2022 Update

 Welcome back!

I wanted to write a post today to let you know what I have been up to in my language learning. There are a few different things going on simultaneously, which keeps it fun!

New Language

This year I started a new language... Vietnamese! I have not gotten very far yet, as it has only been about 2.5 months and I only dedicate about 10 minutes a day currently. I am using Duolingo. I do one new lesson and review one old lesson each day. I kind of like this structure.

With Swahili last year, I wrote down every single new word that I learned from my Duolingo lessons. I thought that having the visual laid out before me would help me retain it better and I could look back for a certain word if I forgot it. The problem with that was that I needed to have my notebook with me whenever I were to do a lesson. This is not convenient, because I often end up doing a lesson while waiting for something out of the house, or snuggled in my bed. This means I am not always home or have my notebook. This then caused me not to do lessons very often, so I forgot what I learned rather quickly. I think I will come back to Swahili another time, because I still think it is a really great language and it is spoken in several countries. It's just a matter of when.

As for the Vietnamese language, I really like it! I haven't dipped into the cultural aspect yet, but I can picture people speaking the language in real life (we have quite a few Vietnamese people in my area). Like Mandarin, I love the tonal aspect of the language. And it uses a Latin alphabet with diacritic marks which makes reading and spelling much easier. (No characters! Yay!) Many people say Vietnamese is a hard language, but I don't have the same opinion. We'll see if I discover the hardships later on. Or maybe, Mandarin has kind of prepared me for Vietnamese, so it seems less challenging. I'll try to keep you updated!

Women in Language

This month I had the opportunity to speak at a virtual language conference called Women in Language. It is a great conference that supports women and non-binary speakers to get the spotlight and recognition that they may not get from another arena. It always has a great lineup of speakers and talks that provoke you to think in different ways about languages and the people that learn them. I still need to go back and watch a few of the talks that I missed.

I spoke about AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) and how we may possibly consider using a type of AAC to help us learn new languages. I also discussed how we, as a community, can help create AAC resources for people who need them in different languages. If you'd like to know how to get involved, send me a message on Instagram or Facebook.

It was really fun speaking at an event. I was very nervous, of course, but afterwards I felt like, wow, maybe I do have knowledge that I can share with the world that people may want to hear. It was a bit empowering, as well as a reminder that yes, we can do hard things.

Other Languages

I continue to work on improving my other languages. My routine has been to read a novel in whatever language we are doing for Language TV Club that month. This has helped me learn and retain new vocabulary because I am seeing it in multiple places. Honestly, I think the person whose language has benefited the most from the club is me! But I know many other people have improved their language skills and confidence speaking by participating as well. If you are interested in joining to work on your listening and speaking of Spanish, German, French, Italian or possibly others, or would like to meet other language learners, click here. We'd love to have you!

Now that we have amazing people hosting the clubs and my hosting duties are decreasing, I have more opportunity to study languages not in the club frequently, such as Mandarin. This month I will be continuing to work on reading in Mandarin with the HSK books that I highly recommend. I am currently trying to read at HSK 3 level (old hsk levels).

Additionally, I just booked a trip to go to Disney and Universal Studios, which means Harry Potter World! I'm so excited. To prepare for my trip, I am listening to the audiobooks during my commutes to and from work. I completed the first book in Spanish, just started the second in French, hoping to do the third in Italian (may have to decrease the playback speed), and maybe I'll attempt the fourth in Mandarin? We will see.

I was thinking about stopping learning new languages after Vietnamese for a little while, so I can work on improving the ones I already have. I'd love to have upper intermediate to advanced skills in all of them, so when people ask me what languages I speak, I can answer confidently.  Right now, it is a little weird answering that question. But I also do want to get back to Arabic and Swahili. I am also wanting to get back to working on ASL. Now that this pandemic is easing, maybe I can participate in silent coffee nights. So many languages! I wonder how many my brain will actually be able to hold onto.

One thing I do know I need to do is integrate more of these languages into my daily life, including having friendships with people where we don't speak English. I think it is so easy to just drop back into English, especially if your brain is tired.

Other News

In other news, I've been very busy. My SLP work has gotten a bit more demanding recently and I am still trying to build Polyglot Station and the Language TV Club outside of this. It has been very hard and I am exhausted most days. This means I don't have much time and energy for things like exercise and watching sappy Chinese dramas. I hope to get back to salsa class next week though!

But good news! My health has been so much better. If you are having chronic issues, consider a functional medicine doctor who knows what they're doing. You'll be so happy with the results.

Another bit of good news is that my brother and his wife are expecting a baby girl in a couple of months! I can't wait!

I hope that you all are staying healthy and happy in what has been a very difficult March for many people. I have to tell myself pretty often to have gratitude for the small things and not to worry so much. Don't forget to enjoy your language journey, however slow, fast, up or down it may be.