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guillemelgat · 3 years

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2021 Languages!

Okay so I think I’m starting to figure out things that work better for studying and things that don’t work as well, so hopefully this year will be a bit more consistent and better than last year. Here’s the breakdown:

5 Main Languages

These 5 languages were the ones that I decided last year I wanted to be my priority, and so I’m going to be focusing most of my study efforts on them (much as I would like to focus efforts on all of my languages, there are just too many ;;-;;):

Catalan - I really just have to be ready to take the C2 test, because I want to take it in the spring of my fourth year (2022). I’m going to try to keep watching shows, maybe attempt to listen to a podcast, read more books, and perhaps return to writing in Catalan more often. I would really like to try to do as many things as possible in Catalan, so the goal is to make as many of my daily habits in Catalan as I can. Besides that I’m not really sure what to do, since C1-C2 is really hard to maintain if I’m not living in Catalonia.

Basque - I know I say this every year, but I think if I put in hard work this time around, I will actually get to a B1-B2 in Basque. I need to review lots of grammar stuff and solidify it, and also need to learn lots more vocab, but I think if I do the thing where I look up words in songs that I don’t know, that might help. Also I’m going to try watching shows! Maybe if I have time, I’ll do the writing thing again as well, I think it helped a lot.

Welsh - This is also definitely 100% the year where I break through and start speaking better Welsh. I have a friend to study with, I have a plan, and I’m ready to get the B1. I’m going to try to finish all of SSiW, and do more vocab stuff on Memrise, then actually practice by listening to music and talking to my friend.

Malayalam - By the end of the year, I want to have a larger vocabulary. I think I have somewhat of a grammar foundation, but I know like 10 words and I can never connect them into sentences. The goal is to listen to more music, talk to my dad, and compile some vocabulary lists that I then will actually study. I also just really need to practice speaking/writing and listening.

Romani - I’m going to try to be more active in the server that I’m in, talking with people more often so that I can learn more words. I’m also going to try to read more of my book and listen to the radio that someone on the server recommended. By the end of the year, I want to be able to have a conversation in Romani, and to be able to feel that I’ve officially moved on to being an intermediate learner.

Other Languages

I have a lot of time right now to study languages that I probably won’t anytime in the future, so I do want to work on improving/studying some other languages that I’ve kind of been neglecting. These are the top four that I really want to work on:

Amharic - I was able to talk a bit in Amharic with my Ethiopian friend last summer, and I want to get back into studying Amharic and actually get better at it this time so that I can talk to him (and stay in contact that way, because we’re both terrible at staying in contact with other people). I’m going to try to finish Colloquial Amharic and then I’ll see where to go from there.

Kurdish - I want to listen to more Kurdish music and also to finish the textbook that I was using in class. I might also try to take a look at the other textbook my teacher recommended, but the basic textbook is first priority, I’m just trying to build a base in the language atm.

Tamasheq - This is what I said last year, but I need to review vocabulary and also verb conjugations which are so ;;-;; complicated ;;-;;. And then maybe get the book that goes with the course I used on inter-library loan next fall (if I can) because that might help a bit to get used to understanding the language and serve as a stepping stone for understanding the lyrics to songs.

Bambara/Wolof - I haven’t decided which of the two of these I want to learn first, ideally I’d like to study both of them but I think I’ll probably study Bambara now because it’s the lingua franca of Mali, a place I would really like to go someday. I also do want to learn some Wolof, but it’s less important??? I have Peace Corps courses for both, so I think I’ll just go through that and see how far I get.

That’s pretty much it, the rest of my languages I’m going to leave dormant for now unless I really want to go back to them. Hopefully I can see some improvement in both my languages and the world in 2021, here’s to a new year of learning!

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guillemelgat · 3 years

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February Language Goals

This month I’m going to be working on two of the languages that are my main focus this year, and specifically the two that I’ve spent the least time studying. So this month is probably going to be a lot of work, but I think that it’s a reasonable amount??? For Romani I’m just diving in – I think I have enough of a base that talking to people/using the language isn’t unreasonable to expect at this point. For Malayalam, I’m going to try to build up resources for a core vocabulary, making lists of words I think would be useful and then asking my dad to help translate them. The goal is also to put them up as a Memrise course because there’s currently Absolutely Nothing there for Malayalam.

