How would you go about learning a language?

I have no idea how such a ‘lazy day’ could be so exhausting but there we have it! I spent the day with Lloyd, a friend of mine from college, enjoying the sunshine alongside the quay, looking in knick-knack shops, playing board games…

Anyway, during the day a question came up, and a question that I often get asked “How do you learn langauges?” Well, I wish I knew. The thing is that I am widely considered a ‘language nerd’ which is something I would protest that I am not. I can think of many people who are a lot more capable with languages than I am. I guess that, by language nerd, they simply mean that I enjoy languages and possibly that I’ve learned them in a slightly unconventional way. I learned German through sitting with a dictionary and translating things. It happened. It was an accident. I’ve had French classes for about 12 years yet I still struggle.

That said, I have found some useful things to help in the language learning process (other than one, they are all quite general);

• Byki – this is a piece of flashcard software. I get the express version when learning a new language because it’s incredibly useful with the pronunciation. It’s also possible to play the words and phrases slowly and to be tested on your spelling of the phrases. I have never used to paid for version but that’s more because my learning style isn’t structured than because there are flaws in the program.
• LanguagePod101 – This comes in various languages and is basically a free podcast. I used this when learning Japanese to compliment my GCSE classes in school. It was more useful than my school classes and particularly if you’re wanting to learn over a longer period and at a slower pace. It might be a bit too slow for some people. The added features that you get through paying for a subscription are fantastic and, especially for a language like Japanese with a different alphabet, I would think about getting them. You get a free trial of the premium features so you can decide for yourself.
• Heardutchhere.net – This is a website focused around learning Dutch. I don’t think the lessons are that good as they don’t work as my brain does. That said, the recordings of words, lists of vocabulary, and general information is invaluable.
• Mnemnosyne – this is another flashcard program in which you create your own lists. It tailors your revision session to fit previous progress and I find it really useful for vocab learning. Actully, I use it for a lot of subjects and reasons.
• Interpals – This is a website with an aim of finding penpals. You can also find language exchange partners. I have been a member of this site since 2007, I think, and, although you get the odd perv, it’s a wonderful place to share culture and to practice languages. You’re not going to learn if you don’t practice after all!

As for my Dutch learning… it’s not going so well. I can, more often than not, memorise the word but my pronunciation is not good. I can’t get the ‘g’ sound… I either sound extremely angry or like a slowly deflating balloon. On the plus side, no matter how much I may struggle with languages I still managed to conquer the world today, beating Lloyd in the board game Risk!

I didn't plan to spend my evening fighting with a tent.

It’s been a while since I put up a tent. In fact, I believe the last time I (helped) put up a tent was at Aimee’s 13^th birthday. Incidentally, this is also the day that I swore never to camp again having got so cold that I was unable to sleep and quite miserable. So, if you had told me then that just a few years on I would be assembling a tent with the aim to stay in said tent with Aimee I would have laughed at you and then probably prayed that such a time never came.

However, today I put up a tent. Admittedly, it was on my front lawn and I was just practicing for when Aimee and I go to Castlefest together but it still took some doing. Actually, I think that the presence of ants nests on said lawn made it all the more impressive; I have been bitten to death. Struggling with putting the pins into the poles my father told me that I should resort to flirting with a man and get him to do it (he also specified that, after flirting with aforementioned man I should unpeg my tent and move it, assembled to a new pitch). Rolling my eyes I found that he was doing it wrong and that there was a much easier way that didn’t rely on brute strength. As a woman I might be physically weaker but I sure have no problems with logic!

Once the tent was up I got to meet my new neighbours, well the younger ones anyway, who, enticed by the possibility of a new play zone, flocked into the garden. It was lovely to be able to play with ‘little people’ again even if they made the whole taking down of the tent a bit difficult. They were determined we were all going to sleep in there! I figure that they are good practice for the real thing where I’m going to have to put the tent up with Aimee around. I might just sit her down on the floor with a book and do it myself!

Embarking on a language learning adventure!

Although, technically, my gap year has already begun, in my mind it doesn’t start until the beginning of August when I’m off to Castlefest in the Netherlands with my mother and one of my best friends, Aimee.

However, there are a fair few weeks before that and, in my normal style, I have decided to be productive and have decided to use my up and coming trip as an excuse to do something that I have wanted to do for a while now. This leads us nicely to the question:

“How much Dutch do we think I can learn in one month? Do we think that aiming for fluency is a bit optimistic?!”

I posted this question on facebook this morning (the second question being a joke, before anyone mentions it) and had some lovely replies from people which is quite nice. They wouldn’t have stopped me anyway!

However, it’s a long time since I’ve started learning a language from scratch and it’s a funny place to be. French took me ten years of lessons to be anything like competent, Japanese took three months until I could converse in it, German happened by accident, and lets ignore Hungarian for now, shall we? The bonus with Dutch is that I find I can understand a fair amount because of the similarities to German and to English but it’s still a daunting task.

But if you know me at all you will know that daunting tasks are my favourite!

New Times, New Blog

I am currently sat in a hotel room, having been living in hotels since January, doing absolutely nothing.

My exams finished three days ago (hurrah!) and, although I don’t think I’ve done as well as I had hoped I am pleased that they are over. Now we wait until results day…

Anyway, I have started a new blog because I am moving onto a new page in my life. Okay, okay, that didn’t sound as cheesy in my head. The point being, I am now officially on my gap year which is very exciting, but I am also moving away from my friends which is less exciting. I wanted to start this blog to enable me to keep people up to date with what’s going on as well as using it as a personal log for me.

I’m still going to keep my livejournal account going and might post some ‘personal’ things on there but it will mainly be updated with my translations etc. As for here, well we’ll see how it goes, but I hope to update it pretty regularly and it promises to be pretty all over the place and without obvious aim or theme! For now you'll just have to excuse my incompetency with the new system.

~Havanah x