#basque:goals

[guillemelgat]

Language Goals 2024

Another year, another set of goals! This year, in the actual spirit of my very reasonable 2022 language goals, here are my plans for language study.

Catalan

First and foremost, my goal is to find Catalan friends in my new hometown, because I really need to speak Catalan with people at minimum once a week or I get very sad, and currently I’m not speaking it with anyone at all. This goal is pretty chill though—I just have to actually sit down and put in the time to find people.

My main goal is to read 30 books in Catalan. I’ll make a proper post about it with a list of books that I’m thinking of and how the challenge itself is going to work, but overall I’m trying to pick a mix of styles and genres, so expect anything from medieval literature to YA novels to academic texts. I have a lot of books that I’ve been meaning to read for a while, so hopefully this will give me a chance to chip into some of them. 30 books is less than other versions of this challenge that I’ve seen, but it’s also many more books than I’ve read in Catalan possibly ever and I think it’s more reasonable in conjunction with a full class load. Hopefully it ends up being just the right amount!

Welsh & Basque

This year I really want to work hard to actually get these two to an upper intermediate level, because I’m so close if I put in the work. For both of them, I have two main goals: (1) go through the textbooks/workbooks that I started going through casually last semester (Basic Welsh: A Grammar and Workbook by Gareth King and Standard Basque: A Progressive Grammar by Rudolf P.G. de Rijk) so that I can continue to review and learn new grammatical structures, and (2) watch one episode of a TV series each week in each language. For the TV series, I’m going to be watching Rownd a Rownd on S4C (which is available outside Wales/the UK! Huge win!) and Eskamak kentzen on EITB. If I have time, I’ll try to go through episodes more thoroughly and note down new vocabulary and such, but the main goal is to make a routine of it and watch consistently so I’m trying to keep it simple. I’d also like to use both languages with other people more often if I can, but I think finding a consistent language partner will perhaps be a goal for another year.

Malayalam

I’m planning to focus the first half of the year on Welsh and Basque, and then next fall, I’m hoping to be able to take the Malayalam classes offered by my university and to get into studying my home dialect (or rather, my extended family’s home dialect, since I didn’t speak it at home) as well. Since this will be later and also classroom learning rather than self-study, I’m not going to go into details, but overall, after my trip to Kerala (which I have stuff about, it’s on the docket!), I’m generally feeling much less alienated and much more motivated to study the language. I’m also looking forward to being able to take real classes, which I think will help keep me focused and on track.

Russian

This is a minor goal, but at my friend’s house over the summer, her mom was joking that if they just spoke to me in Russian while I stayed at their house, I’d probably be able to understand it by the end. That led us to concoct a plan where I study a bit of Russian vocab, then go there and do intensive Russian immersion for a weekend or so. This is more of a silly goal, but I’d like to try it because I think it could be fun.

Anki

This isn’t a language goal per se, but rather a general resolution to spend this year learning to use (and tweaking and configuring) Anki. Anki has a notoriously high barrier to entry, and from everything I’ve seen it should be treated as a long-term, intensive project—I’ll hopefully reap the rewards later if I take my time and set up everything right in the early stages. With that in mind, I’m hoping that by the end of the year I’ve figure out a set up for my decks and cards that really works for getting me to remember and be able to use vocab and grammar. I’ll focus on the languages here for the start, but I’m hoping that with habit and time, if I get a good system going I can use it with other languages too.

And that’s it! It’s been a bit since I was systematic about studying languages, but I’ve found that I really miss it and want to go back. I feel like I’m at a really good place with all of these, and I’d like to continue to make progress, so I’m really trying to focus on consistency and hitting the sweet spot of just challenging enough to get myself out of my comfort zone while not burning out. Hopefully I’ve set this up in a way to build habits and make me excited to keep immersing myself with these languages in the coming years, which is really the key to learning any language in the long term—I've realized that I speak Catalan so well because it's fully integrated into my life, and I'd like all these others to be as well. Here’s to a good 2024, and I wish all of you luck with your own goals as well!

[guillemelgat]

Language Goals 2023

In the spirit of last year’s very reasonable and achievable goals, here are more reasonable and achievable goals for 2023!

Catalan - I’d like to get the C2 this coming year. I’d also like to read more; specifically Ausiàs March and Vicent Andrés Estellés, and possibly El Canigó and/or El comte Arnau. And if I can, I’d like to write one creative piece in Catalan that I can feel proud of!

Welsh - I’d like to listen to more of Pigion, watch more Hansh videos, and also to find more spaces to use the language in. I really want Welsh to start feeling like a language that I can do things in, because I’m at a level where I can.

