My First Video

Hi all,

My language learning is taking up a lot of my time, so sorry for my radio silence.

OK, so I guess you want to know what I have been doing over the last two week.

Well, I’ve been trying my best to improve my Spanish pronunciation and increase, not only my Spanish but my Polish vocabulary.

I’m still having massive problems with separating the languages but hopefully this will get easier  as my Spanish starts to improve.

In addition to this, I’ve recorded a video to showcase my level of Spanish, after only one month of language learning.

Check out my video

At the beginning of August, I will be going to Poland for three weeks, so hopefully my time over there will improve my level of Polish.

That’s all folks

 

When is a ‘C’ Not a ‘C’ ?

Hi all,

Over the last couple of days, I’ve had a wake-up call in regard to the task ahead of me.

On Tuesday evening, I spent 2 hours going over my pronunciation of Spanish linking sentences with my friend, who is a native Spanish speaker.

This was harder than I thought it would me because I now have to decide whether I should speak Castilian Spanish or Latin American Spanish.

My main issue at the moment is that I’m memorising words from Vocabulearn, which has Latin American pronunciation, and having one-to-one Spanish sessions with my friend, who spends most of the time telling me to remember that not only is ‘z’ pronounced like the English ‘th’, but also  ‘c’ before ‘e’ and  ‘i’ and not like ‘s’, unless I want to speak like a South American (which is not a bad thing in my opinion).

The good news is that I can now pronounce all of my linking sentences, but the bad news is that I still speak Spanish with an English accent.

Regarding my Polish, I have decided to focus on it during my three week holiday in Poland.

The reason for this, is that my Polish improves immensely when I am in a Polish speaking environment.

Anyway, I’m going back to my language learning 🙂

Check out my Facebook page for daily updates on how I’m getting on and feel free to follow me on Twitter.

Little Language Learning Steps

Hi all,

 I’m coming to the end of the first week of my challenge/experiment, and now I’m starting to see the issues which are ahead of me.

 I’ve listed the issues below:

• Although Polish is a Slavonic language and Spanish is a Romance language, I’m still struggling to find a way to separate them in my head and switch from one to the other.
• I’m trying my best to remember the genders of Spanish nouns as unlike Polish, there doesn’t seem any logical explanation.
• I’m still making mistakes with Polish case endings
• I’m having problems with the Spanish verbs ‘ser’, ‘estar’ and ‘haber’ (although I’m starting to understand how to use ‘haber’)

On the plus side:

• My Spanish and Polish vocabulary is getting bigger by the day
• I have now memorised Spanish and Polish linking words and phrases, so this will hopefully improve my speaking and take me to a higher level
• My understanding of Spanish has improved a lot over the last week but the only downside is that it depends on the dialect. At the moment, I’m finding it really hard to understand Castilian Spanish 

If you have any tips to help me with my language learning, please can you let me know.

Check out my Facebook page for daily updates on how I’m getting on and feel free to follow me on Twitter.

My Journey Starts Today

My journey starts today and I’m totally ready for it.

Instead of flashcards, I will be using vocabulearn to help me memorise Polish and Spanish vocabulary.

Vocabulearn has always stood me in good stead and has helped me to widen my Russian vocabulary.

So how will I utilise Vocabulearn?

Vocabulearn is separated into different sections (Nouns, adjective, adverbs and verbs).

I have set myself the task of learning a section every evening. Hopefully this will take me about an hour per day.

My next plan of action will be to learn and conjugate ten Spanish verbs from Barron’s 501 Spanish Verbs and ten Polish verbs from Barron’s 301 Polish Verbs per day (this should only take me 30 minutes because I will be refreshing my knowledge of Polish verbs).

Finally, I will be working from Przygoda z Gramatyką  and reading a chapter a day from Colloquial Spanish: The Complete Course for Beginners (Routledge).

Regarding my Spanish learning, I’ve decided to have, what I call a ‘silent June and July’. In other words, I will start conversing in Spanish in August, after I have acquired enough vocabulary. This doesn’t mean that I will be neglecting my Polish, as I will be staying  in Poland  for 3 weeks during  August. My plan is to upload a video of me speaking Polish as soon as I get back.

Check out my Facebook page for daily updates on how I’m getting on and feel free to follow me on Twitter.

Only One More Week to Go

Follow me on Twitter

Check out my Facebook page

Hi all,

I’ve only got one week to go before I start my 23 EU Languages in 12 years challenge/experiment and, apart from being unable to get my hands on a good guide to writing essays in my two target languages (Polish and Spanish), I guess I’m pretty much prepared for it.

