#clearthelist September 2019: The Eleven Languages I Spoke in One Month

Imagine you’re on a long-distance cycling trip, perhaps through all of a country or state. You know the destination and you’re pedalling every day, always pushing ahead even if you know you may not arrive for many days. On a journey like that, what would you be without a necessary stop to find yourself on the map now and then? Can you do it without GPS? I don’t think I could!

Learning a language is a lot like navigating a long trip like that. We often know our destination before we get going and we set off in the right direction. But without regular check-ins, we may pedal and pedal until we fall over.

Here on the blog, I write a monthly check-in like that to keep you up to date with my own language learning goals. It’s part of the #clearthelist round-up hosted by Shannon Kennedy and Lindsay Williams.

Want to try out this check-in process for yourself?

Why not check out my Language Habit Toolkit, an in-depth course designed to help you set useful language goals, track them easily and achieve a new milestone every month.

What Happened in August?

Last month was dominated by my biggest trip of the year, visiting the USA and Canada to participate in two conferences. First, I attended Podcast Movement in Orlando to learn more about how to make great podcasts and support myself well while doing it.

And while I was across the pond, how could I have missed Langfest in Montréal, Canada? Impossible!

The trip in between these two cities was a lot of fun: I took Amtrak to Charleston in South Carolina, having long wanted to try the American train. My impression was…that Europeans love the train even in America, haha!

The Langfest team another excellent language event this year, with so many highlights including meeting the creators of Klingon and Dothraki, and running my own creative writing workshop with María Ortega Garcia.

The Fluent Show

First of all let me say how amazing it was for me to meet so many listeners on the road in August. I’m over the moon to know that the Fluent Show is popular!

This month contained a whole range of amazing episodes so let me share two with you today:

1. Langfest 2019 captured in audio, with almost a dozen interviews and voices directly from the show

1. What is the Right Mixture for Language Learning Success?, an episode about why so many methods feel like they’re THE best method

If you’re not a Fluent Show listener already, you’ll find lots more exciting shows to listen or subscribe to at www.fluent.show.

Language Goals and Progress

I had pretty clear goals for August 2019, so this time I’ll run through them without breaking it down too much into listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Mandarin Chinese

• Listen to Mandopop

I neglected this, spending more time on podcasts.

• Get 100 Lingqs on the LingQ app

Overall I now have lots of LingQs, the challenge is becoming more about noting and remembering them all! Still enjoying this app and using it in the mornings.

• Post 2-3 speaking videos on Instagram

I only posted one, then travel threw me off the wagon. I did learn some more Chinese from a new friend at Langfest though, so I feel positive about my speaking.

• Find a new Chinese tutor

So here’s what happened: I wanted a new tutor but felt guilty about ghosting the current one. Then as if by magic, she decided she’s taking a break and sent a messaging saying she won’t be available until December. So yay, I was free for a new tutor.

But then I didn’t book one. Hah! I count this as a goal half achieved 😅

• Figure out how to type Chinese characters on the iPhone

Done!

• Practice characters by hand every week

In the weeks I was at home, this was done.

Welsh

• Book a class to practice speaking

Sadly no, but I still got my speaking practice on one occasion this month in conversation with a Langfest buddy.

• Read the book Ffenestri

This book is LOVELY and I’m nearly finished. I’m reading well at all 3 levels, as I should :)

• Plan my next trip to Wales

Sadly this fell through as I prioritised visiting my family in Germany first. Chwarae teg, wouldn’t you say?

• More stuff!

I can now watch Welsh TV without subtitles! 🎉

Other Languages

It’s impossible to travel without practicing other languages, so August also became an opportunity for me to speak my long-neglected languages.

Counting in Klingon

In bilingual Montréal, I spoke lots of French with people from all over. Québécois French is never 100% comprehensible to me, but as always when I speak French I felt reassured that I’m entirely capable.

I bungled my way through a taxi ride with a lovely Colombian in Spanish, though I never did end up where I originally wanted to be. But I blame Lyft and GPS for that instead of my language skills, haha.

And talking of bungling, I also spoke more Italian than I have done in 20 years. The Italian sounded like that, too. It’s R.U.S.T.Y. and has essentially turned into bad Spanish.

I also attended basic workshops on the fictional languages Klingon and Dothraki, as well as Breton and Signed Languages.

Language Goals for September 2019

It’s handy to start setting goals by remembering the time frame available. In other words, the question is “What do you want to achieve in the next 30 days?” - seems a little less intense than wondering how to achieve a lot.

