This blog is for me to track my language learning efforts.
At the beginning of 2014, I realized that I was turning 30 this year. Thirty!
And I've always wanted to learn, really learn, a language. I'd just never had the time, or the talent, for it.
So I decided to see how much I could learn of one language in one year. I didn't have to become fluent in it, or good at it, but I had to see what I could learn. Had to see how far I could get. I've heard a lot about how the ideal time for learning additional languages is when you're a kid. I'm not a kid anymore, but I'm certainly not getting any younger, and if I ever wanted to realize my lifelong dream of knowing multiple languages, I had to start somewhere.
That somewhere ended up being French, for reasons I'll probably talk about (eventually). I've learned a few things.
One, there's a lot of free stuff on the Internet.The quality of a lot of resources is really high.
Two, I can actually have a proficiency beyond the first chapter.
Three, there's too much free stuff on the Internet (to try them all).
Oh, I'm nowhere near my ideal level of fluency in French.
But today, I was watching a French League of Legends streamer. I could keep up with the chat conversations. I could ask most of my questions without using Google Translate. I only had to look up a couple of words other people used. My audio comprehension still lags pretty heavily, but I can understand heavy French accents in spoken English. This is a big deal, since any accent has normally been a serious problem for me.
Next year, 2015, I'm going to add German and Danish to my efforts. I intend to keep maintaining/advancing French, but at a slower pace. I intend to focus most of my energy into German, but we'll see where the year takes us.
I'm planning to start German and Danish in the last half of December, when I will have a two week vacation, but I'm already looking ahead, lining up a few resources, trying to wrap up some things in French.
I am planning to write my blog posts in English and French, and I'll get some French practice done that way. I hope to use Lang8 to get rid of the worst errors before I post them here.
The title of this blog is a play on the song "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes. I like the way it sounds in my head. But that could be the vodka talking.
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At the beginning of 2014, I realized that I was turning 30 this year. Thirty!
And I've always wanted to learn, really learn, a language. I'd just never had the time, or the talent, for it.
So I decided to see how much I could learn of one language in one year. I didn't have to become fluent in it, or good at it, but I had to see what I could learn. Had to see how far I could get. I've heard a lot about how the ideal time for learning additional languages is when you're a kid. I'm not a kid anymore, but I'm certainly not getting any younger, and if I ever wanted to realize my lifelong dream of knowing multiple languages, I had to start somewhere.
That somewhere ended up being French, for reasons I'll probably talk about (eventually). I've learned a few things.
One, there's a lot of free stuff on the Internet.The quality of a lot of resources is really high.
Two, I can actually have a proficiency beyond the first chapter.
Three, there's too much free stuff on the Internet (to try them all).
Oh, I'm nowhere near my ideal level of fluency in French.
But today, I was watching a French League of Legends streamer. I could keep up with the chat conversations. I could ask most of my questions without using Google Translate. I only had to look up a couple of words other people used. My audio comprehension still lags pretty heavily, but I can understand heavy French accents in spoken English. This is a big deal, since any accent has normally been a serious problem for me.
Next year, 2015, I'm going to add German and Danish to my efforts. I intend to keep maintaining/advancing French, but at a slower pace. I intend to focus most of my energy into German, but we'll see where the year takes us.
I'm planning to start German and Danish in the last half of December, when I will have a two week vacation, but I'm already looking ahead, lining up a few resources, trying to wrap up some things in French.
I am planning to write my blog posts in English and French, and I'll get some French practice done that way. I hope to use Lang8 to get rid of the worst errors before I post them here.
The title of this blog is a play on the song "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes. I like the way it sounds in my head. But that could be the vodka talking.
-------------------------------------
Ce blog est pour moi un moyen de suivre mes efforts d'études de langue.
Au début de 2014, j'avais réalisé que j'aurais trente ans cette
année. Trente!
J'ai toujours voulu apprendre une
langue. Je n'ai jamais eu le temps, ou
le talent.
Alors j'ai décidé de voir combien
je pourrais apprendre d'une
langue en un an. Je n'ai pas à atteindre la maîtrise, ou être
bon, mais je veux voir ce que je pourrais apprendre. J'aimerai voir
jusqu'à où je suis capable d'apprendre. J'ai entendu beaucoup d'idées qui disent qu'il est préférable
d'apprendre d'autres langues quand vous êtes enfant. Je ne suis plus un enfant, mais je ne rajeurnis pas, et si jamais je voulais réaliser le rêve de ma vie
qui est de connaître plusieurs
langues, j'ai dû commencer quelque part.
Par le français, pour les raisons
que je vais expliquer. J'ai appris un
peu choses...
Un: il y a beaucoup de choses gratuits sur l'Internet. Il y a beaucoup de ressources de bonne qualité.
Deux: Je peux vraiment être
compétent au-delà du premier chapitre.
Trois: il y a trop beaucoup de
choses gratuites sur l'Internet pour tous les essayer.
Aujourd'hui, je regarde un Français streamer de League ofLegends. Je pourrais comprendre les conversations dans le
chat. Je pourrais poser la plupart de mes questions
sans Google Traduction, J'ai seulement
dû cherche quelques mots que d'autres personnes
ont utilisés. C'est sérieux
pour moi, depuis les accents sont un grave problème pour moi.
L'année prochaine, en 2015, je vais
ajouter l'allemand et le danois à mes efforts. J'ai l'intention de continuer à étudier le français, mais plus lentement. J'ai du temps supplémentaire pour consacrer mon énergie à
l'allemand, mais nous verrons où l'année me mènera.
Je prévois de commencer l'allemand
et le danois pendant la dernière
moitié de décembre, quand j'aurai
deux semaines de vacances, mais j'ai regardé avant, choisis des ressources, essayer de
conclure quelques choses en français.
Je prévois d'écrire mon blog en
anglais et en français, et je
vais pratiquer mon français cette façon. J’espère qu’utiliser
Lang8 me permettra de supprimer les pires erreurs avant que je post ceci.
Le titre de ce blog est un jeu de mots de titre de chanson,
"Seven Nation Army," par The White Stripes. J'aime
la façon dont il sonne dans ma tête.
Resources This Post
French League of Legends streamer Fun guy to watch. Streams in both English and French.
Google Translate Quick and dirty tool of language noobs everywhere, but one of the people on Lang-8 who corrected this post has informed me that this site is better for translating French: Voila Try using that instead.
Lang-8 Site where you can post writing in your target and get it corrected by other users. It's how I got the French part of this post proofread.
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