Ambitious.

[pen_grunt]

I started the beginner lessons for French on Duolingo. How much French have I studied prior to this? Nada.

I am recalling the only phrase I once knew in French which, translated, amounted to: I love you, now take me.

I was dating a French speaker for a time. That is what I got out of it. Useful!

But I feel like I should collect all the languages. Because reasons. Because I feel like it keeps my brain flexible in a way that other creative activities don't quite touch.

Because when I was talking about getting my Spanish and Swedish mixed up--and my sister corroborated with her pain of getting her German and Farsi mixed up because the brain of a native mono-linguist is not as agile in its separation of multiple non-native languages as a native bi-linguist or polyglot--Spanish Dude laughed at us and said he did not have that problem.

Oh America. Why can we not teach all our kids multiple languages from early ages? The rest of the world does this. It makes that part of the brain stronger.

So far the Spanish helps with the French because the conjugation and gender-specificity is rather similar. I think I might continue to focus more heavily on Spanish, however. A globally-traveling friend suggested learning a bit of Catalan to really impress the Barcelona natives. Looking at some Catalan, it seems to be very close to both French and Spanish (somewhere in between the two), so that might get very confusing.

It *is* good to know that the Spanish hasn't all died in my brain--though lord knows it's starving for want of use. All that stuff is still there, it's just sorely neglected.

I wish Duolingo had Swedish.

Comments

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

I love you, now take me.

That's the only French you need!

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

Depending on which French-speaker I meet!

[eyelid.livejournal.com]

icon win

[tediousandbrief.livejournal.com]

"I love you, now take me." That would be useful!

Ooo! I should check this out. I'm considering getting Rosetta Stone for Polish, though!

I wanted to learn French when I was in elementary school, but my dad told me that it was all booked up. I have a feeling that he may have been lying since he instead told me that the Spanish class was open and I had to take Spanish instead.

I should see if Duolingo has German...would be nice to brush up on that.

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

It has German!

[tediousandbrief.livejournal.com]

:D!

[eyelid.livejournal.com]

I've thought about also working on my spanish so I can talk to Isaac more, but I think that for me, dealing with two languages at once would get too confusing. I want to get really proficient in French, then pick up with spanish.

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

I think it's very cool that Isaac is already a polyglot. See! You: so European in parenting!

[i12bmore.livejournal.com]

Fair warning, the computer-lady pronounces "vin" (the word for "wine") all wrong. She pronounces it like "vent" (the French word for "wind", sounds kind of like "von") when in fact it should be pronounced closer to "van".

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

Consider me warned. I like their emphasis on alcoholic beverages. So European!

The Spanish pronunciation computer is a bit off sometimes too. Not enough where a non-native speaker would sound any LESS competent than they already are, but enough where a practiced ear can hear it.