Basque - I want to watch at least one or two things in Basque, and, the same as Welsh, for it to be a language that I can use for things, not just a language I’m learning.

Malayalam - I would like to get to a really basic home heritage speaker level of Malayalam by the end of the year—understanding conversations when I visit family, and being able to answer when spoken to. My goal is to watch one Elikutty video per week, and to try to integrate the language into my thoughts and routine more.

Spanish, Galician, Aragonese, Asturian - I’d like to brush up on Spanish for academic purposes, and also to learn a bit about the grammar of the other three. I’d like to start remembering to actually watch A escampar la boira, and to start listening to more music in Aragonese and Asturian. As for Galician, I’d like to go into breaking down lyrics for the many songs I already listen to in it, and maybe watch more videos in it as well. In general, I’m aiming to go into the sphere of Iberian studies, especially Iberian minoritized languages, and so I want to be more familiar with the larger panorama.

Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish, Manx, Breton - Same as for the others above, I want to have somewhat of a functional understanding of more Celtic languages so that I can interact with speakers and media production without needing a translation. I also just listen to a lot of music in at least Irish, and it drives me crazy not to be able to at least superficially understand it. I think the Celtic cultural sphere is really interesting, and so I’d like to be able to learn more about it and talk to more people within it without needing to make them translate to English.

Russian - I really want to be able to understand what people are saying at my friend’s house, and I think that if I put in enough Russian listening practice and vocabulary study I’d be able to piece it together, at least partially; I can already figure it out sometimes with just a few words and context. So I’d like to actually put in some time on that, in the hopes that maybe afterwards, if I spend a few days at her house, I’ll come out understanding Russian sdfhksdhf

Amharic - I’d like to be able to speak some basic Amharic, so my goal is to learn a few basic sentence patterns and some vocabulary, and maybe be able to say one or two things by the end of the year. Nothing big, but just a bit.

I have no idea if I’ll even get close with any of these languages to the goals that I’ve set out here, but I think that if I do, it’ll pay off! And if I don’t, then at minimum, my goal is to learn one thing for each that I can feel good about in a year’s time, and I hope that at least I can do that.

[guillemelgat]

Hello everyone! I’m back onto the whole language month goals, and I’m starting out with a month of Basque.

I’m going to be using de Rijk’s Standard Basque: A Progressive Grammar, which I would not really recommend to any beginners—it’s alright but it’s not my favorite. The one good thing it does have, though, is exercises at the end of each chapter, which are just English-Basque and Basque-English translation; they’re a good way to start to get the gears running in my brain again. In addition, someone made a Memrise course of all the vocabulary (it’s called “Standard Basque - vocabulary” by MatiFilozof if the link doesn’t work), so it’s a good way to learn lots of vocabulary as well. I technically finished the course last summer, although I need to review it, but I figured that a combination of these two things would work to jumpstart my brain some.

I don’t want to promise any Basque grammar posts, because I’m quite busy with a couple of other goals/activities as well, but I’ll try to make some! They’ll be based off the book. In addition, I’m trying to come up with a way to practice Basque auxiliary and synthetic verbs and noun declensions so that I can easily do some of that every day and keep getting better at it. I’ll let you guys know if it ends up working out.

[guillemelgat]

Language Goals 2022

I’m going to make these short. Basically, I’m really going to focus on passive input and learning more vocabulary because I think those are the things I like best and honestly I think they’ll give me a base to want to study from textbooks more.

My main focuses are going to be CATALAN, WELSH, BASQUE, and MALAYALAM. My other languages are obviously going to be a part of this but these are the ones I really want to focus on. Catalan I need to take the C2 exam for in like 5 months so I’ve got to study for that. My Welsh and Basque got a lot better last year, and I think if I put in more time on them they would just keep improving so I’m gonna try. Malayalam, however, is the most important because I’m probably going to be in Kerala in 2023 with all of my relatives to sell our family house, which is one of the last ties we have there and so I might not get the chance to go back after it. Because of that, Malayalam is a top priority, I want to at least get to speak it in Kerala one time in my life 😔.

I want to try to spend 200 hours on Catalan and learn 8000 new words, which I know is asking a lot but tbh I think I spent about that much time on it last year since I use it almost every day. For Welsh, Basque, and Malayalam, I want to spend 100 hours and learn 2000 words for each. The hour goals include listening to music and watching programs/Youtube, so hopefully that makes them slightly more attainable. Either way, I think these goals are pretty reasonable.

