So this project didn't start the way I planned. But it's a new year, a new day (night, rather, at least in my neck of the woods) and my language list has definitely changed. Here are my new goals:
- Learn French. This is my third day of "study" (though I've had so much fun watching Disney songs in French and chatting on sites like LiveMocha that it really doesn't feel like work!). This is because I've been bit by a passionate bug to go to New Orleans and/or Haiti to do volunteer work (possibly Peace Corps or AmeriCorps) and I want to get my French down.
- Improve my Spanish. Since starting French, I'm amazed at how much I do know in Spanish comparatively and how much I can say even if I feel like I'm stumbling through the grammar and vocabulary. With French and Spanish and eventually picking up Portuguese, I've got almost all of the Americas covered in future travel plans. :)
- Continue studying Ancient Greek. I discovered an unholy passion for this language when I started last semester, though it's not really a spoken language anymore. (That's a true pity - the few times my professor introduced speaking in class, my understanding of the language improved dramatically.) I have the advantage of having to do my class and homework to study this language, which means I'll need to set definite goals for French and Spanish to work on them on my own.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
So you want to be a polyglot
Or at least I do!
Hi there. My name is Ellen, and it's my goal to become a polyglot.
I've been interested in languages for a long time. The only languages I've studied academically have been Spanish (on and off since the sixth grade) and German (which I took for a year and remember almost nothing about). On my own though, I've taken stabs at learning French, Latin, Irish Gaelic, ASL, and various constructed languages such as Esperanto, Vulcan, and Na'vi. I've also attempted to create a few languages of my own for use in my fantasy novels, which is what woke up my inner amateur linguist.
This blog is a way to track my progress and help me get organized so I can take real, viable steps towards becoming more fluent in other languages. I've come to realize that when it comes to personal projects, I have a severe case of ADD. To date, I have over 50 half-baked ideas and goals (including learning/creating various languages, writing dozens of story ideas, world building, various groups and businesses I'd like to form...) that I flit between. Eventually, I get back to working on every project, but I've never been able to pin down and focus on what I really, really want to do with my spare time. Hopefully I'll be able to keep myself on some sort of schedule so I actually get work done instead of just thinking about it. :)
But because of my inability to focus on one thing for too long, I'll be approaching polyglotism (polyglottery?) from a slightly different perspective. You know how general advice states to only try to learn one language at a time, and not attempt to tackle the basics of multiple languages together? Yeah, I'm breaking that rule. The first languages I'm going to address are Latin, Irish Gaelic, and American Sign Language, for the following reasons.
1. I've already started the basics of each language and, more importantly, am passionately curious about each.
2. They're different enough from each other that chances of mixing up, say, vocabulary or grammar will be slim (compared to if I chose to study three Romance languages at once).
3. I've got motives to study each language. Latin will be useful in my school studies (since I plan on majoring in religion and also possibly Classical archaeology), plus I absolutely adore mythology with every fiber of my being. For Irish, I've been to Ireland before and fell in love with the country. Living in America as I do, my exposure to the Celtic language family tree has been pretty much nonexistent, so it'll be a new adventure exploring a non-Romance, non-Germanic language. And for ASL, it's something I can use immediately, as soon as I start learning it - and, perhaps most importantly, I can learn it while learning a spoken language. (My hope is that learning signs while learning vocab for other languages will help reinforce connections in my brain.)
4. I need something to keep me occupied this summer. ;)
Perhaps a note about scholastic accuracy and intentions- I'm very much an amateur when it comes to studying languages and linguistics, so this blog is a learning experience for me. My eventual goal is not only to become fluent in other languages, but also to discover the best way to teach myself how to think and speak in other tongues. If I make any humongous gaffes, please feel free to point them out so I can learn from my mistakes. I'm also doing this for fun, and for the challenge. At the moment I have no detailed plan towards learning my languages, though I suspect I'll make a post about planning and goals before too long.
And that's about it for the intro! This is Ellen, the Wanna-Be Polyglot, signing off for the night.
Hi there. My name is Ellen, and it's my goal to become a polyglot.
I've been interested in languages for a long time. The only languages I've studied academically have been Spanish (on and off since the sixth grade) and German (which I took for a year and remember almost nothing about). On my own though, I've taken stabs at learning French, Latin, Irish Gaelic, ASL, and various constructed languages such as Esperanto, Vulcan, and Na'vi. I've also attempted to create a few languages of my own for use in my fantasy novels, which is what woke up my inner amateur linguist.
This blog is a way to track my progress and help me get organized so I can take real, viable steps towards becoming more fluent in other languages. I've come to realize that when it comes to personal projects, I have a severe case of ADD. To date, I have over 50 half-baked ideas and goals (including learning/creating various languages, writing dozens of story ideas, world building, various groups and businesses I'd like to form...) that I flit between. Eventually, I get back to working on every project, but I've never been able to pin down and focus on what I really, really want to do with my spare time. Hopefully I'll be able to keep myself on some sort of schedule so I actually get work done instead of just thinking about it. :)
But because of my inability to focus on one thing for too long, I'll be approaching polyglotism (polyglottery?) from a slightly different perspective. You know how general advice states to only try to learn one language at a time, and not attempt to tackle the basics of multiple languages together? Yeah, I'm breaking that rule. The first languages I'm going to address are Latin, Irish Gaelic, and American Sign Language, for the following reasons.
1. I've already started the basics of each language and, more importantly, am passionately curious about each.
2. They're different enough from each other that chances of mixing up, say, vocabulary or grammar will be slim (compared to if I chose to study three Romance languages at once).
3. I've got motives to study each language. Latin will be useful in my school studies (since I plan on majoring in religion and also possibly Classical archaeology), plus I absolutely adore mythology with every fiber of my being. For Irish, I've been to Ireland before and fell in love with the country. Living in America as I do, my exposure to the Celtic language family tree has been pretty much nonexistent, so it'll be a new adventure exploring a non-Romance, non-Germanic language. And for ASL, it's something I can use immediately, as soon as I start learning it - and, perhaps most importantly, I can learn it while learning a spoken language. (My hope is that learning signs while learning vocab for other languages will help reinforce connections in my brain.)
4. I need something to keep me occupied this summer. ;)
Perhaps a note about scholastic accuracy and intentions- I'm very much an amateur when it comes to studying languages and linguistics, so this blog is a learning experience for me. My eventual goal is not only to become fluent in other languages, but also to discover the best way to teach myself how to think and speak in other tongues. If I make any humongous gaffes, please feel free to point them out so I can learn from my mistakes. I'm also doing this for fun, and for the challenge. At the moment I have no detailed plan towards learning my languages, though I suspect I'll make a post about planning and goals before too long.
And that's about it for the intro! This is Ellen, the Wanna-Be Polyglot, signing off for the night.
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