Romani

Main goal: Get used to actively using the language

Goals:

Finish @therealpolyglot's Level Up Challenge (modified slightly)

Message the discord every day

Things I’ll try to post:

Daily reflection on the challenge

Possibly any vocab that I learn from conversations

Side note but I want to make posts on Romani dialects, however I promise absolutely nothing

Malayalam

Main goal: Build my vocabulary

Goals:

Make vocab lists for all Temauke themes

Translate "600 Words" list

Things I’ll try to post:

All aforementioned vocab lists

#general:goals #romani:goals #romani:general #malayalam:goals #malayalam:general

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guillemelgat · 3 years

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November Language Goals

Okay, I’m going to try my best to get back into language study, especially since I’m not really doing anything else with my life rn, so here are my way too ambitious goals for November:

Malayalam - review vocabulary (Sundays) + do the TL90Days challenge (Tuesdays)

Basque - write a one-page text (Mondays)

Romani - read 1-2 pages (Wednesdays) + write on the Discord (Thursdays)

Tamasheq - make/study flashcards (Fridays) + learn verb conjugations (Saturdays)

I really want to put in time for all of these languages and improve them significantly by the end of the year but I wish I had more time ;;-;; (either way, there’s always 2021 I guess, assuming the world lasts that long), but I’m hoping that if I keep to this schedule I can at least prevent them from slipping any further than they have. Expect sporadic posts, at least ones for Basque and Malayalam, and possibly some Romani or Tamasheq depending on how I’m feeling. And best of luck to all of you in your November language studies!

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guillemelgat · 4 years

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Language Goals - August

I know I’m a day late on these, but I also didn’t really start yesterday so we’re good

I’m back to language study! I kind of took a month off, which was really nice, but now I’m ready to start up again, so here we go for August. The two languages I’m planning to focus on are Romani and Malayalam, here’s what I’m going to try to be doing:

ROMANI

Weekdays (1hr):

Write one message on Discord in Romani (5min)

One lesson on Romaninet + vocab notes (20min)

Drill one declension and one conjugation (15min)

Practice vocab w/ flashcards (20min)

Weekends (1hr):

Make flashcards (40min)

Read a story (20min)

MALAYALAM

Weekdays (1hr):

One Mango lesson + vocab notes (30min)

Practice vocab w/ flashcards (20min)

Watch an Eli Kutty video and take notes (5min)

Talk to my dad (5min)

Weekends (2hr):

Make new flashcards (40min)

Take notes on a vocab point (1hr)

Writing or reading practice (20min)

I’m going to try to post things about both of these languages, especially Malayalam, so let me know if there’s anything you want to see!

#this is going to be such a mistake i don't know how i'm going to study this much per day #i'm just feeling very motivated again so we'll see where things go from here #let me know if you want links to the resources because i didn't include all of them #i joined a discord for romani though! and i'm like screaming internally every day it's absolutely amazing #i've learned a ton and i think that if i make an effort to put myself out there i can learn even more #(it's a language and culture server mixed roma/gadje which is cool)#also am feeling like i should make an effort with malayalam again so we're going to try #not sure how far i'll get we'll see #but maybe having the mango lessons will be good for me #just for the structure and practice #i tried them before and they were pretty good but it was just stuff like introductions #which when i asked my dad he gave his typical uhhhh we don't really say that in malayalam #but i guess it's a good place to start maybe it'll get more useful the further i go #malayalam #romani #language goals #language month #romani:general #romani:goals #malayalam:general #malayalam:goals #general:goals

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guillemelgat · 4 years

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Language Goals 2020

Another year, another language-learning goals list! Yes, we’re back at it with the languages, and (hopefully) better than ever! I honestly wasn’t sure what to write for this year, since my main goal is really just to make progress I can be proud of in all my languages. In other words, I want to make sure I give all my languages the time they’re due, and do the work I need to get better at them. I’ve figured out that it might be better to divide by stages and use more or less the same methods for each level of language learning, so here are my goals for 2020:

New Languages (Wolof)

Wolof is the main language I want to add in 2020. While I’m not going to Senegal for study abroad like I thought I would, I still want to learn the language, and I hope it serves as an incursion for other West African languages like Bambara. I have several courses that I’ve found, so the goal would just be to go through them like I’ve done in the past for Romani, Arabic, and Tamasheq, and build the foundation for further learning.

