New Year's Resolution
Language Learning Goals

I have never really been in the habit of making a New Year's Resolution. In fact, last year was the first time I made one in all seriousness, and I'm happy to say that I fulfilled it. So, this year I thought to continue with that success and make another language-related New Year's Resolution. How about you?

What's Your New Year's Resolution?

Have you made a New Years Resolution and is it related to learning a language? If you are preparing for a trip, have a life-long dream to learn a language or are just looking to define some goals for yourself, have you ever thought of using your New Year's Resolution as your motivator? I didn't until I tried it last year, and it worked so well I'm going to do it again.

Last Year's Resolution

My New Years Resolution going into 2009 was to go back to school to finish my undergraduate degree, specifically something related to languages. While I haven't completely decided what that degree will be yet, I enrolled in September and I have made studying languages (and anything language-related) a priority. I am between semesters at the moment but I now have 1 semester of Spanish and French behind me and I am a few days away from my next semester. Ok, so that goal was accomplished and I have set the wheels in motion to complete the larger and more important goal of finishing my degree and moving on to a post-graduate degree. So how about this New Year?

This Years New Year's Resolution

Going into 2010 I'll continue in the same vein as what worked for last year, which happens to be related to language learning. But this years resolution will be a little different. At the forum on How to Learn Any Language.com (the best online forum for serious language learners) there is something called the Total Annihilation Challenge in the Language Learning Log section. The members of that forum have created this as a way to challenge themselves to greater levels of language study. By declaring my goals there (and here) I hope I will have greater determination to achieve them. Here goes :

Spanish - My goal in 2010 is to finally 'activate' my Spanish. I have studied Spanish casually (and mostly passively) for a long time and it's just itching to get out of my mouth in a more fluent fashion.

French - I am still scraping 20 years of rust off of my French, but class is bringing it back nicely. If I continue working diligently, I see no reason why it shouldn't be roughly the same level as Spanish by the end of the year, in a freely-flowing conversational fashion.

Dutch - I have started a few courses in Dutch and I just want to finish them. Assimil Dutch With Ease and Michel Thomas Foundation Dutch. I also have Pimsleur Dutch Comprehensive (only 1 level available) and a few books like Teach Yourself Dutch. When I finish those I will start working through Harry Potter as I have the audiobooks and pdfs. Dutch is not a priority for me but I just want to feel some progress.

German - This one will be tricky. My mid-term goal (the next year and a half or so) will be to get German to a level sufficient to take some literature classes in school without having to take the usual 4 semester beginner and intermediate classes. I can use my Spanish and French textbooks as a benchmark for what I am expected to know (as they seem to parallel each other) and work on my own more efficiently than I could in classes which move rather slowly. I will be transfering to another (better) school to finish my degree and I would like to have German ready to go by then. Lofty goal? Maybe. As long as it doesn't interfere with my near-perfect grades in French and Spanish, and as long as I don't get too confused with Dutch. I'd like to do 1 hour per day. We'll see.

Esperanto - Now we're getting into the wildcards. I studied Esperanto several years ago. I liked it and did some regular reading, but in the last 2 years I have lost track of it a bit. I'd like to get it back. How about this for some concrete goals - read The Hobbit (La Hobito), finish my transcription of Incubus (the Esperanto cult classic horror thriller starring a pre-Star Trek William Shatner), and finish writing my first short story in Esperanto.

Toki Pona - Pure guilty pleasure. Toki Pona is a constructed language which consists of just over 100 words and a rather limited grammar. While I don't expect to master it (especially with other, higher priorities), I would like to slowly absorb the vocabulary and structures to familiarize myself with it. I have gone through about half of the online lessons and have started an Anki flashcard deck of words, phrases and sentences. Low priority but fun to mix things up once in a while.

There are lots of other languages screaming at me for attention, but this is what I've settled on for the next year. Now, it's your turn.

Make Your New Year's Resolution!

I've defined my goals for this year and made them public, it's great for motivation! Why don't you try it? Introduce yourself and declare your goals for 2010.

Make Your New Year's Resolution Language Goals!

Here's a great chance to define your language learning goals for 2010. Declare them here, publicly, and you'll find it's a great motivator! Make your New Year's Resolution Language Goals and start planning to meet and beat them!

New Year's Resolutions of Other Visitors

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'As was his language so was his life.'

Seneca