By the end of the year I hope to call myself a polyglot with the help of these language study goals!
First posted in Dutch on January 12 2024 and updated on June 22 2024.
German, French, Korean and Japanese, the four languages that I want to study this year. A lot of languages but I think I set very reasonable goals. And who knows, maybe I will be a polyglot by the end of the year! That would be a dream come true. How amazing would it be to be able to converse in multiple languages? I already love that I can read in four languages (Dutch, English, German and French). As a lover of stories, becoming a polyglot adds so much colour to my life. The books I can read, the shows I can watch… Learning about different cultures and starting to understand history better. It’s amazing what studying languages has done for my life. And I am far from done on this road to become a polyglot!
German completely to B2 – focus on conversational skills
I think this goal has been on my list for the past two years. Unfortunately putting a goal on a list doesn’t automatically mean that I reach it. Learning a language takes time and you cannot force it. However, there is a but, because I have definitely made progress in the past two years. Since the end of 2023 I can finally read German fluently! This means I achieved B2 level with my reading skills.
My plan for 2024 is to focus on conversational skills. I can converse basic conversations such as in a store or restaurant. However, sometimes I still find it difficult to pronounce certain words, but fortunately people are happy to help when they see that you are making an effort. This year I will work on getting to B2 level in speaking. I am lucky that my mother’s second language is German, so I can practice at home. Later this year I also hope to go on a city trip in Germany to give myself even more practice.
Level 2 & 3 in Korean
German was my focus language in 2023. However, I switched my focus language to Korean for 2024. My German is finally “flowing” and I am not worried about it. My Korean skills however… I need to do a lot of work, but it is my plan to have level 3 by the end of the year.
The language levels work differently in Korean than in (most) European languages. I think my current level is somewhere between A1 and A2. The goal is to get A2 level/beginning of B1 level. Since Korean is a tonal language, I know this is quite a challenge, but I’m looking forward to it. I noticed that alternating between languages works well for me. In addition, I have noticed that learning two different languages greatly reinforces each other in my own thinking process. I feel like learning languages actually goes faster because I immerse myself in the languages and therefore see the languages from different perspectives. This is something that works well for me, but I completely understand that this is far from ideal to most.
French A2
Korean is my focus language, German comes second and French is my fun language. No pressure, just a language I like to study whenever I have the time. Even though I learn it just for fun, it will also be beneficial for my work in the future. But what is my level in French?
It’s hard for me to say since I continue to amaze myself with my knowledge of the French language. Maybe me briefly living in Paris nine years ago did help? My knowledge is incredibly spread out. For 2024 I have decided that I will start at the beginning. It will probably feel schoollike at first, but I’d rather go through the starting material very quickly than miss anything. And then ultimately I hope to be at A2 level by the end of this year.
Start learning Japanese
Why would I want to learn Japanese? At the moment it is not my plan at all to speak Japanese fluently. I want to be able to do basic things and that’s it, but I have several reasons why. First, I want to understand the similarities between Korean and Japanese. Second, I want to learn more about the rhythm of the Japanese language. I’m reading more and more manga and sometimes I’m curious why the story is structured in a certain way. I fell in love with the Korean language when I saw a K-drama and suddenly started to understand the rhythm of the language. Not only that, I started to understand the entire series a lot better once I figured out how the language worked.
I have yet to figure out how I’m going to learn the Japanese language. I already have good study books in mind, but I might want to take a simpler approach first. We’ll have to see what I will land on.
What are your language goals for 2024?
Love,
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