Ok, so what should I write about in this week’s blog post?

Well, since I haven’t started my challenge yet, I thought that I would turn my attention to something which I’ve been aware of but haven’t really paid much heed to, until I visited a farm with my children.

On the farm, standing next to my kids, was a little Spanish boy, who would every now and then make a sound when he spotted an animal. At first, my children and I were puzzled but we soon realised that he was making the sounds of the different animals. This led my daughter to ask me whether animals from different countries spoke different languages. Her question not only made me laugh but also made me want to know what noises do Polish and Spanish people make to mimic the sounds of  animals?

I asked my Polish and Spanish friends to help me out.

Old MacGarcía had a farm…

Spanish animal sounds

Dog/Perro – Guau

Cat/Gato – Miau

Donkey/Burro – I-ha

Sheep/Oveja – Beeee

Cow/Vaca – Mu

Frog/Rana – Croac

Wolf/Lobo – Aúúú

Chicken/Pollo – Spanish people have a sound for a cock (Kikiriki) and for a hen (co-co), but not for a chicken.

Duck/Pato – Cua-cua

Horse/Caballo – Iiiih

Old MacNowak had a farm…

Polish animal sounds

Dog/Pies – Hał

Cat/Kot – Miał

Sheep/Owca – Bee

Cow/Krowa – Muu

Frog/ Żaba – Kum kum

Wolf/Wilk: Auuuu

Chicken/Kaczka – Ko ko ko

Duck/Kurczak – Kwa kwa

Goat/Koza – Meee

What I found really interesting was that according to my friend, Polish people don’t mimic the sounds of horses, mice and donkeys.

What have I learnt?

I’ve learnt that little things like knowing the sounds of animals in different languages, makes language learning fun, so in keeping with the animal theme, I’ve put together a list of Polish and Spanish sayings involving animals.

 Polish sayings

Glodny jak wilk/Hungry like a wolf

Gruby jak świnia/Fat as a pig

Uparty jak osioł/Stubborn as a donkey

Mądry jak sowa/Clever as an owl

Pracowity jak pszczoła/Hardworking as a bee

Sprytny jak lis/Clever like a fox

Zwinny jak kot/Agile as a cat

Wierny ja pies/Faithful as a dog

Pracowity jak mrówka/Hardworking as an ant

Zły jak osa/Angry as a wasp

Zdrów jak ryba Healthy as a fish

Chytry jak lis/Sly as a fox

Łagodny jak baranek/Gentle as a lamb

Spanish Sayings

A otro perro con ese hueso/You’re kidding

Verle las orejas al lobo/The writings on the wall

A caballo entre/Doing two things at once

Hay gato encerrado/Something fishy is going on

Ser un perro/ To be very lazy (this is the one thing I can’t be, if I want to achieve my goal)

Language Learning Preparation

Learn 23 EU Facebook Page

Hi All,

My 24 in 12 journey/challenge/experiment hasn’t quite yet began but my preparation is very much underway.

So what will my preparation look like?

Well in the past, I’ve always found that the hardest part of learning a new language was the preparation, but over the years, I’ve learnt  to structure my preparation around the four basic learning skills and to think of ways in which I can keep them all at the same level and therefore avoid falling into my comfort zone of having a passive knowledge of a target language.

Below, I have written down the four skills, and in brackets on a scale of 1 – 4, with 4 being the strongest and 1 being the weakest, I have compared my language learning abilities.

In addition to this, below each skill, I have made a note of how I plan to approach each one (this will change on a monthly basis).

 Writing (1)

(June) Every day I will write a 100 word text in the target language.

Listening (2)

(June) Every day I will listen to a slightly slowed down 5 minute audio of the target language

Speaking (3)

(June) Once I have memorised enough vocabulary, every day I will have a Skype conversation with a native speaker of the target language.

Reading (4)

(June) I have the ability to memorise quite a lot of vocabulary very quickly, so I will use this to my advantage. On one hand, it is a blessing but on the other hand, it can be a curse because, in the past, it has given me the false sense of security that I’m close to mastering a language.

 In regard to the finer details of my language learning  preparation, such as the resources which I am planning to use, I will discuss this more in depth in my future blog posts, but there are a couple of things which I should mention.

First of all, I try my best to no longer have language exchanges with random native speakers. Instead I’ve discovered that if I have an exchange with a close friend with whom I have a lot in common, I progress at a faster pace.

Secondly, I will try my best to work on my accent (my default accent is Russian) and finally, I have already decided on a B1 Spanish exam date but this may change, so I won’t mention it for the time being.

