Friday, September 8, 2017
For the last couples of months I've been struggling to learn some languages. I've been spending my entire spare time to learn.
So, I've mentioned a few times in this blog and other social media, that I wanna be able to speak as many languages as I can. I wanna speak fluently at least five languages other than english and my mother tongue, indonesian.
I've been learning italian and spanish for years with lots of methods and media. I didn't do it persistently and not all the methods are really effective. But I used to be able to hold a basic and daily conversation in italian and spanish. And then I started to learn portuguese, french, and dutch last year, and this year I am learning german and greek.
I know. I am greedy. But do I even speak any of those languages now? I don't! OMG! Not even italian or spanish. I mean, yeah I can understand text messages and reply in italian. And I can say some italian sentences that I frequently use. But I've lost lots of my italian and spanish vocabularies! I even forget some english vocabs too sometimes!
I use this apps, this very helpful and actually can be effective apps, Duolingo. I used to use Live Mocha. It's also good, but Duolingo is easier, more practical, fun, and systematic.
But I've been using it the wrong way. I was too greedy and just couldn't wait to learn new languages. So, everytime I almost reached the end of the lessons, it became more like a game for me. I focused on finishing the rest of the lessons as fast as I can. My only goal became getting the trophy so I can start the next language.
So, yeah, if you asked, I've got all of the trophies for italian, spanish, portuguese, french, dutch, german, and greek. I've finished learning all of them.
But I forgot to find out about the basic keys of learning languages: conversation, repetition, and practice persistently.
When italian was the only language I learn, I did it almost properly. There are these sets of sentences that I repeated every single day. After a whole lots of repetitions, these sets of sentences helped me get the concept, the patterns, the basic system of italian. Also some words really stick in my memory.
Then I looked for italian friends to practice with text messages, chat, or video call. The easiest way to find a friend is from online dating. Most of the guys are there for sex or relationship, but surprisingly, I found some people who are really willing to help me learn.
Yes. Online dating. Because online dating apps are easier and simpler to use than any other apps. And it's so easy to create a profile there. And people there are so open to strangers, unlike on any other social media.
So, I was kinda... well I'm not gonna say fluent. But everytime I met some italians, I only speak italian. No english!
I thought I was on this state:
- Speak indonesian and english fluently
- Speak italian and spanish almost fluently
- Still need more practice on my portuguese and french
- Have finished learning dutch, german, and greek, but can only say view words in those languages
My plan on the beginning of this year was to learn both german, greek, and japanese. WTF? Right?
I've made my plan. I've made a program, as in school program, to learn each language. Every time I realized one program wouldn't work, I'd make a new one.
After learning Greek and realized that I needed more time to learn German and Greek, I've decided to postpone japanese to next year.
So I thought, by the end of the year, I've been fluent in 9 languages, including english and indonesian. But hello!! Wake up, me! I can't even speak italian fluently!
To have my italian at least on the same level with my english, I still have a long way to go! So, basically, forget about spanish, portuguese, french, dutch, german, greek, and japanese! I just realized I had to start from zero again.
Well, almost zero.
Anyway, I just found these amazing links today and I just wanna share them because they've inspired me a lot.
First, I found this "22 Tips for Learning a Foreign Language" by Mark Manson.
https://markmanson.net/foreign-language
Then this one is about forgetting-the-previous-language problem, from Scott H Young:
https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2013/11/22/language-switching/
And I noticed that both of them mentioned Benny Lewis. So I looked at this Benny Lewis, and man he is awesome!
Here's his article about mixing-language:
https://www.fluentin3months.com/not-mix-up/
See what my problem is? I am lack of references. As an artist, I don't know many artists. As a writer wannabe, I don't read enough book. As a polyglot wannabe, I didn't even know any famous polyglot!
Dear Mark Manson, Scott H. Young, and you, the one and only Benny Lewis, thank you so much for your articles!
For the last couples of months I've been struggling to learn some languages. I've been spending my entire spare time to learn.
So, I've mentioned a few times in this blog and other social media, that I wanna be able to speak as many languages as I can. I wanna speak fluently at least five languages other than english and my mother tongue, indonesian.
I've been learning italian and spanish for years with lots of methods and media. I didn't do it persistently and not all the methods are really effective. But I used to be able to hold a basic and daily conversation in italian and spanish. And then I started to learn portuguese, french, and dutch last year, and this year I am learning german and greek.
I know. I am greedy. But do I even speak any of those languages now? I don't! OMG! Not even italian or spanish. I mean, yeah I can understand text messages and reply in italian. And I can say some italian sentences that I frequently use. But I've lost lots of my italian and spanish vocabularies! I even forget some english vocabs too sometimes!
I use this apps, this very helpful and actually can be effective apps, Duolingo. I used to use Live Mocha. It's also good, but Duolingo is easier, more practical, fun, and systematic.
But I've been using it the wrong way. I was too greedy and just couldn't wait to learn new languages. So, everytime I almost reached the end of the lessons, it became more like a game for me. I focused on finishing the rest of the lessons as fast as I can. My only goal became getting the trophy so I can start the next language.
So, yeah, if you asked, I've got all of the trophies for italian, spanish, portuguese, french, dutch, german, and greek. I've finished learning all of them.
But I forgot to find out about the basic keys of learning languages: conversation, repetition, and practice persistently.
When italian was the only language I learn, I did it almost properly. There are these sets of sentences that I repeated every single day. After a whole lots of repetitions, these sets of sentences helped me get the concept, the patterns, the basic system of italian. Also some words really stick in my memory.
Then I looked for italian friends to practice with text messages, chat, or video call. The easiest way to find a friend is from online dating. Most of the guys are there for sex or relationship, but surprisingly, I found some people who are really willing to help me learn.
Yes. Online dating. Because online dating apps are easier and simpler to use than any other apps. And it's so easy to create a profile there. And people there are so open to strangers, unlike on any other social media.
So, I was kinda... well I'm not gonna say fluent. But everytime I met some italians, I only speak italian. No english!
I thought I was on this state:
- Speak indonesian and english fluently
- Speak italian and spanish almost fluently
- Still need more practice on my portuguese and french
- Have finished learning dutch, german, and greek, but can only say view words in those languages
My plan on the beginning of this year was to learn both german, greek, and japanese. WTF? Right?
I've made my plan. I've made a program, as in school program, to learn each language. Every time I realized one program wouldn't work, I'd make a new one.
After learning Greek and realized that I needed more time to learn German and Greek, I've decided to postpone japanese to next year.
So I thought, by the end of the year, I've been fluent in 9 languages, including english and indonesian. But hello!! Wake up, me! I can't even speak italian fluently!
To have my italian at least on the same level with my english, I still have a long way to go! So, basically, forget about spanish, portuguese, french, dutch, german, greek, and japanese! I just realized I had to start from zero again.
Well, almost zero.
Anyway, I just found these amazing links today and I just wanna share them because they've inspired me a lot.
First, I found this "22 Tips for Learning a Foreign Language" by Mark Manson.
https://markmanson.net/foreign-language
Then this one is about forgetting-the-previous-language problem, from Scott H Young:
https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2013/11/22/language-switching/
And I noticed that both of them mentioned Benny Lewis. So I looked at this Benny Lewis, and man he is awesome!
Here's his article about mixing-language:
https://www.fluentin3months.com/not-mix-up/
See what my problem is? I am lack of references. As an artist, I don't know many artists. As a writer wannabe, I don't read enough book. As a polyglot wannabe, I didn't even know any famous polyglot!
Dear Mark Manson, Scott H. Young, and you, the one and only Benny Lewis, thank you so much for your articles!
