You know, it feels like it’s been a really long time since I’ve spoken to you all like this – it’s always the way, from about July onwards it feels like the year is a race towards the finishing line, and then January seems to stretch out into eternity. But here we are! We made it to February! We survived! Well done us. Today, if you don’t mind, I’d like to talk in a bit more detail about my language learning plans for 2024, and my reasoning behind those plans. If you do mind… I don’t really know what to tell you. That’s not really how any of this works. Let’s push on, shall we?
In the past, it has been known that people (usually outside the online language learning community) have referred to me as a polyglot. It’s not a word I feel comfortable using myself, because I’ve never really seen myself as one – yes, I speak multiple languages, so I suppose I fulfill the base requirements, but nowadays (at least from where I’m sitting) there’s more of a focus ‘professional polyglots’, who benevolently take it upon themselves to impart their wisdom unto other language learners, designing methods for learning most efficiently, or being white guys who baffle waiters in Chinese restaurants with their perfect Mandarin – what happens next will shock you! Obviously, this is a generalisation, but honestly – it couldn’t be me.
I enjoy the language learning process, but my personal approach is by no means efficient, nor am I labouring under the misapprehension that it’s perfect. But it seems to work for me – it helps me get what I want out of language learning. When learning a language, there are four main skill areas: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. For my part, my approach has always been unfairly weighted, spending much more effort on reading and writing than speaking and listening. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a bit of an introvert, but that’s always been the focal point of my enjoyment of language, even my native language. Last year, as anyone who was a frequent visitor to my blog will already know, the focus was very much on writing – Polyglot NaNoWriMo took up a lot of my time, and I spent the latter half of the year prepping for it before actually starting it in November. This year, having really gotten back into my reading groove, I want that to be my focus.
I’ve got an ever-growing collection of Welsh books, which grew again only this week with a delivery from Y Lolfa, a publishing house based in Tal-y-Bont, Ceredigion. I’ve ordered from them a few times now, and I’ve always been immensely pleased with the quality of the books, and the pristine condition they arrive in. This time, as I’m sure you’ll be able to tell, I’ve expanded my bookshelf with some books for younger readers (what the publishing industry seems to term ‘middle grade’), because I thought they’d probably be a bit easier for me and my fledgling Welsh to tackle, as well as a couple of things aimed specifically at learners. It always surprises me when I pick up one of these books from my shelf and wistfully flick through the pages how much I’m actually able to understand, though it isn’t long before I see a word I’ve never encountered before and have to put the book back where it came from. It’s daft, really, I should commit the time to sitting with a dictionary, or writing down all the words on a page that I don’t recognise and looking them up. Well, that’s just what this year is all about!
I’ve also renewed my subscription to Lingo Newydd, a quarterly magazine about life in Wales and Welsh culture in general aimed specifically at learners of Welsh, published by Golwg (who also offer an online version!). The latest issue dropped through my letterbox only yesterday, with Osian Huw Williams (lead singer of Candelas, looking rather handsome indeed) gracing the cover. I’d only recently seen him on the Christmas edition of Gogglebocs Cymru, so it was quite gratifying to see someone I recognised on the cover! I love this magazine, because each article actually has a list of uncommon vocabulary words at the bottom to refer to as you’re reading. Of course, the online version is great, but as I’m living in the UK and it’s only £12 to sign up for a year, I thought I’d quite like to build my own little library of magazines I can refer back to as my Welsh improves. It’s a nice idea to think that one day I’ll be able to read an article with no problem, whereas now it’s a real uphill struggle. Not insurmountable, but even so – the subject matter is engaging enough to power through.
The whole idea behind this is that I’m hoping that reading more will have a knock-on effect on my writing, and then later I’ll see the benefit in my speaking and listening. That’s essentially what happened with my English – I was a voracious reader as a child, and that in turn helped me to express myself more articulately in my writing. I see no reason why lightning can’t strike twice in this particular instance! So that’s why I’m adding a goal to my list – of the 20 books I’d like to read by the end of the year, at least two of them will be in Welsh. Quite a lofty goal as I’m yet to read even one yn Gymraeg, but we’ll see!
That’s it for this month, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading and maybe even gotten something from it you can apply to your own language learning, despite my earlier protestations that I’m no language guru. If you have any thoughts you’d like to share, then please, feel free to leave a comment! Alternatively you can find me on both Instagram and Threads (as @sprakskatan) and Mastodon (as @sprakskatan@toot.wales). Thank you very much for reading, and as always – take care, I’ll see you next month.
— J.
den språkliga skatan 