This month I’ve been inspired by intense learning projects and the book Ultralearning by Scott Young (interview coming up on the podcast). What can I commit to that would stretch me, challenge me?

Listening Goals

In Chinese, I’ll look for a tutor and ask them to help me listen, perhaps through some dictation rather than the pressure of conversing instantly.

In Welsh, I’m getting so much better so I’ll keep up what I’m doing.

Reading Goals

I don’t have firm goals here and want to focus on other skills, so I’ll just commit to the tools and say I want to finish Ffenestri in Welsh and use LingQ 4 days a week in Chinese.

Speaking Goals

Here I would like to take it up a notch!

In Chinese I am still fairly shy about speaking - I wish I had a few sample conversations to practice with. Comment if you can recommend any? Meanwhile it’s a good idea to push ahead and find that new tutor!

In Welsh I so want to practice speaking and everything, so I’m going to book myself 3 sessions to speak bad Welsh at people. Yay!

Writing Goals

I’ll go easy on the writing beyond what I usually do, which is to text people. In Chinese I’m also making vocab lists by hand now and writing down set phrases in characters and pinyin.

Here’s an instagram slideshow showing my vocab system in more detail:

\

\ \

\

\ \

\

\ \

\

\ \

\

\

View this post on Instagram\

\ \

\ \

\ \

\ \

\

\

\ \

\

\

\ \

\ \

\ \

\

\ \

\

\A post shared by Kerstin Cable (@kerstin_fluent)\ on \Aug 22, 2019 at 4:20pm PDT\ \

And that’s it for September’s #clearthelist!

How are You Getting On in Language Learning?

Comment below and tell me how your month of August went! Did you come to Langfest? Would you like to attend it some time? Have you got any strong speaking goals?

Looking forward to hearing from you!

#clearthelist August 2019: How I Keep Motivation for Learning Languages

Hello and welcome to #clearthelist, a monthly language learning goals round-up. This blog round-up of goal trackers is hosted by Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy here.

What Happened in July?

July 2019 seemed like a long month with lots going on. Here at Fluent, I’m currently head down in some preparation work for big things to come later in the year, such as my first membership community and a course update for the Language Habit Toolkit.

I spent 10 beautiful days on holiday visiting Hamburg and the German island of Fehmarn. My first island and my first ever experience of the famous German Strandkorb. Fehmarn is gorgeous and I didn’t want to leave.

In the following week, Britain braved a heatwave and I achieved a particular personal goal: my British citizenship. I am now a dual national, which was a move entirely motivated by Brexit and therefore bittersweet at best.

Fun fact 1: At the ceremony I had to say a pledge of allegiance. I asked to do it in Welsh but was denied because "we have to be able to understand you". I now speak more British languages than the Brits who held my citizenship ceremony.

The Fluent Show

This month I was pleased to publish five podcast episodes, all of which just stand their own. My favourite conversation was with María Ortega Garcia, giving me such a zest for play in how I teach.

And I can’t leave you without recommending the episode Indigenous Languages Explained, which is a topic that you’ll find both important and interesting.

The Fluent Show also hit a huge milestone this week. We counted ONE MILLION DOWNLOADS 😲in the last two years. It’s an absolute whopper number and made me so excited and proud. Thank you, listeners!

Time to get to those language goals now then…oh my.

Citizenship ceremony in 38 degrees 🥵

Language Goals and Progress

Fun fact 2: When I do not print out my goals or write them by hand and pin them on the wall behind my computer monitor, I don’t do as much towards them. Fancy that. It’s a reminder that even faint awareness of our goals can help us move towards them.

Let’s talk about Welsh first.

Welsh Language Maintenance

This was a maintenance month where I didn’t focus so much on the Welsh language. I picked up the book Ffenestri by Lois Arnold - picked it up from my shelf, that is - and finally started reading it during our long train journey to Hamburg. This book is so lovely. It is divided into 3 levels and I breezed through the beginner section and most of the intermediate section. I’m a B1/B2 reader in my book!

After the holiday, I’d not had the chance to pick the book back up…but I look forward to the next parts.

In terms of listening and writing, there wasn’t daily contact but still a consistent stream of language input through S4C and even my Intermediate Grammar book.

Only thing…I didn’t speak a lot of the language at all. It’s a classic problem for those of us who live further away from our target language communities, and the answer is to simply rope in friends or book more online lessons.

Welsh is now a pleasure language for me, one that I enjoy every time I get to experience it. Sadly I’m missing the Eisteddfod this year, but I’m eager to plan my next trip to Cymru.

