Plan with Me: 2018 Language Goals

Before getting into the rest of this post, I wanted to wish everyone a happy new year, un feliz año nuevo, une bonne année, ein glückliches neues Jahr, un felice anno nuovo, С новым годом! I was recently talking to my parents and told them how amazed I was by how quickly 2017 flew by for me after being away from the states for over 6 months, but am hoping that this year provides even more opportunities for language-learning and for dedicating more time to this blog. Despite having an unsteady posting schedule last year, I am determined to create more content for you this year.

I also wanted to thank each and every one of you who has taken a few spare moments out of your day to read my posts. We are slowly approaching 2 years on this blog, which is very exciting! Before getting ahead of myself, I will be spending 5 months abroad this semester and am told that I will rarely have access to wifi, but do not hesitate. As soon as I get back, I will make up for lost time and content and will write entire posts about all 3 of my study-abroad language immersion experiences.

I love starting off the new year by starting on a clean slate. As a language guru, I love getting inspired by videos made by language-learners who have similar ambitions to mine. As few days ago, I stumbled across a video, “Plan with me: Language Goals & 2018 Bujo”,  made by one of my favorite YouTubers, Lindie Botes. In this video, she takes out her agenda and walks you through how you can set meaningful and realistic goals for the new year, most of them being language-related. What I like most about her approach is that it is feasible and very rewarding if you stick to it. She gives you practical tips on how you can track your progress the old-fashioned way, using a notebook and colorful pens to jot down your goals. If you would like to know what it is that she does to keep up with other 10 languages amidst a full-time job and schedule, feel free to watch it by clicking on the video that I have attached to this post! Below are my language-learning goals for 2018:

Spanish: As a native Spanish-speaker, I will admit that I have not had much time to listen to any audio or spoken Spanish aside from hundreds of calls with my family. I would like to change that this year, as I have found that a big part of my identity has been lost ever since college (due to there being very few Hispanic students there in general).

·      Read as many books and novels in Spanish as I can-I already have a couple dozen books that have been purchased within the past year in Barcelona and books that I bought in Colombia years ago waiting to be read.

·      Watch movies and YouTube videos from many countries throughout Latin-America, including Colombia.

·      Write diary entries in Spanish.

·      Try to reach out to other native Spanish speakers on campus to make more meaningful friendships.

French: Status-Fluent; Hope to achieve: Native-like proficiency

Given that I will be studying abroad in a country whose official language is French, this list will not be as long as the other ones.

·      Listen to as much audio content (i.e. podcasts, videos, movies, and music) as I can to complement what I study in my courses and my conversations with my host family while I am studying abroad.

·      Journal about my experience abroad in French starting on the first day.

·      Write down new words, sentences, and phrases that I learn in a notebook dedicated to French.

German: Status- Upper intermediate; Hope to achieve: C1 level (European framework of reference)

Given that I have not taken a German course since my senior year of high-school, I have lost a lot of vocabulary that I would like to relearn. I hope to do the following to reach my goals:

·      Take German both semesters of my senior year to review advanced grammar and vocabulary, reading, writing, and speaking with other classmates who want to do the same.

·      Go through at least one, or two of my German workbooks that have been laying on my shelf for a while to work on all areas of the language.

·      Fill up more of my German notebook with what I learn from my workbooks, what I learn in my courses, and any other additional materials I use (i.e. free online sources, such as YouTube).

·      Memorize a few songs in German.

Italian: Status-Fluent; Hope to achieve- Native-like proficiency

Given that I studied abroad in Italy for 4 months, I am finally fluent in the language; however, believe that in order to fully master a language, you have to sound and feel as native-like as possible, which is always my ultimate goal with every language endeavor I take on.

·      Video call my Italian friends as often as possible and, whenever that is not possible, message them to ask them questions about how to say certain sentences correctly.

·      Fill up an entire notebook of new Italian words and sentences that I learn during my academic and personal studies.

·      Write many journal entries in Italian after returning from being abroad.

Russian: Status- Intermediate; Hope to achieve- Advanced

This year will be a challenge for Russian since I have not taken it since last spring semester, but am still determined to get back on track. Doing so will take an incredible amount of patience and hours of study, but I have never wanted to improve a language as much as I do Russian.

·      Use “Dots” application every single week, and, whenever possible, every single day to increase my vocabulary through spaced repetition.

·      Use two, or three of my workbooks to work on all areas of the language, including grammar and vocabulary.

·      Watch many Russian films with either Russian subtitles, or no subtitles at all and write down new words and sentences.

·      Listen to more Russian music and watch more YouTubers talk about their lives, lifestyle, traveling, and languages to acquire those sets of vocabulary.

For now, I believe that is it! Just to clarify about my upcoming language-learning endeavors, I am hoping to focus on these 6 for now, as I am not fluent in all of them quite yet. Once I am, I will feel more comfortable taking on new languages. 

What are your language-learning goals and how do you hope to achieve them? Hopefully my goals will give you some inspiration to write down your goals to track your progress as the months go by in 2018. Good luck, buena suerte, bonne chance, viel Glück, in bocca al lupo, удачи with your language studies!