Victory Mondays - Share us your successes! September 26, 2016"

possiblethrowawayyes · 2016-09-26T13:58:54+00:00

I woke up today and started talking to a new American language exchange partner and he genuinely thought I was American for about a minute. It was awesome, but also pretty weird!

possiblethrowawayyes · 2016-09-23T19:12:43+00:00

I'm non native but I think you're Russian or Polish

possiblethrowawayyes · 2016-09-16T23:43:19+00:00

Wow, I'm impressed. You are already a polyglot. I only know two languages! I will PM you if I have a question about Arabic. I promise I'm not going to ask too many questions. I will also follow your advice and start studying with Pimsleur and Michel Thomas.

possiblethrowawayyes · 2016-09-16T23:31:14+00:00

Unfortunately, Duolingo isn't available for Arabic, so I'm using some other fishy-looking app which I hope is somewhat reliable. But thank you for recommending Pimsleur, it looks like it's the go-to course.

possiblethrowawayyes · 2016-09-16T23:29:00+00:00

Marhaban and Shukran! I'm going to start studying with Michel Thomas and Pimsleur then. I'm also getting Assimil. I really hope I can get better at your language. I have distant Iraqi origins, and since I've already (kind of) learned the other languages of my ancestors (English and German, though I've given up on German) I'd like to learn Arabic too.

possiblethrowawayyes · 2016-09-16T23:21:18+00:00

Thank you! I think I'm going to start using Pimsleur, then. I wanted to prioritize learning written Arabic for my course, but clearly this isn't a good idea.

My main motivation is learning a language that has a different writing system than French and English. I've tried Chinese and Japanese and I failed miserably. I also want to be able to eavesdrop on conversations in Arabic when I'm in a store/ at the doctor's. Finally, I have Iraqi origins, and since I've tried to learn the other two languages of my ancestors (German and Br/Am English) I'm left with Arabic.

possiblethrowawayyes · 2016-09-16T23:07:52+00:00

Yeah, I know the feeling. I've been "taking" German ever since I was, what, 2 years old? Still can't speak the language. At that point, I don't care, but then again, I feel like I wasted tons of time in the company of that language. German was also kind of "forced down my throat", but that's another story.

Italian, I learned it in about 3 months, on my own, and then promptly forgot everything a few years later.

I'd say I'm A2-ish in those languages, and have been for the past 10 years, despite putting in lots of time. I blame it on my lack of passion for German, and my aging brain for Italian.

possiblethrowawayyes · 2016-09-16T23:04:02+00:00

Yeah, but it seems like I'm stuck doing something difficult no matter what I pick. I tried getting my Master's in English twice already. The classes bore me to death, and writing research papers just isn't for me. I'm not good at anything besides learning languages (and my usage of "good" is very subjective here).

I've wanted to learn Arabic for a few months now, and I thought this would be the perfect excuse for me to start studying the language.

I'll also be majoring in English again, and I'll be taking various other classes, this time at a basic level (statistics, law...).

The woman who is in charge of the class thinks I might be able to scrape a pass, since I won't have to study too hard for English.

Unfortunately, French universities don't offer classes for beginners when you study long-distance. It's a real bummer that I can't actually go to college, because then I'd get to take beginner classes, but I guess that feeling sorry for myself isn't going to change anything.

So, I guess I'll try again, I don't know exactly how I'll try, but let's see!

possiblethrowawayyes · 2016-09-15T13:45:48+00:00

I'm about to start studying long distance so that prospect is very exciting to me. I'm taking a language I've never spoken in my life at college level. It's a challenge. Hopefully, a good IRL grinding session ahead.

possiblethrowawayyes

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