I wanted to start off by wishing all of you a Happy
New Year and thanking you for being so supportive of my blog for almost an
entire year. In order to start off the year on a good note, I cannot stress how
important it is to set ourselves identifiable, realistic language-learning
goals that we hope to achieve before the end of the year. I will highlight a
few of Steve Kauffman’s points in this post in hopes to reiterate what I find
most noteworthy.
As Steve clearly points out, “the way we set goals
depends on our level in the language.” In the video attached above, he mentions
that he is working on improving his Portuguese, which, in his eyes, there is no
need to set very specific short-term-task-type goals, as he is far into the language.
On the other hand, he is also learning Korean, which he is not as far into, so
he has to take a “much more deliberate approach” for that language. He also
briefly explains how many people look at language-learning: “through the common
European-framework of reference [that] divides the levels of proficiency into 6
levels: A1-2, B1-2, and C1-2.”
To give all of you some perspective, I will tell you
what my language-learning goals are for 2017:
1. Spanish (Native)-
Despite being fluent in Spanish, I hope to become more informed of what is
happening around the world by reading current events. My hope is to read the
news every day and to read at least 3 novels in Spanish by the end of the year.
2. French
(Advanced)- Since I am closest to reaching fluency
in French, I will continue to read and watch the news every week to inform
myself about what is going on in the Francophone-world. I will be putting in all
of the new words that I learn through that exposure, as well as any words that
I learn when reading children’s books on the application Anki to increase
my vocabulary. (I highly encourage you to read my post “Foreign Language Vocabulary Builder Using Anki (Application)” from
6/25/16 to learn about how you can drastically improve your vocabulary).
3. German
(B2 Level)- As many of you read in my post “Why You Should Study at a Language
Institute” from 8/2/16, I received a B2 certificate for German from d.i.d.
Institute in Frankfurt this past summer. That means that my goal is to achieve
a C1 level by the end of the year. I will try to do so by finishing up the second
part of the B2 book that we were given at the institute that I have not had a chance to complete, will continue to
learn words through songs, and will read as much as possible. To make sure that
I retain all of these words, I will use Anki.
4. Italian (Advanced)- I have been taking Italian for
three semesters in college now, have edited many Italian essays as my job at
our writing center, and have attended virtually every event offered by my school’s
Italian department, so I am conversationally fluent. On the other hand, since I
have not had nearly as much exposure to vocabulary as I have with French and
German, I will continue to listen to music and read as much as I can. If
everything works out as planned, I will also be studying abroad in Italy this
upcoming fall where I will be taking 4 courses in Italian and living with a host
family, so my ultimate goal is to become fluent in the language.
5. Russian
(Intermediate)- By the end of this school-year, I will
have taken 4 semesters of college-level Russian, so I would say that I am much more
comfortable understanding native speakers and authentic material than I was a
year ago, but am still very far from achieving mastery in it. I hope to become
an advanced learner by the end of the summer, as I am planning on studying
abroad in Russia, or in another Russian-speaking country for 2 months and living with a host family. I will continue to
learn words through songs and will try to expose myself to as much authentic material
as possible before I embark on that journey.
6. Portuguese
(Beginner)- My goal is to become an intermediate
learner of Portuguese by the end of the year. I hope to complete every lesson
of Davelanguages that is currently available (I have already finished the
beginner series) and to watch as many videos and movies as I can to become more
accustomed to the flow of the language.
To get to the halfway point, which can be considered
to be the first 3 levels, you have to get to point in which the learning
becomes “a more natural, enjoyable, flowed-type experience.” As with any
journey that you take, after surpassing the beginner’s stage, which Steve
refers to as the “struggle stage”, you can improve your language through an
exposure to interesting content (ex: audiobooks, talking with friends,
podcasts, watching YouTube videos or videos).
I agree that the first steps require some
heavy-lifting, but it is possible to successfully move forward by setting
specific measurable tasks and targets for yourself (ex: learn x amount of words
per day). By forcing yourself to be active, he says that you will achieve more results.
As you can see above, I have very concrete goals that I want to set for myself
and for which I will hold myself accountable the last day of this year. I
encourage all of you to do the same and to not let what others tell you, or
what you tell yourself get in the way of your aspirations. Good luck, buena
suerte, bonne chance, Viel Glück, in bocca al lupo, удачи, boa sorte!
As a bonus, here is an article that inspired me to write this post written by
another polyglot: http://www.lindsaydoeslanguages.com/language-learning-goals-clear-the-list-january-2017/.
Make sure to check it out if you are looking for more motivation to set
language-learning goals.
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