- The languages must represent at least four distinct language families.
- Dialects of a language don't count.
- I have until September 14th, 2015 to finish.
- I must be tested and approved by 2 native speakers of the language I learn.
- Only one dead or dying language. All others must be living languages.
- At the end of the period, I must be able to still have daily proficiency in all languages.
- Any languages I already speak in daily proficiency, don't count.
Those are the only rules I've set out for myself. They don't seem too difficult but I've picked them for very specific reasons. I know I can do it. I've already learned German and French so I know the mechanics of learning a language. The challenge is going to be putting away the time to learn them. I also suspect it's going to be difficult to find the right resources for learning them.
I've already discovered with the other languages that I've learned is that the usual books for learning a foreign language are very often geared for people who don't know much about language and the constructs of langauge. That makes the first 4 chapters very boring, not to mention the fact that they tend to cover things very slowly and laboriously making it a tedium to read through the first half. Still, you have to read them all or they will invariable spring something on you in the middle that you don't know about and then, well, you're screwed.
So, there will hopefully be a couple of things that will come of this. First, I hope to be able to come up with a system specifically for superglots that will speed the third and higher language acquisition. Second, I hope to be able to make tools for superglots that will help them streamline the early stages of language acquisition without making them feel like they are back in third grade starting completely from scratch.
I encourage you to join me in my goal. Learning a foreign langauge is a crucial skill and one that everyone can do. Your brain is hardwired to use language and to learn new language all the time. The only obstacle is your conception of language and the reward is incredibly high.
2 comments:
"I must be tested and approved by 2 native speakers of the language I learn." I disagree with this being a valid checking point. A lot of people are very generous about what counts as speaking a language. When I first started speaking Portuguese with slurred Spanish for example, I would receive endless praise for how perfectly I was speaking when I clearly was not. They were just too nice!! And some people are way too proud of their language to ever give the thumbs up to a morally diminished foreigner.
Personally, I only consider that I speak a language at a considerable level if I pass an officially recognised certificate of that language. This site has one for all EU languages and does not require you to take any courses (just show up on the day of the exam and take it). You may be familiar with the DELF/DALF in French for example. I wouldn't settle for anything less than level C1 (preferably C2) to be satisfied with my language level, but it takes huge commitment. Being able to chat with drunk people in a pub would put you at B1/B2 for example. What language level (on this technical scale) are you aiming for in these 10 languages? What do you have already in French/German?
I have a specific test in mind for the native speakers that would be very hard to rely on their subjective understanding. I'll post about that shortly. I'm fairly against the tests that are often used to guage ability mainly because they tend to be very rigid in terms of ability to communicate in a language. I've taken many of them for languages that I wouldn't consider myself very good in and done quite well. They also tend not to give credit for everyday usag ebut rather focus on book knowledge. I'm not against considering a test if I thought it were appropriate.
As for the ALTE, I'd have to find an equivalent in the states but it's a good resource to get started for this kind of thing.
For German, I'd rate myself (based on yoru subjective standard ;) as a C2 or better. I lived there for a considerable period of time and one of my favorite games is going places in Germany and seeing how long it takes for the other perons to realize I'm American. ;) Record time was 7 minutes. For French, I'd put myself somewhere between B1 and C1. My writing and reading are very excellent, speaking is pretty good but my listening is often short. So it's tough to put it into perspective in that way. I've been thinking actually to take a test for it just to get some sense of where to attack it next. Tutors havent' been much help for many fo the same reason you describe about the native speaker test being too weak. A Texan speaking French so well? Oo, la, la, tres bien, Monsieur.
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