I have goals for my other languages too, but those are more or less background to these ones. So there we go, one of the least ambitious goal posts I’ve ever made :) Maybe I am learning something haha

[guillemelgat]

2021 Languages!

Okay so I think I’m starting to figure out things that work better for studying and things that don’t work as well, so hopefully this year will be a bit more consistent and better than last year. Here’s the breakdown:

5 Main Languages

These 5 languages were the ones that I decided last year I wanted to be my priority, and so I’m going to be focusing most of my study efforts on them (much as I would like to focus efforts on all of my languages, there are just too many ;;-;;):

Catalan - I really just have to be ready to take the C2 test, because I want to take it in the spring of my fourth year (2022). I’m going to try to keep watching shows, maybe attempt to listen to a podcast, read more books, and perhaps return to writing in Catalan more often. I would really like to try to do as many things as possible in Catalan, so the goal is to make as many of my daily habits in Catalan as I can. Besides that I’m not really sure what to do, since C1-C2 is really hard to maintain if I’m not living in Catalonia.

Basque - I know I say this every year, but I think if I put in hard work this time around, I will actually get to a B1-B2 in Basque. I need to review lots of grammar stuff and solidify it, and also need to learn lots more vocab, but I think if I do the thing where I look up words in songs that I don’t know, that might help. Also I’m going to try watching shows! Maybe if I have time, I’ll do the writing thing again as well, I think it helped a lot.

Welsh - This is also definitely 100% the year where I break through and start speaking better Welsh. I have a friend to study with, I have a plan, and I’m ready to get the B1. I’m going to try to finish all of SSiW, and do more vocab stuff on Memrise, then actually practice by listening to music and talking to my friend.

Malayalam - By the end of the year, I want to have a larger vocabulary. I think I have somewhat of a grammar foundation, but I know like 10 words and I can never connect them into sentences. The goal is to listen to more music, talk to my dad, and compile some vocabulary lists that I then will actually study. I also just really need to practice speaking/writing and listening.

Romani - I’m going to try to be more active in the server that I’m in, talking with people more often so that I can learn more words. I’m also going to try to read more of my book and listen to the radio that someone on the server recommended. By the end of the year, I want to be able to have a conversation in Romani, and to be able to feel that I’ve officially moved on to being an intermediate learner.

Other Languages

I have a lot of time right now to study languages that I probably won’t anytime in the future, so I do want to work on improving/studying some other languages that I’ve kind of been neglecting. These are the top four that I really want to work on:

Amharic - I was able to talk a bit in Amharic with my Ethiopian friend last summer, and I want to get back into studying Amharic and actually get better at it this time so that I can talk to him (and stay in contact that way, because we’re both terrible at staying in contact with other people). I’m going to try to finish Colloquial Amharic and then I’ll see where to go from there.

Kurdish - I want to listen to more Kurdish music and also to finish the textbook that I was using in class. I might also try to take a look at the other textbook my teacher recommended, but the basic textbook is first priority, I’m just trying to build a base in the language atm.

Tamasheq - This is what I said last year, but I need to review vocabulary and also verb conjugations which are so ;;-;; complicated ;;-;;. And then maybe get the book that goes with the course I used on inter-library loan next fall (if I can) because that might help a bit to get used to understanding the language and serve as a stepping stone for understanding the lyrics to songs.

Bambara/Wolof - I haven’t decided which of the two of these I want to learn first, ideally I’d like to study both of them but I think I’ll probably study Bambara now because it’s the lingua franca of Mali, a place I would really like to go someday. I also do want to learn some Wolof, but it’s less important??? I have Peace Corps courses for both, so I think I’ll just go through that and see how far I get.

That’s pretty much it, the rest of my languages I’m going to leave dormant for now unless I really want to go back to them. Hopefully I can see some improvement in both my languages and the world in 2021, here’s to a new year of learning!

[guillemelgat]

November Language Goals

Okay, I’m going to try my best to get back into language study, especially since I’m not really doing anything else with my life rn, so here are my way too ambitious goals for November:

Malayalam - review vocabulary (Sundays) + do the TL90Days challenge (Tuesdays)

Basque - write a one-page text (Mondays)

Romani - read 1-2 pages (Wednesdays) + write on the Discord (Thursdays)

Tamasheq - make/study flashcards (Fridays) + learn verb conjugations (Saturdays)

I really want to put in time for all of these languages and improve them significantly by the end of the year but I wish I had more time ;;-;; (either way, there’s always 2021 I guess, assuming the world lasts that long), but I’m hoping that if I keep to this schedule I can at least prevent them from slipping any further than they have. Expect sporadic posts, at least ones for Basque and Malayalam, and possibly some Romani or Tamasheq depending on how I’m feeling. And best of luck to all of you in your November language studies!

