Arabic Focus - Current Plan
My time off from school/work is coming to an end and with it comes a new beginning for me. I am no longer part of any language classes and am entirely responsible for what I want to learn. It's both daunting and exciting.
Vaguely put, what kind of improvement do I want to see?
Vocabulary:
- I want to be able to take in as much vocabulary as possible from Masri, Shammi, and FusHa. (Especially words with roots I have yet to learn.)
- I want to go back to what I've learned so far to take note of words that I have trouble with. It will be most review for FusHa, partially review for Shammi, and entirely new content for Masri.
- I want to add words that I find myself wanting to use often, even if I do not know them. (Think of things like "500 Words to Know in Your Target Language" type things.)
Grammar:
- I want to review FusHa grammar and take note of any concepts I struggle with
- I want to learn more on Masri grammar
Reading:
- I want to find reading larger texts less daunting and do well on catching both the bigger picture.
- I want to build the ability to not lose context when I'm tripped up over a single word. I don't have this problem in other languages and honestly find it rather odd how something so small can cut my concentration/understanding. I think it's related to finding the readings daunting, but it's still good to keep it in mind.
Listening:
- I want to intentionally seek out more auditory Arabic content and see improvement in how much I can pick up on what is being said.
Speaking:
- I want to be able to switch to Arabic only conversations with people when possible
Writing:
- I want to be able to spell well. I can't spell in any language and I refuse to continue the trend with Arabic.
-----
Now how will this be tackled time wise?
Daily:
- Learning/Reviewing vocabulary I feel is important to me at the time (Need to find a happy medium between overwhelming and underwhelming.)
- Listen to something and pay heavy attention to what is understood (News, Music, TV Show, etc)
- Keep a daily diary in Arabic about life or talk to an Arabic bot for a bit.
Weekly:
- At the very least, 2 Grammar lessons per week. These shouldn't be too long, as I believe I've gotten through the worst of Arabic grammar with FusHa. (At least I hope I have....) I don't have much information on how different Masri grammar is, but I have hopes it will be "less think, more do" considering its colloquial.
Monthly:
- Go out with someone with the intention of speaking mostly/only Arabic.
- If not possible, find someone online and try to hold a conversation/game with them. (I love the idea of finding people to game with through target languages.)
-----
I'm not expecting myself to follow this plan perfectly, but I like having it written down to return to. I also have a feeling it will change as learn what I want to focus on more.
3 notes
·
View notes
Where are we going with this?
Looking ahead to the summer season, I'm struggling to figure out what is reasonable to expect of myself goal-wise.
Let's start off with how comfortable I feel with each language in general. I currently have self estimates on what my CEFR would be for each which I plan to break down later. (I'm not particularly a fan of how CEFR works but it's what I've seen the most on here.) I think I want my overall goals to be focused on the meaning behind those scores, particularly in reaching higher levels of comfort/ease when using said languages.
Here they are in order of importance to me:
Arabic:
Currently - Between A2 and B1, closer to B1
Want to reach - Higher B1 or B2
Here I am counting Arabic mostly as FusHaa, Shammi, and Masri which make up most of the contexts I'm in. I'll probably do a focus on Yemni and Iraqi Arabic further in the future... Inshallah
I'm feeling relatively confident in this since it is my highest priority. I want to reach the point where it feels easier to grasp new words from context and just soak the language in.
Spanish:
Currently - A1
Want to reach - Between A2 and B1, closer to B1
This one might be the most ambitious considering I have never studied Spanish before. I do think I have a leg up here vocab and speech wise compared because I already speak a Romance language, but the grammar portion is going to be interesting.
ASL:
Currently - A1
Want to reach - ?
ASL here is bit odd for me. I'm not sure if I should be learning American sign language or another signing language because I don't really know what region of the world I will settle in. Either way, I think it's a good introduction to HOH and Deaf culture for now that I hope to expand upon continuously.
Romanian:
Currently - B2
Want to reach - Between C1 and C2
I feel relatively confident in this one despite it being so low on my priority list. I think the real challenge will be making sure to maintain practice with it rather than the difficulty of reaching the nuances of the higher levels.
------
I hope to return to this post at the start of September with joy. See you then future Atlas... Make yourself proud!
6 notes
·
View notes
What's up chat?
Hi, I'm Atlas and I'm here to learn languages.
I finally decided to dive in and make my own account for this when I realized I no longer saw my favorite langblr posting. This is going to be a mix of things I find interesting linguistically, things I find useful for my target languages, and notes on progress.
Feel free to message.
------ Already Speak ------
English: C2
Romanian: B2
------ Actively Learning ------
Arabic: A2-B1
ASL: A1
Spanish: A1
------ Here and There ------
German: A1
Korean: A1
-------------------------------
2 notes
·
View notes