Language Learning Goals & Plans for 2016

It’s nearing the end of 2015 which means it’s time to share my goals for 2016. I have quite a few exciting projects planned for this next year and I can’t wait to share them with you. I’d also love to hear what you have going on this next year, so please feel free to leave me a note in the comments!

Something Old

1 // Continue with Russian

Last year I started to learn Russian but ended up neglecting it because I needed to give so much more attention to Mandarin (and also because I struggled with it much more than I care to admit). I’d like to make it first priority this next year and really give it a chance.

2 // Continue with Mandarin

I made so much progress in this last year with Mandarin that I’d hate to lose the momentum I’ve been building, so I will definitely continue to study it in 2016. Rather than focus on test vocabulary and grammar, however, I’m going to shift my focus to topics that interest me more personally and I can get to all the resources I had to ignore while in test prep mode.

Something New

3 // Start Korean

I had so much fun learning Korean that I really wanted to tackle another Asian language. My decision to choose Korean over Japanese was a combination of my love of Korean food, the fact that I already owned several books for the language, a few other things – and oh! – that Lindsay Dow is going to be learning it with me next year. Languages are always better with friends.

4 // Learn the Mongolian alphabet

While I was in China, I kept seeing a second script written next to the Chinese characters and wondered what it was because, to be honest, I thought it was just beautiful! My friend told me that it was Mongolian and since, it’s become my goal to learn the Mongolian script. Even if I don’t understand what I’m reading or writing, I’d just love to be able to recreate that gorgeous, flowing script. Now I just have to decide which version of the script I’d like to learn. I’m definitely open to suggestions!

5 // Learn a Conlang TBA soon

I’m still up in the air on this one, but I thought it would be a fun side project, so I’m seriously considering it.

6 // Learn Morse Code

Because why not? Lindsay definitely inspired me with her script challenge, so I really want to try out a few smaller challenges like this next year.

7 // Start refreshing my past languages: Croatian, Italian and German

Because read this post…

Something Borrowed (from previous goals)

8 // Read as much in French as I do in English

I wanted to read more in French last year, but the availability of English texts over French make that really hard. I’m going to try to convert more of my light reading over into French, but if you have a French language book you’d like reviewed (preferably language, history, or culture related) you’d be helping me towards my goal!

Non-Language Related Goals

9 // Continue minimizing

I did a lot this past year, and I’d like to do more. 

10 // Go on at least 2 trips

I know this doesn’t seem like much, but I am not sure I’ll be able to travel as much this next year as I did in 2015 (thankfully I still have a lot of this year’s travel posts to tide me over next year).

A Quick Recap On Last Year’s Goals

1. Sit the HSK Exam (at least Level 4) // Passer l’examen HSK (au moins niveau 4). Done. Still waiting for my results.
2. Go to 1  country I haven’t yet been to // Visiter 1 pays que je n’ai pas encore visiter. Done! I visited several places in the Caribbean that were new to me, China and Spain.
3. Take mock European Framework Exams for each of my European languages by the end of the year // Passer un examen blanc (European Framework Exam) pour chacunes des langues européennes que je parle. I kind of totally forgot about this one.
   
4. Read 50 Books – at least 10 in French // Lire 50 Livres – au moins 10 en français. I read fifty books, but I can’t say ten were in French. By the way, are we pals on Goodreads yet?
5. Attain at least one new belt in Martial Arts // Atteindre au moins la prochaine ceinture dans les arts martiaux. I moved up two belts.
6. Continue to minimize // Continuer d’eliminer les choses dont je n’ai plus besoin. I did a pretty good job of this, but I would like to do much better.
7. Finish at least 10 of the songs I wrote in 2014 // Finir au moins 10 chansons que j’ai écrites en 2014. Yes!!! You can find them released under Shannon Kennedy & Eurolinguiste on Amazon or iTunes.
8. Continue to work on my “secret project” // Continuer de travailler sur mon “projet secret”. Yeah, I’ll do that this year.
9. Finish the next Teen Jazz book // Finir le prochain livre pour Teen Jazz. Done! It’s called “30 Days to a Better Music Brand“.
10. Improve how I spend my free time // Améliorer comment je passe mon temps libre. I did an okay job at this, but it could have been better.
11. Double my music/online output // Doubler mes sorties musicales/en ligne. I have to do the math still, but I think I’m close.
12. Make more videos (language updates, music, travel) // Faire plus des videos (mises à jour de langue, la musique, les voyages). I definitely did this!

Two Exciting Announcements for 2016

The first is, that as a part of my Korean learning challenge, I’m going to be pairing up with Lindsay Dow over at Lindsay Does Languages to document our learning processes. We’re going to create weekly videos (alternating each week so that there’s no duplication in content), biweekly summaries and monthly guides. It’s going to be a really fun way to share how we learn languages, what we do differently, what works for us and what doesn’t. If you’re learning Korean, or any language for that matter, it should be an interesting project to follow along!

The second is that I am going to host an exciting new language reading challenge beginning in January that Alex Gendry, Lindsay Dow, Chiara Grandola, and Máirín Millward have all agreed to co-host with me. We’re tackling 12 different books (one per month) each covering a different aspect of learning, language, history, culture, and more, reading both about and in our target languages. It will be both a fun linkup and conversation, so I hope you’ll join in with us!

So keep an eye out for updates on these two projects quite soon!

That’s it for my goals this next year. What about you? What are your plans for 2016? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!