So why have I chosen the 23^rd June as a start date?

As I mentioned before, I’m not trying to be political, I’m trying to be ironic.

Also the date gives me enough time to get my house in order, so I can focus on my language learning.

My Journey Will Soon Begin

Wow! I’m really amazed by all the interest which has been stirred up by my language challenge.

What you’re about to read has already been posted on a language forum, so sorry if you have already read it.

Thanks for all your advice.

After reading your comments, I’ve reviewed and tweaked my challenge.

I’ve decided to start my challenge on 23rd June 2016 (I chose this to date to be ironic and definitely not because of politics).

Regarding the level, I’m going to be realistic and try to achieve either B1 or B2.

I’ve also decided to split my challenge into 3 stages (each one covering four years). This will give me a chance to periodically review my progress, and if needed, to change the order of the languages.

In regard to the number of languages that I will learn, although I’m fully aware that there are more than 24 languages spoken in the EU, I have decided only to learn the officially languages according to the link below:

http://ec.europa.eu/languages/policy/li … -eu_en.htm

The languages which I don’t think I’ll have a problem learning are Polish (my level is already intermediate but I have a problem with speaking), Slavic languages such as Bulgarian, Slovak, Czech, Croatian and Slovenian (because of my Russian and Polish) and the Romance languages (because part of my family are French and many of my close friends are Spanish).

Finally, the reasons why I have decided to learn 23 EU languages, to B1/B2 level, are

• to raise the profile of second language attainment not only in the UK but across the world
• to teach my children that language learning can be worthwhile in the long run
• to set myself a personal challenge, that’s right it’s my challenge, so I will say this, only once, to anyone who is trying to link my challenge to the politics of the EU… take a step back and ask yourself why you started to learn Chinese, Arabic or any other language, was it anything to do with the political systems of that country or was it because of your fascination with the  language and country’s culture?

 

Oh, one last thing, if Britain decides to leave the EU, I will still try to improve my English

Once again, if you want to follow me on twitter (username below), go for it.

@NicEU23

24 in 12 Years, EU Language Challenge

Twitter @NicEU23

Here it is,the first post for my, 24 in 12 years, EU language challenge blog.

I’ve always been passionate about travelling and learning about different cultures but I’ve never really thought of learning a new language as a challenge, it’s always been more of a pastime for me.

So what exactly will my challenge consist of?

Well before I get into the nitty gritty, it would probably be a good idea to give you a bit of background regarding my language abilities.

Firstly, I studied Russian at university and spent a semester abroad in Moscow, so my Russian used to be pretty good. Secondly, I have travelled to Poland on many occasions and have qualifications in Polish but my level of speaking isn’t fluent. Regarding other languages, years ago I studied Spanish but I never managed to reach intermediate level, and I have dabbled in a few other languages.

Ok, that’s enough about me, now it’s time to talk about my EU language challenge…my challenge is to be able speak, to an intermediate level, all 24 EU working/official languages.

Is that gasps I hear?

This may seem like a daunting task but being English, I’m already capable of speaking my nation’s language, so this only leaves 23 languages to master to an intermediate level.

So why am I doing this?

Well, without getting too bogged down in politics, I believe that Europeans can only truly really get on with one another if they try to walk in each other’s shoes, and with this month’s British EU referendum looming, understanding different EU countries cultures and the intricacies of their languages is all the more important.

Anyway, as I mentioned, I don’t want the current political situation in Europe to distract me from my challenge, so it’s now time to mention my Language Learning Game Plan.

My plan is to learn two languages a year for 11 years and Finnish on its own for one year (I hear it’s a tough language to learn),  therefore it will take me 12 years to achieve my challenge.

Below is my language learning table.

Language Learning Table

Polish	Spanish  (2016-17)
Slovak	Portuguese (2017-18)
Bulgarian	French (2018-19)
Croatian	Italian (2019-20)
Slovenian	Romanian (2020-21)
Czech	German (2021-22)
Greek	Dutch (2022-23)
Latvian	Swedish (2023-24)
Lithuanian	Danish (2024-25)
Maltese	Estonian (2025-26)
Irish	Hungarian (2026-27)
Finnish	(2027-28)

The linguists among you, will notice that every year, I have decided to learn two languages from different linguistic families and  every following year, I will learn  languages which are related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family.

The learning for each language will be from June to  the June of the following year, and the way I will be assessed on my language level will be an accredited exam and a short YouTube video of me speaking the language with a native speaker (scary stuff).

Ok let the challenge begin.