanese 15m)
Having learned a few simple phrases of Tagalog from people I met in my travels, I’ve been putting them into practice at every possible opportunity recently (e.g., with cashiers at the supermarket, bakery, pancake house, 7-Eleven, and also with taxi drivers). My basic attempts are always warmly welcomed, and I try to learn a new word or phrase each time if I can.
Also, a few more acquisitions for the language bookshelf this fortnight…5 Japanese books! This includes a parallel text – “The Mouse Bride” – which completes one of my collections, 2 books from the “My Darling is a Foreigner” series (which are hilarious), and a couple of lighthearted reference books on Japanese culture: “Salary Man in Japan” and “Japan at a Glance”.
(Total time spent on learning languages over the last fortnight: 26.8 hours)
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Travels with Teango 