A1-A2 Languages (Kurdish, Amharic, Bosnian, Tamasheq, Arabic, Malayalam, Romani, Western Abenaki)

These are the bulk of my languages, and I think in order to make any progress with them, I’m going to need to give them all the quality time they deserve. What that means is to do on my own what a normal language class would provide me: drills, drills, and more drills. So far, my goal is to prepare a weekly packet of exercises for the tougher grammar points and a couple of Memrise levels of vocabulary, and then spend the week working through them. I want to make sure I provide myself consistency, but not unrealistic goals, so I’m going to work on finding that balance. Hopefully it works out, and I’ll try to share things along the way.

B1-B2 Languages (Welsh, Basque)

I’m not sure if I can really say I even have a B1 in either of these languages, but I’m hoping that by the time the year comes to an end, I’ll be solidly in B range for both (and maybe with C on the radar??? probably asking too much though). I really want to build the base that I need to understand these at a higher level, I’m missing a lot of vocabulary and also practice. Because of that, I’m hoping to study vocabulary in both languages throughout the year, and try my best to listen to more things in them as well, be it music or radio or movies and TV shows. I haven’t entirely figured out how I’m going to go about it, but I want to be in a place where I’m comfortable enough in both languages to have actual conversations in them

C1-C2 (Catalan)

I am actually a solid C1 in Catalan now, and this year I want to work at maintaining that level and pushing for the C2. I want to try my best to listen to the radio in Catalan, watch shows, and read books as much as I can. I also want to expand my vocabulary even further, so that I can use more specific language in descriptions. In addition, I’m going to continue to work on pronunciation in spoken production and also precision and tone in written production, which are both things I need to improve to reach a C2.

Well, that’s what I’ll be working on for this year. We’ll see if any of this works out, and I’m sure there will be lots of surprises before the year is up, but hopefully I achieve my baseline goal: to get better at all my languages!

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guillemelgat · 4 years

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(Late) January Language Goals / Update

I just realized that I made a goals post for the beginning of the year, but not for the beginning of the month! I’ve actually been doing a lot of language study this month, so I figured I should make the post and update y’all on how language things are going.

I’m trying to do one language per month, which will allow me to cover all my languages and add one new one as well. This month, I’m working on Romani, which I’ve been meaning to work on for the past two years and just haven’t. I’m reviewing and drilling all the lessons in Ronald Lee’s Das-duma Rromanes, which is what I used to start learning the language and which covers a lot of bases for a basic understanding. Every Sunday, I’ve been making a stack of flashcards and exercises based on the lessons, and I’ve been doing one lesson every day throughout the week. I think it’s definitely helping, at least to expand my vocabulary. I’m really excited about how it’s going, but then again I would literally die for Romani so I’m pretty sure I would ever not be excited to be studying it. The goal is to get myself to a level of confidence where I can actually use it to talk to people (God forbid I talk to people!) but that’s a high bar so it might be a while. Either way, I think the month is going fairly well so far, so we’ll see!

As for the blog, I know I’ve been terrible about posting and I’m not sure if I’ll be much better this quarter, but I’m going to try my hardest to finish the IYIL posts (SIDE NOTE BUT DID Y’ALL SEE THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT WE’RE GETTING A DECADE OF INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES STARTING IN 2022?? BECAUSE IT’S ABOUT GOTDAM TIME). I also have a few translations that I’ve been meaning to post, so hopefully I can get those out too.

