I've been terrible at updating this blog the last half of 2012. I've been quite consistent with my Turkish studies, and have gone as far as I could with Georgian, although I would have liked to have progressed much further with it.
I've now completed the complete Yeni Hitit series of courses. This course has given me everything I was looking for to push me forward. I've doubled (at least) my vocabulary and strengthened my grammar. I've spent a lot of time with my conversation partner and feel muh more comfortable speaking. Of course, I still stumble with thoughts at times, but I have no trouble communicating what I want to communicate, and if there are holes, I can converse my way around them and usually end up learning something in the process.
I've also spent a considerable amount of time watching Turkish TV, whether it's CNNTürk, Kanal D or NTV. I've averaged 3 hours a day with this type of input, and continue to do so.
I finished Kayıp Sembol and gained a decent amount of vocabulary from that too.
What's next for my Turkish? Well, the first quarter of this year I plan on sitting the B2 exam. It's being arranged through the Turkish American Society of Chicago - a really great group of people. I highly recommend checking them out for learning the language and culture if you're in the Chicagoland area. So, for the next three months, preparing for the exams will be my focus.
As for Georgian, well, I completed most of the courses I wanted to, except for the Hewitt grammar. I had and still have so much trouble with that book. I was unable to watch the number of movies I wanted to. I just couldn't find enough material that interested me. Music, on the other hand, was plentiful. I learned twenty new Georgian songs.
Do I think I reached an A2 level? No. A strong, A1, yes, but I just don't feel comfortable saying I'm at an A2 level. I also had trouble finding conversation partners for the language. Had I succeeded in this, I think I would be comfortable in saying I reached an A2, but without consistent conversation, I'm just not there.
I will most likely not continue studying Georgian this year, although I'll try to maintain what I've learned, either by looking for more comprehensible input, or reviewing what I've already learned. This approach has worked well for me with maintaining Polish - something I may pick up again later this year. More on that in a minute.
Finally, I participated in a 6 Week Challenge with Piedmontese, and continued with the language after the challenge was complete. It's definitely something I have incorporated into my daily life. In fact, the last half of 2012 was spent writing a comparative grammar that is due to be published this month. It's something I'm pretty proud of. There are so few resources out there for English speakers that are interested in the language.
So, for 2013...
I don't have any plans for a new language for the year, as I've done for the last couple years. As I mentioned, the first quarter of this year I'll be concentrating on the B2 exams for Turkish. What I am at least tentatively thinking is resuming my Polish studies, and maybe another language that I've previously either briefly looked at or studied. I feel like I'm in a much better space mentally this year to take on Polish again. The 6 Week Challenge was good motivation for me with Piedmontese, so I will probably try to take advantage of that again with Polish and another language.
This year, I want to approach things a little differently than in years past. I don't want to have such rigid goals, aside from my exams. Although some goals are important, they tend to just get in the way when something goes off track.
So there you have it. I want to wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous 2013.
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