Did I become the polyglot that I had hoped at the start of this year?
At the start of the year I said: By the end of the year I hope to call myself a polyglot with the help of my language study goals! And did I?
My language goals set at the start of the year:
– German completely to B2 – focus on conversational skills
– Level 2 & 3 in Korean
– French A2
– Start learning Japanese
Unfortunately I decided halfway through the year to let go of one of the languages… for 2024 at least. This was because I needed to focus on the languages that were more important right back then.
Japanese
The language I let go for this year was Japanese. It was never my plan to study the language in depth. However I thought it would be fun to understand the similarities between Korean and Japanese. Second, I wanted 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.
However, I figured out halfway through the year that I wanted to focus on Korean, since I am making great progress and I don’t want to study too many languages to dismantle that. Unfortunately, even though I love studying languages, it is not my strength. It takes me ages to understand a simple grammar structure. Luckily Japanese and Korean are not from the same language family but still I think it’s best to push this goal to 2025.
French
Earlier this year I said: “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. Honestly, picking up some French here and there already came in handy plenty of times. I noticed that my knowledge of the language was better than I expected. As of right now I have achieved with the language what I wanted. If I would be tested I am not sure that I would get A2 level with all the skills, but my reading skills are mostly needed and that is at B1/2 level.
For now I will let go of training my French skills and pick it back up in 2025 when I actually will need it a couple of times.
German completely to B2 – focus on conversational skills
Before the year started I couldn’t have imagined that I would live in Vienna, Austria by the end of the year. But here I am living my life in a wonderful city where they speak German. Well, Austrian, because not everything is the same in German. This made me have to adapt and actually strengthen my German skills. My speaking and conversational skills have improved so much. I am not B2 yet, but the click has been made, cause I am actually starting to think in German when speaking! I am not looking for translations, I just speak. I am between A2 and B1 depending on the topic. But since the click has been made I am not worried about getting to B2 next year. As long as I work hard to keep improving, I am sure I will reach this goal.
My reading has moved from B2 to C1 level! And my understanding skills are at a solid B2 level. Accents are sometimes difficult depending on the accents. But I can follow a two hour seminar without too much problem, even if words get used that I don’t know yet.
Level 2 & 3 in Korean
At the start of the year I said the following: “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.”
Well, it’s not going well. By now you probably know that I changed my last name and honestly that was a part time job this year. It was hard to maintain my Korean skills. So I decided that I would consume Korean content as much as possible and that studying would come later once my name is changed. During the last quarter of the year when I restarted my Korean lessons again, I made great progress, and even scored very well on tests, so luckily I maintained most of my Korean knowledge. Even better, I found out that I have preferred words that go beyond the textbook stuff, but are still correct Korean. I am super happy that the language stuck with me.
But in the end I didn’t make it to level 2 and 3. That’s because German got more imported for me. Again I hadn’t expected to be living in Vienna at the start of the year. However, I have been keeping up with my Korean skills even over here in Austria! There is a Korean Culturehouse in Vienna and I have been going every week so far. I have the chance to be surrounded with native speakers and try out my Korean skills. That has been wonderful to test my skills and also to have lots of fun with the language.
Road to polyglot
I had hoped at the beginning of the year that I could call myself a polyglot by now. But as of right now I don’t feel confident enough yet. If my Korean skills would have been at level 3 then it would have been a different story. Even though I already understand a lot of the language, there is still a lot missing in skills. Or if my French would have been at B1 instead of A2. However, considering all things, I am really proud of all my skills acquired. It was a hard personal year with a lot of unknown, but I did turn it around once my name got changed and even moved countries!
Can’t wait what 2025 has in store for me. Language studies will be one of my priorities since my own company will expand internationally and honestly I can’t wait for the ride of a lifetime. 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, the connections with people I have made… 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!
How did your language studies go in 2024?
Love,
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