What is it about Languages?

I haven't had the time to even open the Anki decks or revisit the Memrise courses I spent so much time skimming and selecting the ones which suited my needs well. As of now it's just the audios and the podcasts, the music which keep me in touch with this passion of mine.

I even think about putting all of the language learning to a hold - but then almost inadvertadly I find myself in the midst of some podcast in Chinese or Japanese - it's either this or some podcast in English about Chinese and Japanese History. Btw have I told you that I recently complete the History of Japan podcast till about 122 episodes ( " The Fall of the Samurai - Part 7"), told ya, I'm a bit obsessive by nature.

For the "History of China" podcat I am still about 70 episodes deep. I feel it's high time I get started with the Korean Society podcasts. Needless to say that whenever you study anything in Asian history it's almost inevitably involves a large correlation with the Chinese History itself.

Trust me, when I say that I find myself yearning to have some free time - to relax, to practice Sketching and for my Harmonica. But, I don't see any way out - after we all have the very same 24 hours in a day and it's up to us to take responsibility.

 "They say there are no Victims in life - only Volunteers" - That's what the Extensialist in me echoes through and through;p

The reason I am deep in the podcasts these days is of course 'cos I love reading history and how things came to be the way they are, after all whom can we learn from if not the people - who she deemed important enough- who made themselves important enough- by deed or folly - by whim or by  fate - the rest are forgotten. Rings deep - doesn't it?

Shuffling the Deck

So, after having "matured" about 2220 cards (only!), 352 in the pipeline and with 13712 more to go in the Chinese Anki Deck, I am getting a bit uneasy with the monotinicity of the process. It's a wonderful deck of Anki cards to be sure and I really wish that there we more such cards for various languages for, decks like this cover so so much of the everyday language! 

I haven't been doing the Chinese characters per se, only the English and the Pinyin to learn the structures and to memorize the growing vocabulary that the deck gradually introduces. Anki, has become one of the reliable resources for me, even more so than Memrise. Maybe it's the privacy and individuality of the Anki interface which appeals to me more and I am definitely looking forward to be able to use the software programmatically - I think, it uses JavaScript, which is the language of the Internet. Well, who knows?

I am doing my best to keep up with my language learning commitments every day, life has not become busier maybe just alot chaotic and I feel I'll be able to reclaim that peace of mind which is just so important for learning. 

So, the choice is between Korean, Finnish and Hebrew for now. I have been reading a couple books in Dutch and Polish and having a certain familiarity of similar languages ( German and Rusian resp.) they already make a lot of sense to, it's this or I am able to grasp much of the meaning somehow. So, Dutch and Polish don't present much of a steep learning curve for me as compared to the other three. Ofc, I am always keeping up with Japanese and the progress is slow and steady but whatever language I am learning with at the moment, Japanese is always on the cards. 

For Hebrew, I know it shouldn't present much of a trouble once I have understood the basic patterns and about 500 common words, but I wish to learn the language through songs or rather should I say that I prefer to memorize songs in the language to learning the language itself, as of this moment. So, the dilemma is really between Finnish and Korean.

Finnish is tough but I have been learning it passively for a couple months now, it seems familiar to me already. And I have read a book in the language already, maybe skimmed-a-book fits the description better;p Korean is the "real" challenge I face. Not 'cos of the Grammar (somewhat similar to Japanese ) or Alphabets ( which are quite easy!) but due to the length to time it's gonna take before I feel like I've made any real progress in the language.

The plan for January, is to focus on Finnish and listen to more podcasts, while learning a few Hebrew songs and then to go forward with Korean from February onwards. 

Now, I have come to appreciate and respect the "adult" learners even more 'cos it's the time they have to steal from so many responsibilities and things which they "ought" to be doing which 

discourages most people from learning languages.

!! Cheers to 2016 !!

I wish you all a very very Happy New Year and may this year be melodious note in the symphony of your life;P