[guillemelgat]

Language Goals 2020

Another year, another language-learning goals list! Yes, we’re back at it with the languages, and (hopefully) better than ever! I honestly wasn’t sure what to write for this year, since my main goal is really just to make progress I can be proud of in all my languages. In other words, I want to make sure I give all my languages the time they’re due, and do the work I need to get better at them. I’ve figured out that it might be better to divide by stages and use more or less the same methods for each level of language learning, so here are my goals for 2020:

New Languages (Wolof)

Wolof is the main language I want to add in 2020. While I’m not going to Senegal for study abroad like I thought I would, I still want to learn the language, and I hope it serves as an incursion for other West African languages like Bambara. I have several courses that I’ve found, so the goal would just be to go through them like I’ve done in the past for Romani, Arabic, and Tamasheq, and build the foundation for further learning.

A1-A2 Languages (Kurdish, Amharic, Bosnian, Tamasheq, Arabic, Malayalam, Romani, Western Abenaki)

These are the bulk of my languages, and I think in order to make any progress with them, I’m going to need to give them all the quality time they deserve. What that means is to do on my own what a normal language class would provide me: drills, drills, and more drills. So far, my goal is to prepare a weekly packet of exercises for the tougher grammar points and a couple of Memrise levels of vocabulary, and then spend the week working through them. I want to make sure I provide myself consistency, but not unrealistic goals, so I’m going to work on finding that balance. Hopefully it works out, and I’ll try to share things along the way.

B1-B2 Languages (Welsh, Basque)

I’m not sure if I can really say I even have a B1 in either of these languages, but I’m hoping that by the time the year comes to an end, I’ll be solidly in B range for both (and maybe with C on the radar??? probably asking too much though). I really want to build the base that I need to understand these at a higher level, I’m missing a lot of vocabulary and also practice. Because of that, I’m hoping to study vocabulary in both languages throughout the year, and try my best to listen to more things in them as well, be it music or radio or movies and TV shows. I haven’t entirely figured out how I’m going to go about it, but I want to be in a place where I’m comfortable enough in both languages to have actual conversations in them

C1-C2 (Catalan)

I am actually a solid C1 in Catalan now, and this year I want to work at maintaining that level and pushing for the C2. I want to try my best to listen to the radio in Catalan, watch shows, and read books as much as I can. I also want to expand my vocabulary even further, so that I can use more specific language in descriptions. In addition, I’m going to continue to work on pronunciation in spoken production and also precision and tone in written production, which are both things I need to improve to reach a C2.

Well, that’s what I’ll be working on for this year. We’ll see if any of this works out, and I’m sure there will be lots of surprises before the year is up, but hopefully I achieve my baseline goal: to get better at all my languages!

[guillemelgat]

Language Goals 2019

I’m going to try to keep this shorter than last year, but here’s what I want to do with my languages.

Current Languages

Catalan - Get that C1, whatever it takes to get there

Basque - Become conversationally fluent

Welsh - Talk to people in Welsh

Romani - Reach a B1, actually be able to understand some conversation & media

Western Abenaki - Feel more comfortable with what I know

Malayalam - Be able to hold a conversation with my dad or my aunt

Arabic - Review & solidify what I already know

Tamasheq - Expose myself to more of the language so I can put into practice what I already know

New Languages

Wolof - I’m hoping to go to Senegal to study abroad, so I want to learn enough Wolof to be able survive (which given that I don’t talk to people until I’m solidly intermediate is going to take a while rip :// )

Amharic - this is going to be the year, I’m starting the course for this today!

I really want to focus on getting my current languages stable and comfortable this year, as well as actually getting out and practicing them with people! I haven’t put many new languages on here, but we’ll see if that lasts. I have a lot that I want to learn, so if my studies go well I might add one or two more. Last year was really great, so I’m hoping the one to come will be even better!

[guillemelgat]

New Language Month Goals - Basque and Malayalam

Hello everyone, I’m back for a bit to tell you about some stuff before I disappear into the abyss of school for another 11 weeks (rip). Basically, I’m going to be starting up on the languages again, which means it’s time to get excited!

What I’m going to be doing:

Malayalam

Goal: Finish all basic lessons and get an actual grasp on the language. Also some basic cultural literacy b/c I’m The Actual Worst™

1 @currylangs lesson every weekday (Mon-Fri)

Listen to 2-3 songs or watch 1 movie every Saturday

Stuff about culture in Kerala/Hinduism on Sunday which means reading - this is more focused on stuff I didn’t learn from my dad and don’t really have a knowledge base for, so more history, politics, and religion, which I realize are iffy topics so I’m going to try to study them in the best way possible *screams quietly in a corner*

I’m going to be doing the lessons out by hand but will type them up and queue them on my side blog @pacchapuuccha where they will appear a week after I’ve done them

Basque

Goal: Reach B2!!

