Clear the List | Monthly Language Learning Strategies Update | January
I’d like to welcome you to #clearthelist. If you’re new around these parts, #clearthelist is a linkup where we share our monthly goals, and by we, I mean myself and Lindsay of Lindsay Does Languages.
We’d absolutely love for you to a part of our community. You can join us by adding a link to your own goal post below.
So let’s get started, sharing our goals and motivating one another to #clearthelist!
Please feel free to tag your posts or photos with either #clearthelist on your favorite social media channels!
Last Month’s Highlights on Instagram
Last Month’s Blog Highlights
Travel
Tiananmen Square // Things to do in and around Beijing, China.
Language Learning
Why You Should Record Yourself Speaking Your Target Language // Because this is an incredible way to improve across the board.
Last Month’s Goals
Continue filling the gaps in my Mandarin vocabulary I’ve noticed since Little Linguist’s arrival. // My list of words is slowly building. My WeChat account is constantly buzzing with answers about the words and phrases that I’ve asked friends for help with.
Read one more language related book. // Started one. It’s a grammar book, so there just wasn’t anyway I was going to finish this in a month since I’m actually doing all the exercises.
Keep playing Zelda Ocarina of Time in Mandarin Chinese. // Yup.
Get ahead reading my language reading challenge books. // I started working on my reading for this, but I wouldn’t say I’m ahead.
Keep working through my YouTube Queue. // Slow and steady.
Start reading my other Pooh Bear book in Chinese // I’m on Chapter 4!
Find a new resource for Spanish. // I found one and now I just have to order it. The holidays have got me like *wait… where did the month go*.
Have something I’m reading that’s in French or Spanish. // Yes and yes. But I can’t tell until I start sharing the Language Reading Challenge posts. 😀
This Month’s Goals
Continue filling the gaps in my Mandarin vocabulary I’ve noticed since Little Linguist’s arrival. // As long as I’m still speaking to Little Linguist in Chinese, this one is here to stay.
Read one more language related book. // Get through at least six chapters of my grammar book that I started.
Keep playing Zelda Ocarina of Time in Mandarin Chinese. // It’s all about making language a part of my day-to-day life.
Get ahead reading my language reading challenge books. // I’ve been reading too many other things that were on my Want to Read list. It’s time to focus, now.
Keep working through my YouTube Queue. // Because there are just so many language lessons in there I need to do!
Keep reading my other Pooh Bear book in Chinese // Since I did four chapters last month, my goal is to do another four chapters this month.
Actually order that new resource for Spanish. // Maybe I’ll have an Amazon gift card I can use from Christmas. 🙂
Have something I’m reading that’s in French or Spanish. // There’s this science fiction book I’ve been reading in French and I decided I don’t like it, so I need to stop trudging through it and either hurry up and finish it so I can read something I like better or just stop reading it and read something different.
Resources I Used This Month
A quick recap on the materials I am using.
What I Am Using to Learn Chinese
- iTalki Lessons – I have weekly Chinese lessons
- Pimsleur (I bought IV and V for Black Friday!)
- Memrise
- ChineseClass101
- Melnyk’s
- Antosch & Lin email newsletters
- FluentU – I watch anywhere from 3-6 videos per day and then work on the “Learning” section for each of the videos
- Pooh Bear and Baby Bear
- DramaFever
- Chinese version of the Nintendo 64
What I’m Using to Brush Up/Improve My French:
- Immersion (we speak franglais at home)
- Reading books written by French authors
- Listening to French radio/podcasts
- Chatting with family
- Watching movies and other video in French
What I am Using to Learn Russian:
- Perfectionnement Russe
- RussianPod101
- iTalki Lessons
- The penmanship practice books from Russian Step-by-Step (a lot of you have been asking me about these)
- Memrise
- Pimsleur
What I am Using to Learn Korean:
- Memrise
- Assimil’s Korean Phrasebook
- Pimsleur
- Practical Korean from Tuttle Publishing
- Making Out in Korean
What I am Using to Learn Spanish:
- Language Hacking Spanish by Benny Lewis
- Lingoda (use code FM2J6Y )
- Coffee Break Spanish
The Biggest Lesson I Am Taking Away from This Month
I just really love languages. I love everything about them – the learning process, speaking them, meeting new people. Sometimes it’s just good to soak that in and appreciate that love so that it doesn’t burn out. I’m finding the more that I invest into my language learning, the more rewarding it is and the more I love doing it. Even the dreaded grammar exercises. And even if I’m not a professional translator or interpreter, sometimes it’s nice to just spend time working on things that make you happy BECAUSE they make you happy.
Don’t forget that I would love to hear all about your goals for this month! Please join us by adding your post to the linkup below!
Clear The List Linkup Rules:
1. Share your goal post whether it includes your aspirations for the month or year. Submissions unrelated to the theme or links to your homepage will be deleted.
2. Link back to this post. You can use our button if you wish.
3. Follow the hosts: Lindsay from Lindsay Does Languages and Shannon from Eurolinguiste.
4. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE: Please visit the site of the person who linked up immediately before you and leave them an encouraging comment! By hosting this linkup, we’re hoping to create a positive community where we can all share our goals. If you do not do this, you will be removed from the linkup.
5. Share on social media using #ClearTheList
What's Your Reaction?