Chinese Language Progress

Now, for my little Chinese progress.

Listening

I watched the odd YouTube video and tried out a few resources, but like in previous months I know I’ve got a gap here. Might be time to purchase a course with practice audio.

The good thing: I’ve discovered Mandopop and am now happily bouncing around Spotify so that I can get into more of a positive mindset with Mandarin Chinese.

Reading

I had high hopes that I would make lots of progress using Lingq, but instead the progress was somewhat slack as I found myself reviewing vocabulary rather than adding new words.

In the long run, I’m sure I’ll be glad that I didn’t just press on to get ego numbers. But right now, it’s a bit of a ¯(ツ)/¯._

My biggest reading contact comes from the language learning apps that I fall back on while I’m studying: Drops, Lingodeer, Memrise. This month was a strong showing for the apps, which kind of goes to show how little concentration time I put in.

Speaking

I took one italki lesson and enjoyed it, didn’t really speak a lot more than that.

Writing

2 pages of vocab notes after reviewing the italki lesson, and I’ve been writing a few little pages of introduction stuff as well.

A Word on The Value of My Vision Goal

In July I lost track of tracking, and now that it’s coming round to review time I can feel the impact. I’m a great Chinese student when I sit down and focus, when I’m in the habit, when I want to. But after some time off, I wasn’t in a good routine.

When you are at a beginner level in any language, that routine is incredibly important. Once you can speak, enjoy TV, read, everything becomes easier to integrate.

So I’m definitely a beginner and for a few minutes I was even considering throwing the towel. But I am not ready to abandon this project! I want to understand more Chinese when I hear it, chat to a few people, initiate conversations. I am happy to get the study materials back out and spend 15 minutes on them every day.

You can’t always keep up the same levels of motivation and action. To learn a language in a busy life, you need a moment to remember the big picture.

If you want to learn more about the importance of a vision goal, this blog article is a good start: How To Learn A New Language With Smart And Useful Goals

Language Goals for August 2019

Let’s be realistic: I’m spending almost 2 weeks of this month travelling. I’m unlikely to be carrying around a Chinese book or running into lots of Welsh speakers.

With that in mind, who am I to give up, right? Here are my goals for the month:

Welsh Language Goals

Mae popeth yn iawn, everything’s okay with Welsh. I’d only love to speak more so I’ll have to make sure that I have one or two real conversations with someone. Please volunteer in the comments. 🤗

Chinese Language Goals

I am going to travel with my phone and iPad, so this month my goals are digital.

Listening

Skipping this, except for more of the Mandopop.

Reading

I am reading a story on Lingq and will continue with it, hopefully making more Lingqs in the process. I will say I’d like to get to 100 Lingqs, bearing in mind my slow pace as I do review everything several times.

Speaking

I am in the market for a new tutor, and I’m also going to record a few videos of myself speaking Chinese to post on Instagram or share with a tutor. I live in such a student town that I also imagine it might be lots of fun to find a local exchange partner…but I’ll do that once I have acquired some basic level of decent skill.

Writing

I’ll continue to write by hand (characters and pinyin) while I’m home when I have time, but my only firm goal is to figure out how to type characters on an iPhone.

And that’s it for my round-up and goals for August 2019!

How do You Record Your Goals?

How do you keep track? Tell me in the comments below!

The Most Popular Language Exams (And Why They're Great For Independent Learners Too)

Language exams can add to your routines and make you a much better language learner. At the end of this article, you'll find a handy list of popular tests and exams in a whole bunch of languages.

Why Take a Language Exam or Language Test?

You may find yourself wondering why a language test would be useful for you at all, especially if you’re not studying for work or school. But there are a few excellent reasons to dive into the idea of test prep.

1) Gain a Solid Framework Instantly

Self-guided language study is a bit haphazard at times. You may lack the support network of a group class, and you may not have found the right tutor yet. You may even find yourself changing resources a lot of the time. One day you spend half an hour on Memrise, the next day it’s back to podcasts. If you find that your entire language learning system is not as good as it could be, working towards will help you grow from solid ground. Language exams are built on the four core skills principle of listening, reading, speaking and writing.

Read more about the core skills in my book Fluency Made Achievable

2) Achieve More, Faster

Believe it or not, putting a smaller goal such as a specific language test at the next level in front of you will make you feel better. It’s a bit like going on marathon training. You could try and run the whole 26 miles all in one go, and then you’ll feel frustrated when you haven’t got there after 1 hour. Or you could practice little and often, and aim for a level that’s the next sensible goal. As you approach the 5 mile marker for the first time you’ll feel pretty proud and you’ll know you can build onto this foundation. The same mindset will work for you when you aim to pass the right exam instead of spending all your days wondering “how long until I’m fluent?”.