I’m going to try out @somajesticdonki’s really great Advanced Learner Challenge, which is probably a little too advanced for me but we’ll see how it goes, I’m really excited!!

I’ll queue stuff for every day so it’ll come out the week after I do it, but yeah, it should be fun, and there will hopefully be lots of content on here which is always a plus

I’ll be starting this on April 1st, so not this week, but I thought I’d include it here anyway

Also I am returning to my No-Tumblr-Except-On-Saturdays policy, so everything will be running on queue during the week and my side blog will probably not be super active because I’m too lazy to queue it, we’ll see though. I will be checking Tumblr on Saturdays, though, so if you want me to see something just tag me and I’ll get to it then. 

Happy studying friends!!

(Also side note: I will make the Catalan and Tamahaq posts ASAP, they are still in the works because I am a Hot Mess but I have not forgotten about them)

[guillemelgat]

Language Goals Oct-Dec 2017

Hey here are my really unrealistic goals for the languages I want to learn by the end of the year. Also I have a cool idea for an end of year language challenge which is why I’m learning all of these, but I’ll write more about that once November wraps up.

LANGUAGES IN SCHOOL

Catalan

GOAL: To be able to write longer passages and use more complex language

Finish reading La plaça del Diamant

Read El comte Arnau

Write and finish a story in Catalan

Basque

GOAL: To increase my vocabulary and better my knowledge of case declensions

Learn all vocabulary for class

Translate at least two songs here

LANGUAGE MONTHS

Malayalam (October)

GOAL: To be able to talk to/understand family members

Finish all of currylangs’ Malayalam lessons - 1 per day

Talk to my father and aunt in Malayalam when I see them

Arabic (November)

GOAL: To be able to start to see patterns and basic grammar and vocabulary in the language

5 words a day

Get through Arabic grammar book (even just skimming)

Go through three songs and break down structures

OLDER LANGUAGES

Welsh

GOAL: To increase my understanding of the colloquial language and vocabulary

Listen to at least 2 new artists in Welsh

Watch S4C or something similar at least once a week

Try to talk to myself about life for at least 5 minutes a day

Turkish

GOAL: To be able to maintain a basic conversation in Turkish

Learn some simple conversational phrases

Talk with the people in my dorm who are Turkish!!

Western Abenaki

GOAL: To further familiarize myself with basic structures in Abenaki

Write a journal once a week in Abenaki

BONUS LANGUAGES

Amharic

GOAL: To have a simple conversation in Amharic

Do the beginning of the FSI Amharic course

Talk to Ethiopian people in my dorm

Tamasheq

GOAL: To recognize basic structures and vocabulary in Tinariwen songs

Break down at least one Tinariwen song

Read/skim through grammar notes

So the chances of all of these working out are about 0%, but hopefully one or two go okay and I can add or improve a few languages before the end of the year!

[guillemelgat]

Basque Month/Euskararen hilabetea

I did this a while back, right when I was starting this blog, but it’s been a while, so I guess I’ll explain it again. Basically, the idea is to spend a month focusing on one language rather than trying to study a million at the same time. It involves more intense practice on a daily basis with the goal of quick, noticeable improvement, and in the past it’s definitely worked. I’m trying to better my languages by the end of this year because I made a video last year of all the languages I could speak and I was to see some improvement. Basque is definitely a potential area for that.

That being said, being able to see improvement is one of my favorite motivational tools, so I’m going to start off this month of Basque by trying to write something in it:

Kaixo! Guillem naiz, eta euskaraz hitz egin nahi dut. Esne Beltza amaite dut. Trikitixa eta Euskal Herriko musika gustatzen zaizkit. Trikitilari izan naiz, Xabi Solano bezala. Athletic Club ere gustatzen zait (baina Barça lehena da). Fandangoa jotzen dut. Bere izen “Albiztur fandangoa” da, eta amaite dut. Baina ez dut ahal trikitixa jotu, pianoan jotu behal dut. Bueno, ezer gehiago...euskaraz bizi nahi dut!

Hopefully there’s lots of improvement between now and September 30, because that was pretty bad...

I’ll be hopefully writing some intermediary posts, we’ll see how much time I have between the millions of hours I need to invest in schoolwork, trikitixa, and Merlí. Otherwise, you’ll just have to wait to see how it all ends up on September 30!