Specific Languages

Initially I set aside my French in order to focus on Ukrainian, but am now in the early days of juggling a multiple language input routine: Russian, small amounts of Japanese and Spanish, and a weekly hour of French. The learning curve of this is still pretty steep, and success at balancing them depends on a number of factors.

My current goal for Russian is to acquire enough to make A2-level Ukraininan more comprehensible, at which point I’ll shift my focus back to Ukrainian. The other languages are longer-term goals, though I do really want to visit Tokyo and Paris and it would be great to be able to speak at least a little by then! However I’m determined not to fall back into the trap of trying to rush the process.

Obstacles

Because of health reasons I struggle with concentration and some other cognitive functions. While language acquisition is a much more natural process than traditional language learning, I’ve found I can still encounter difficulties, for example focusing on dialogue at my own level of understanding. I’ve done a lot of trial and error to find what mediums work best for me, though am still learning new things!

Ideal Fluency Goals

I want to be able to communicate and understand fluently in all areas in another language–that has always been my dream. Verbal communication is not my strength even in my native tongue, so I expect that to require the most practise–and also be the most difficult to practise given my personal circumstances.

As a writer, I would love to be able to write in another language at the same level as I do in English. I also want to be able to understand the cultures of the languages I acquire enough to be able to write about/for them well.

I’ve gone into more detail about my fluency goals for specific languages here.

Other Language-Related Goals

I’m interested in linguistics, and want to brush up on the basics before pursuing some short online courses in my areas of interest. I don’t intend to become a professional linguist; I just find aspects of it fascinating and want to understand it better.

Thinking much longer term here, as a fantasy and science fiction writer and worldbuilder, I would love one day to be able to create one of the languages that exist in one of my fictional cultures. I don’t see myself being able to do this for many years–I’d need a much better understanding of language than I currently have, and probably help from an expert. In the meantime though I do collect interesting language features to inspire me when I get that far.