3) Get the Benefit Without The Fees

Language tests are created for applicants to universities, aspiring immigrants or job applicants who need to prove that they can function at the required level in a language. This has two big advantages for you as an independent learner:

First of all, the tests are not about rote learning and recalling 1000 words. They are about how well you can function in your target language. Can you read the paper, can you understand your boss, can you convince a friend to see your movie choice? For anyone dreaming of true functional fluency in another country, language tests are perfect.

But secondly, if you’re not actually planning to move to your target language’s country, you have got a fab deal. Buy a test prep manual, join a test prep class, research a test…but don’t go and take it because you don’t need to do this. You can mock test yourself in ways that are cheaper than some of the registration fees charged by test providers. For example, work with a tutor just to check your answers or become a study buddy for a learner at your level.

The Most Popular Framework for Languages

These days, most accredited language tests are designed in line with the Common European Framework for Language Proficiency (CEFR), which is split into levels A1 to C2.

You may also see websites that refer to the amount of study hours a student has put in to achieve this level, but it’s a lot more helpful to think about it as the answer to the question “What can you do with your language skills at this level?"

The aspect that I like best about this framework is that it does not focus on numbers. Instead of checking which vocabulary words you know (like the scary/horrible American GED), these tests are about interaction. They are exactly what language learning is about in the 21st century. If you’re hoping to speak to a real person soon, then this system is exactly right for you.

The Most Popular Language Exams

English

• TOEFL, most popular in the USA
• IELTS, the most common exam in Britain and Australia

Both exams are accepted widely throughout the English speaking world. With both of these, you don't study towards a specific level exam. Instead, you're tested and your result will indicate which level the testers found you are at.

German

• Goethe Certificates from A1 to C2
• ÖSD, the Austrian language diploma which assesses the Austrian dialect of German

French

• DELF and DAF are the official French government language exams and offer tests ranging from A1 to B2 and the DAF as the higher option
• TCF, the Test de Connaissance du Français also has a Québec option if you're looking at Canadian French in particular

Spanish

• DELE is the official Spanish government language exam and awards diplomas from A1 to C2

Italian

• CILS, the Certificazione di Italiano come Lingua Straniera is particularly useful for people aiming to study at Italian universities, and also available from A1 to C2. It's offered by the University of Siena.
• The popular CELI is available at levels UNO, DUE and TRE. View all options at the University of Perugia website.

Japanese

• The JLPT is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test or Nihongo Nōryoku Shiken. It doesn't follow the usual framework to the letter but instead runs from level N1 to N5.

If you haven't found a language exam that interests you on this page or want to find even more options, read further on Wikipedia.

Do You Think a Test is Right For You?

In my own experience, I have prepared students for Goethe Exams at levels B1 to C1 and found that it really focused our lessons. And I'm not a stranger to language exams myself, having taken the IELTS before moving to the UK many moons ago.

Have you ever taken a language proficiency test or prepared for one? Would you do this in your language learning?

Share your opinion about formal language exams in the comments!

#clearthelist July 2019: My Chinese and Welsh Progress After a Break

“Inelegantly, and without my consent, time passed.” - Miranda July

Welcome to Clear the List, my monthly language learning goals update. Yep, that time again already!

Clear the List is a round-up hosted by my friends Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy, and if you’re interested in joining then don’t hesitate to check out the Clear the List linkup for #clearthelist, hosted by Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy.

Let’s go!

What Happened in June 2019?

The biggest event in my June 2019 was the Fluent German Retreat, my immersion holiday for German learners.

We studied in the mornings and had fun outings in the afternoons, like a local apple farm where the owner himself showed us around. In Hamburg, we spent time in the Kunsthalle, the city’s amazing art museum which houses one of my favourite paintings: “Wanderer above a sea of fog”.

There were sea shanties and container ships, city guides in traditional dress, and not lastly delicious home-cooked meals from my retreat co-host Therese.

If you want more information about my retreats and perhaps come along on the next one, click here to join the retreat newsletter.

I also attended my first unconference in June, where conference attendees can turn up and decide to give a talk about anything. Have you been to one of these before?

New for Online Teachers

This month I also got to launch a fabulous new set of workshops for online teachers. These are open for enrolment until 7 July, and they will show ambitious online teachers how to improve the way they do business.

