Fri 6th June: Obsession (Language Learning links)
In what seems like far too short a time, suddenly we're essentially a week into June, Ajhon has left us to go back to Australia (we're really gonna miss you!), and I've regained my unhealthy obsession with learning three different languages at once.
Perhaps I should explain. Obviously, one of my main passions is languages - speaking them, listening to them, writing them, reading them, reading about them, translating them, interpreting them... anyway, my problem is that as I currently stand, I have one fluent language (English), one language where my proficiency is at a conversational level (Chinese), and three other languages that I really want to learn - Auslan (Australian Sign Language), Russian, and Italian.
So why these languages? I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's because they're all so vastly different to each other. I also like the idea of being able to communicate with people all over the world, and I like challenges... but I don't know why Italian is more interesting to me than, say, French, or why Russian is more appealing to me than German (which apparently is objectively easier for native English speakers to become proficient in). Anyway, I figure if I can speak languages that are very different from each other, it will also be easier to not get words mixed up (for example, I'm never going to hear привет (privet, hello) and think "Oh, that's totally Chinese"). But here's the problem... I want to know them all now. But I'm pretty sure if I try to learn them all at once... I'm going to run into some problems. Namely, time management, and the fact that no matter what, Chinese is my main focus, so I'll never be able to devote as much time to the others as I want to, but also just I really don't think trying to learn four languages at once is a very good idea. Still, I've found a few sites that are not only free but also really helpful for anyone who wants to learn different languages, and I thought I'd share:
1) Duolingo.com - offers courses in Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese
2) Memrise - doesn't seem to work properly in China, but offers courses in over a dozen (possibly over two dozen) languages
3) www.russianforfree.com - as you can guess, offers courses in Russian.
I hope someone finds these useful. Even if it's just numbers or "My name is...", you never know when knowing a phrase in another language could come in handy!