#i'm probably going to be a bit mia on here but i'm going to try my best to make posts #maybe having a busy semester will make me want to post things here more idk #but either way i'm not sure how much stuff i'm going to be churning out #god i love romani so much #like i'm like i couldn't possibly have this much love for a language #and then i go back to studying it and i'm like ope guess i can #i really want to talk to people in it but i'm very nervous about it #because i don't like talking in languages until i'm absolutely perfect #but idk i might see if i can find a place to put it to good use #i know there's a big community in the midwest and i'd love to do volunteer stuff with helping refugees and stuff #if i can find it and work up the courage to do it #because i'd love to speak it more and talk to actual roma and like just do more there??#anyway that's all that's the update #hope y'all are having a good january #romani #language goals #random stuff #general:goals #romani:general #romani:goals

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guillemelgat · 4 years

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New Month, New Goals!

In my last post, I mentioned that I was planning on studying Romani for another month. Here’s my plan for how I’m going to try to do that, building on what worked and what didn’t for last month.

Firstly, I’m going to try to limit the amount of planning I have to do over the weekend, which hopefully will make things work better. Currently, the plan is to do something different each day, and do the following:

Every day: flashcards, drilling verb conjugations and noun stems

Once per week: speaking for 10 min, writing one page, reading 2 pages, listening to and breaking down one song

I’m going to try to create more standardized ways to do these things, so once I’ve figured those out, I’ll try to post about them on here, since I think this method has been working pretty well for me. I hope all of you had a good January, and good luck on any goals you might have for the coming month!

#i don't know whether to make a thing digitally or to just come up with a format for each of these #but the idea is to push my language abilities as much as possible #and pick and choose what days are better for me for studying and which ones aren't #although that's been a risky move in the past so we'll see #anyway i'm really excited #i wanted to do more than one month of romani the last time i studied it but i didn't #so i'm glad i'm going to do it this time around #language goals #romani #romani:goals #romani:general #general:goals

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guillemelgat · 5 years

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Language Goals 2019

I’m going to try to keep this shorter than last year, but here’s what I want to do with my languages.

Current Languages

Catalan - Get that C1, whatever it takes to get there

Basque - Become conversationally fluent

Welsh - Talk to people in Welsh

Romani - Reach a B1, actually be able to understand some conversation & media

Western Abenaki - Feel more comfortable with what I know

Malayalam - Be able to hold a conversation with my dad or my aunt

Arabic - Review & solidify what I already know

Tamasheq - Expose myself to more of the language so I can put into practice what I already know

New Languages

Wolof - I’m hoping to go to Senegal to study abroad, so I want to learn enough Wolof to be able survive (which given that I don’t talk to people until I’m solidly intermediate is going to take a while rip :// )

Amharic - this is going to be the year, I’m starting the course for this today!

I really want to focus on getting my current languages stable and comfortable this year, as well as actually getting out and practicing them with people! I haven’t put many new languages on here, but we’ll see if that lasts. I have a lot that I want to learn, so if my studies go well I might add one or two more. Last year was really great, so I’m hoping the one to come will be even better!

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guillemelgat · 6 years

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February Language Goals!

I made a lot of progress with my languages in January but I don’t think I’ll have as much time in February, so I’m cutting back a bit (only a bit) on the goals for this month. Here is what I want to accomplish:

Tamasheq - First and foremost, I’m going to be adding yet another language to my list, Tamasheq! I’m very excited to be starting it, since I have been casually dabbling in it since about this time last year. I’ll be going through some basic grammar and vocab 3 days a week from a simple website that I found. On here you should expect at least some (if not a lot of) Tinariwen.

Romani - Continuing with my progress from last month, I checked out Ian Hancock’s Handbook of Vlax Romani from the library as well as several books in some Romani dialect (??) to try reading (I will probably understand nothing and it will be great). Basically I want to get better at understanding the language and differentiating dialects and just generally expanding my knowledge of it, so that’s what I’ll be doing.

Catalan - I’m going to be doing an unofficial “independent study” with my professor and reading Calaveres atònites by Jesús Montcada, so I’ll be doing that twice a week and hopefully improving my Catalan along the way!

This is a mess, but hopefully gives y’all a basic idea of what I’m trying to get done in the next 28 days (or 24 now, I guess). I hope it all works out, we’ll see how it goes.

#language goals #language month #so ready for tamasheq #honestly for all of these #just when will i have the time??#tamasheq #catalan #romani #general:goals #romani:goals #catalan:goals #tamasheq:goals #romani:general #catalan:general #tamasheq:general

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