I’m teaching these with Lindsay Williams, my business friend and podcast buddy. Together we’re going to teach you about the best marketing tips and product strategies.

The Fluent Show

My favourite podcast experience of the month is definitely the afternoon I got to spend recording 4 podcasts about online teaching with Lindsay Williams. We’re friends and we chat, but we’d never chatted about the different aspects of our businesses in this way.

It also got personal and I shared my own story of creating this website and business out of my experience with depression.

If you are at all interested in online teaching and marketing, you’ll love this conversation.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Language Goals and Progress

We are like 300 words into this article and finally it’s time to check in on my LANGUAGE goals. As you can see I’ve been engaged in lots of projects, so let’s have an honest look about whether I fitted any language learning into all this.

The German retreat took about 10 study days out of my month, but happily I returned more motivated than ever.

Is there anything better than returning from a break, eager to progress through your routine?

Chinese Core Skills

Listening and Reading

I only really listen to Mandarin Chinese when I take lessons or use Lingq, so let’s look at these two goals together.

I created 45 new Lingqs, reading a total of 350 words. In my lessons and books, I also progressed a few pages here and there, so I’ll repeat my favourite language learning mantra:

You can never learn backwards.

In other reading news, I was able to pick out 3 characters from the writing on a Sriracha bottle. It’s the little things…

Speaking

I had hoped to take 3 italki lessons, but today it’s the 30th and again I only managed one. However, during that one class the compliments were flying my way as my Mandarin teacher said I was a very quick and careful learner.

Writing

I wrote 2 pages and practiced a few more Chinese characters.

Welsh Core Skills

Felt like Welsh was a great one this month as I naturally want it in my life now, no big motivation necessary. I found that S4C’s app works on our Amazon Fire stick, so now I can finally watch the popular show Un Bore Mercher with Eve Myles.

You can watch this with me if you are in the UK, because it was actually filmed in Welsh AND English and is available in English as Keeping Faith

And the best thing I found: SUBTITLES IN WELSH!! Amazing!! You can’t get these through my usual streaming service, so I’m just delighted.

For reading and writing practice, I kept my Welsh Instagram account going (@kersydysgu, dilynwch fi os eisiau!) and had the usual text exchanges with friends. And I had a lovely language exchange with Gareth Popkins.

Language Goals for July 2019

My next few months all look like they will feature quite a bit of travel and work, so one thing’s for sure: 2019 is not going to be the “summer of language study”. But here’s what I’m aiming for in July 2019.

Listening

I have good things going here with Welsh on the radio, podcasts, and TV. In addition, Lingq recorded dialogues are a great resource of Mandarin at my level. So it’s all good and I just need to crack on.

Reading

In Welsh, I’m actually finding myself quite eager to start my next book which will be Ffenestri by Lois Arnold.

In Chinese, I’m ALSO eager to read as I’m loving the Lingq app. Let’s see if I can build more Lingqs than in June.

Speaking

Aiming for at least 2 italki lessons in Mandarin Chinese, and let’s see if I can’t find someone to speak more Welsh to. If all else fails, I’ll record myself speaking some Welsh over on Instagram.

Writing

Unclear on the goals at the moment, but I do get the feeling that my Chinese level is now calling for some vocabulary lists. I like writing vocabulary lists rather than making flashcards, as they allow me to focus and review without a screen. So let’s see if I can’t fill 2 pages with 20-40 Mandarin expressions and words.

Not sure if I should keep it pin-yin here or go with the full character set? What do you think?

On Studying 2 Languages

Studying both Chinese and Welsh at the same time is not bothering me massively. I don’t have the big goals of reaching any levels at set points, and for this month the relaxed feel fits both languages well.

I’d love to hear from you. Which languages are you studying? Are you happy with your language choices at the moment?

Leave a comment below, or why not join clearthelist as well and post your own update on your blog. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

#clearthelist June 2019: I Am Not a Perfect Polyglot

Welcome to Clear the List, my monthly language learning goals update. Clear the List is a round-up hosted by my friends Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy. It is SO motivating and I recommend it to anyone who wants to share goals and celebrations.

I hope you find these goals and reports inspiring for your own language learning. It clearly shows that I’m far from perfect. But I don’t think perfection is what we’re aiming for.

If you want a “learn 25 languages in 16 weeks” polyglot, read something else.

If you want a real person loving languages and getting marginally better, this is for you.

What Happened in May 2019?

May was a fairly quiet month for me. After the exciting launch of German Uncovered and the latest language retreat, I took a well-earned break…in Wales to speak as much of my target language as possible!

This was followed by a week away in Amsterdam, and a few weeks doing something completely unrelated to languages…which has been a welcome planning month for new projects here at Fluent Language.

One of those projects is Teach & Thrive, a new set of workshops all about online teaching! I’m starting these in July together with Lindsay Williams, and there’ll be an exclusive podcast for you if you’ve registered to get notified.

The Fluent Show

Hands down, my favourite episode of the month was this inspiring interview with Paul Kaye about being a translator in the world’s biggest translation office: the European Commission!

Paul shared tips on how to become a translator along with his own fascinating story. If you dream of getting paid to learn languages, this is for you.

Language Goals and Progress

Let’s quickly cover Welsh first…I love the Welsh language so! In May volunteered at the wonderful Machynlleth Comedy Festival this year, stewarding at Welsh venue Caffi Alys. During the festival weekend, I also ran into my friend Nicky Roberts, who surprised me by whipping out a microphone to record me for his podcast!

As we spoke lots of Welsh in the podcast, you’ll read more about it below.

\

In addition to the talking, I also finally got the Welsh Grammar book back out and did a few pages of Welsh conjunctions in the garden. I strongly recommend wine to go with your grammar books.

Chinese Language Progress

In Chinese, I had more specific goals. Let’s see how that went.

Listening

I watched a few EasyMandarin videos on YouTube. I haven’t quite found my ideal listening resource yet and am not sure what to do about this.

Reading

I had no specific goals. But…GUYS!! I finally discovered the joy of Lingq! This app’s simple texts proved perfect for me as a beginner and the story structure is making me want to progress and read more of what’s going on. Compliments to Lingq. I’d been aware of the app for years but it doesn’t support Welsh, so it’s a delight to finally get it.

Speaking

I had hoped to complete 3 Skype lessons and that didn’t happen, as I messed up the times of my booking. But I did get to one by the end of the month and had done so much reviewing that my teacher was happy with the speed of progress. So I’m happy enough!

Writing

I had three different goals:

to follow up each language lesson with a page or revision notes

Success! I’m a pretty good reviewer and my teacher was excited that I learn “so carefully”. Mind you, I only had the one lesson!

to write 4 notebook pages about myself or my family (these pages are full really quickly when I write in English + pinyin + characters)

I did write a few pages, but none about me. I think I touched on a few important points such as 我有一只猫 - I have a cat.

and to figure out how to type pinyin.

Got it sorted on the Mac!

Goals for June 2019

Let’s try a new structure of going by core skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and writing my goals in each language.

By the way, did you know I have written a book about those core skills? Check it out here for your summer language read.

Listening

In Welsh, I will do my usual listening practice which is now a consistent 1-2 radio or TV hours per week.

In Mandarin, it’s harder as I’ve not come across anything specific yet. LingQ is helping me a little bit here as its own learner content comes with matching audio. If you can recommend anything else at A1 sort of level, please do comment below.

Reading

My focus here is on Chinese and I want to get somewhere with LingQ. I find the idea of a daily streak quite suffocating, so instead I’ll try one of the in-built challenges and aim for 250 “LingQs”, which are new words added in the app.

All these words make for longer flashcard revisions so let’s hope I stay sane doing that.

Speaking

In Welsh, conversations are a key part of this annoying “intermediate” learning stage and they’re never easy to come by or as comfortable as I want them to be. So this means…I need to have more of them!

I will hunt down 3 friends for at least one chat this month.

In Mandarin, it’s also important to talk but my lessons are quite structured. I can get away with less and aim for 3 Skype lessons like the May goal.

Writing

No specific Welsh goals, I type and text regularly and update kersydysgu too.

Mandarin: I’ll keep up my habit of reviewing my notes and writing lots after every lesson. It’s not always easy to find the time, but I do find writing in Chinese quite relaxing so I hope I won’t need a specific goal here.

Who am I kidding. 3 pages at least!

Chinese or Mandarin?

By the way, I know I’m using “Chinese” and “Mandarin” interchangeably in this article. I’m trying to re-habit myself to referring to it as Mandarin for clarity. It’ll take me a while though.

What are Your Language Goals for June 2019?

Do you take summer breaks? Or step on the gas when the days are long?

Leave a comment below to tell me all about how you’re getting on, and what you are planning to study next.

Be sure to check out the Clear the List linkup for #clearthelist, hosted by Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy.