Within the Add1Challenge there are a variety of assignments and challenges set for us. This week Assignment 2 addresses motivation – remember why we started the challenge, and find some creative way to keep that reason in front of us as we study; and secondly, to consider the first two weeks of the challenge, and how it is helping us achieve our goals.
Actually I have many reasons, and trying to work out a single “one” is difficult. Mostly it is the personal challenge. I always wanted to be a Polyglot, and I have wasted the last 20 years, after learning my first 2 foreign languages.
The kicker was meeting some French Deaf at a conference last year, and wanting to learn their sign language (LSF) before we next meet (Sept 2020 at latest). We already could communicate probably at a B1-2 level after just 3 days (one of the things I LOVE about communicating with Deaf people), but we weren’t using any one particular language, more a conglomeration of Auslan, ASL, gesture and mime. I would really love to communicate with them in a deeper way, and to do that I may as well learn Langue des Signes de Français (LSF), and as I already had a little French, I decided to also improve my French, which will help me learn LSF. I want to get French and LSF solidly under my belt ASAP, before I spend some time on other languages.
I want to see how quickly I can learn, and push myself to learn faster than ever before. I have French, Spanish, Catalan, and their respective sign languages also to learn before Sept 2020, and a handful of other linguistical goals… the faster I can learn, the better!
Part B: The biggest thing I am getting out of the challenge is the deadlines. I am very deadline motivated, so having a conversation lesson every week is a mini deadline, and I want to be better every week… the challenges and assignments are mini deadlines… and the 30, 60 and 90 day videos are deadlines. I want to be better and better and better… I am really hoping to get to at least a solid A2 level by the end of the challenge, then maybe do another challenge to get to B2 before the end of the year.
Cate is a language enthusiast sharing her language learning journey here. Apart from her native English (albeit 'Strine'*!), as an adult she has also learned Auslan (Australian Sign Language) to approximately a C1 level, Dutch to around B1/2, French to around A2, and has a smattering of other languages.
B.A. (Anthropology/Marketing), Grad. Dip. Arts (Linguistics), Grad. Cert. Entrepreneurship & Venture Development, (CELTA).
Auslan Interpreter (NAATI), and general Language Nut.
*For more information on 'Strine', visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strine