2024 Reflections: Language Study
Did I learn Japanese? Am I now fully fluent?.... No, of course not, don't be silly.
Way back in the before times of 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣4️⃣, I embarked on the journey of learning Japanese.
And if you were paying attention in my last Language Study post, you'll have noticed that the title was changed to Language Study.
Well this change was intentional and a reflection of my reflection (I know I'm very clever 🥂) on studying Japanese in 2024.
📚 Re-learning how to learn
While embarking on the journey of learning Japanese I've found myself diverting from the main story line to knock out side quests along the way.
"Side quests", you ask? Yes. You see, it's been a long time since I needed to learn something through study. While I may learn things all the time at work, its more through experience or coaching than it is through self-study.
With Japanese, I needed to actually re-learn how to learn.
Because I'm a massive nerd, I've found this side quest fascinating. It's been fun to explore how I learn best with complete freedom. School was too structured, it always had deadlines, I was always in a rush to learn and forget, learn and forget. So while I was pretty good at school, and decent at learning, it was never a satisfying nor sustainable experience.
With Japanese however, there is no agenda, no timeline. I have full agency to explore and experiment, to change and pivot. And through this process, I've discovered a lot about how I personally learn, how I consume information, how I distill it, how I retain it.
With these new (yet still incomplete) discoveries about my learning habits, I've seen how I could change the way I consume or produce information in other areas of my life (ok, ok, mostly just at work) to help make me be more knowledgeable faster. And I've felt excited about the idea of pushing the boundaries of these learning habits.
🔧 Practical Opportunity
I could explore the limits of learning by trying to increase how quickly I can learn. In other words, try to learn Japanese faster. But that doesn't appeal to me, especially since one of my core principals of language learning (for myself) is to go slow.
But what if instead of learning faster, I simply tried to learn more. What more would I want to learn?
Here is where practicality and opportunity enter the equation.
- I live in Texas, there's a lot of Spanish around me
- My family is planning a trip to Greece in 2025
- I work regularly with our team in Paris
Frankly, adding these three languages on top of Japanese would be an exceptional amount of work, especially if the goal was to achieve fluency. Which is why that is not the goal.
🦅Spanish
Background
I actually have a lot of background dabbling with Spanish over the years. You inherently pick up some common vocab just bopping around in Texas, pair that with a couple big stints on Duolingo in the past and I'd say that if I had to I could survive in a Spanish-speaking only environment. I would sound like an imbecile, but I'd survive.
- I can read reasonably well given enough context clues
- I can speak enough to survive, but poorly enough that I'm too embarrassed to do it
- I can listen reasonably well if the person speaks slowly and uses simple words
Goal
Given this long background with the language, my goals for Spanish are:
- Continue to increase raw vocabulary
- Improve listening and reading skills
- Actually learn the grammar, like for real
I do not think I will prioritize speaking at this time.
Tools
Will primarily use Duolingo. From my last round of Duolingo adventures several years ago it seems I made it firmly into Section 2 of the Spanish course. I don't want to try to hop right in where I left off (I'm sure I've forgotten a lot), so instead I will start back at the beginning of the course and speed run my way through Legendary reviews up until I start to reach things I don't remember.
Additionally, I'll be adding all the vocabulary that Duolingo presents to an Anki deck.
🟦 Greek
Background
I have zero background in Greek. In fact, I wasn't even in a Sorority in college, so I never even learned the most common Greek letters. The most Greek I know can be summed up in the limited amount its used in upper level math (pi, lambda, gamma, etc.).
Goal
I'm only learning this to help my vacation be even more fun and interesting. I think it would be nice to be able to read signs, menus, or other things I come across while in Greece. Being able to understand some of the spoken language or even say common greetings would be fun as well. I don't particularly care about committing to Greek long term, nor do I feel I need to master any element of the language.
- Be able to read decently enough
- Maybe be able to listen a little
- Have some relevant travel/tourist vocabulary under my belt
Tools
Right now, pretty much just planning to use Duolingo. I'm intrigued by the idea of trying to complete the Duolingo course before the trip but I'm not sure if that's realistic. Closer to the trip, I would also like to get one of those classic "Common Phrases" book to learn some more practical things.
Much like Spanish, everything learned will also be making its way into a dedicated Anki deck.
🟥 French
Background
I took one class of French way back in highschool and I nearly failed it 🙂. So yeah, this will be interesting. But I feel if I can tackle Japanese, then surely I can conquer French?
Goal
Since I'm learning this for work, I think I need the golden trifecta of reading, listening, and speaking. Additionally, at a certain point I'd like to focus my learning on professional environment vocabulary and phrases.
- Be able to read in a business context
- Be able to listen in a business context
- Maybe be able to speak basic greetings and the like in a business context
Tools
I'll start out with Duolingo (I hope you're sensing a theme here). In addition to Duolingo, I will also be trying something sort of new. I plan to experiment with a pre-built Anki deck, and using that deck for initial learning. I know this breaks one of my core rules, but I'm curious to experiment and try.
🟩 Duolingo
Duolingo was featured a bit too prominently in my list of tools above. I do recognize that it is generally accepted to not be the best way to actually learn a language.
I don't disagree. But for now, it is the most accessible way to kick off this journey and keep up excitement about it.
As I explore these languages, opportunities will come up to pull in higher quality learning material from other sources.
Japanese continues to be my primary focus right now, so I need these other languages to be a bit more "automated" if you will, just something I can pick up and follow along without having to put too much research, thinking, or planning into my self-study roadmap.
Language Study
And thus we have 🌟Language Study 🌟. I have no idea if this will stick, but I'm excited to try it out as we forge ahead into 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣.