Language goals for 2016

[anna3101]

And now it's almost 2016. My plans for the next year are the same as for this one, unless something unexpected happens along the way. I had no intention of restarting German in 2015 but I got a job which involves interaction with a lot of German sites, and somehow the coursebooks were bought and first steps taken For 2016, I plan to go on with my weekly lessons of English, French, Spanish and Italian. Plus, I hope to finally start learning Dutch and German regularly - and not just whenever I have enough time which does not happen often. 

Edited December 1, 2015 by Wanda Kaishin
Split off from 2015 language goals thread

[Chris_A]

I plan to finally master Italian in 2016 and then move on to Spanish. It has been good going so far, and I`m finally able to order a pizza at a local Italian restaurant.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Wanda Kaishin
Split off from 2015 language goals thread

[DivaDee]

The languages I'm trying to mostly learn/study/use/speak are...

French- Mostly once me and my sister get enough money, were going to get the hell out of America and move overseas to France (and no not dead center in Paris...), cause me and sis don't want to be here when $#*7 hit the fan...

Japanese- Mostly due to the fact that me, my siblings and my friends all want to go to Japan, I want to be able to truly enjoy the experience over there without anything getting lost in translation...

Chinese- They have so much rich history that when I go over there, just like with Japan, I want to be able to understand everything so I can have a truly wonderful experience without anything being simplified or watereddown/roughly translated because I can't speak the language

Korean and Vietnamese- Same reasons as Chinese and Japanese, and another thing I forgot to mention is that fact that I enjoy (J)animes/(C)kung-fu movies/(K)soap operas and I also wanted to try all of those countries foods/desserts...

Edited December 1, 2015 by Wanda Kaishin
Split off from 2015 language goals thread

[Wanda Kaishin]

Korean - I once again plan to start Korean this year. I wanted to do it last year, but I decided to try to boost my Mandarin to B2 before proceeding. I'll probably start it in fall, after a long voyage to Taiwan, Ukraine, Japan and Thailand.

Mandarin - My Mandarin is on track to be a strong B2 by the time I plan to stop studying it intensively at the end of February. After that I'll just maintain it.

Spanish - Although this is my best foreign language (C1), I haven't even tried to maintain it for many years. I'll roll it back into my review schedule, meaning I'll maintain it once every 6 days.

Japanese, Thai, French & Russian - Along with Mandarin and Spanish, I'll maintain these once every 6 days. That means I'll talk to a native speaker for 15 min, read for about 30 min, and watch 30 min of a TV show or movie in that language.

 

[Heda]

I am planning to go to Germany or Austria at least for a month to practice my German and then I want to learn basic Spanish with Duolingo and in September start attending Spanish classes:)

[Verba]

For next year, I intend to focus and persevere in learning French. I've been trying to but the enthusiasm is waning. At times, I feel so up to it. Sometimes, I just don't have the interest to do it. So I'd like to do it in 2016. Hopefully, I can always keep up the positive attitude to just do it and drop the excuses. 

But my plan B if ever I can't keep on is to study Spanish. It is a language I learned in the University and we have borrowed words from them. So it is much easier for me to learn it.

[宇崎ちゃん]

I think I'll just stick with Japanese a little while longer, especially since I make very quick process recently (much quicker than just a few months ago, like magic!).
After that I may either pick up Spanish again, or I might try some Mandarin Chinese.

Before I quit Spanish, I could nearly touch my A2 level, but I felt like Spanish just wasn't a language for me.
Meanwhile I start to realise how much I like east-Asian languages again, so motivation-wise it's a better idea to start with Mandarin Chinese instead.
When: probably halfway through 2016 or earlier, depends on when I can even hold a full debate in Japanese as much as I can do in English.

[lushlala]

On 29 November 2015 at 10:35:20 PM, anna3101 said:

And now it's almost 2016. My plans for the next year are the same as for this one, unless something unexpected happens along the way. I had no intention of restarting German in 2015 but I got a job which involves interaction with a lot of German sites, and somehow the coursebooks were bought and first steps taken For 2016, I plan to go on with my weekly lessons of English, French, Spanish and Italian. Plus, I hope to finally start learning Dutch and German regularly - and not just whenever I have enough time which does not happen often. 

anna3101, kudos to you and I hope you realise all your goals for 2016! Looking at yours makes me feel like I ought to be doing more LOL But on a serious note, I admire your tenacity and drive....way to go!

I'm also hoping life doesn't get in the way of my plans. I always seems to have too much going on and too little time to do it all in. But I was hoping to get back to doing either Italian or French, but certainly not both. I'm having a hard time deciding because although I'm more advanced in French, I like Italian more. I intend to self teach via online resources, and this will be my first dabble with this way of learning. So I'm nt sure what sort challenges I'll face, if any.

With French, I also have the option of going to classes locally if I struggle. I'm in a bit of a pickle, but i'm sure I'll work it out in the end. After all, compared to people like you and a few others in this community, I only have 2 languages to consider LOL

 

[anna3101]

@lushlala Thank you so much for your kind words. It's people like you who keep my motivation high And although I'm a huge fan of French, I have to say - if you prefer Italian, just go for it. It seems that you have a lot going on and not much free time (a problem that most of us can relate to ) so if you have to choose between two languages... well, I'm pretty old-fashioned when it comes to choices, I always think "follow your heart" is the best kind of advice.

What's your level in Italian? If you are not too advanced, maybe we can try to talk together in some thread My Italian is mostly passive - I understand much more than I can write or say But I'd like to change that, and now that we have some great Italian people here, like Mameha, we should totally do some kind of practice thread. What do you think?

[lushlala]

Thanks to you too, @anna3101. Your words reinforce my thought process, so I will definitely take that into consideration before I start early next year. 

Many years ago I lived in Italy for a few months as an au pair and picked it up much faster than I did French. It was self taught via a text book, watching some TV and practicing with friends and my host family. By the time i left Italy, I could wobble my may through a conversation, but never got to the fluent stage. I haven't spoken it since, but still remember bits here and there. So you can kind of get where I'm at with my Italian hehe. I bet yours is at a far higher level than mine, even though you claim it's 'mostly passive' .....that's probably just you being modest

On that basis, I would totally welcome the idea of a practice thread on here, especially if some of our Italian friends are onboard. That would be brilliant, for sure

 

[loulou]

My main goal next year is to try and wrap up my German study and finally visit Germany. It's been 8 years since I started casually learning German and during that time it has really left and impact on me, so I think a trip to put my hard earned skills to good use its deserved. Plus, the food and history is... Well, a plus 

I also want to focus more on studying the Japanese alphabets and kanji, which has really suffered as I have been trying to focus more on vocab and sentence structure than retaining how to actually write and read things. I remember basic kanji, but I really, really need to buckle down once I feel strong enough in my German skills.

[宇崎ちゃん]

After much consideration, I think I finally got my language learning path decided for 2016: Mandarin, Russian, Spanish and French.
I'll take 12 weeks for each language.

But note that these 12 weeks are meant to initialise learning, so they're not meant to be "become fluent in X within 12 weeks".
In fact, I'll just continue using the 4 languages I'll start + 5 languages I already speak after those 12 weeks.
Language learning isn't all about just starting to learn a language, it's meant to maintain them too.

Writing this reminds me that I would need to practise my German more often, I haven't used it for a month already. @_@

[agentzero]

I'm in final year of college so finishing that up and getting my degree is something that I strive for in 2016. That is a very tough goal though, and I'm very aware of that, but I also know myself and know that I'll work hard on it. After that I'll be looking into a program to go to Asia and teach there for a few months before coming back and starting work on my Master's. It all depends on me finishing up all exams at the right time though. 

[linguaholic]

On 29.11.2015, 21:35:20, anna3101 said:

And now it's almost 2016. My plans for the next year are the same as for this one, unless something unexpected happens along the way. I had no intention of restarting German in 2015 but I got a job which involves interaction with a lot of German sites, and somehow the coursebooks were bought and first steps taken For 2016, I plan to go on with my weekly lessons of English, French, Spanish and Italian. Plus, I hope to finally start learning Dutch and German regularly - and not just whenever I have enough time which does not happen often. 

Great thread, Anna! Thank you.

[anna3101]

On 6.12.2015, 12:51:35, lushlala said:

On that basis, I would totally welcome the idea of a practice thread on here, especially if some of our Italian friends are onboard. That would be brilliant, for sure

I've started the practice thread Feel free to join me there so that native speakers can enjoy our mistakes

[Miya]

I have 2 goals for myself in 2016. The first one is to pass the JLPT level 2 exam. The second is to improve my Japanese speaking skills! 

I also have one more goal, but it's not about language learning. It's about language teaching. I teach English to Japanese students in Japan so I hope all of my students will improve next year. I want all of them to be able to speak some basic English! XD

[ExpatWannabe]

My language goals for the upcoming year hopefully are attainable. lol I wish to complete a TEFL program first and foremost. I know its not necessary but I hope to use this for income when I travel. Next goal is to travel to Panama and secure a job. This will immerse me in the language and culture while getting paid! (score) I hope to be an intermediate Spanish speaker by the years end. 

[shadejb]

I would love to start learning Japanese if possible. Currently I haven't been able to find time to register to a class, so pretty much all I do is self-study. Hopefully that will change in the next year, with me moving out and having more free time in general. 

[sidney]

I intend to study more regarding my selected languages like German and Spanish. I have been quite busy these days, so I haven't placed much time on studying new languages.

[宇崎ちゃん]

On 12/12/2015, 19:49:26, Blaveloper said:

After much consideration, I think I finally got my language learning path decided for 2016: Mandarin, Russian, Spanish and French.
I'll take 12 weeks for each language.

But note that these 12 weeks are meant to initialise learning, so they're not meant to be "become fluent in X within 12 weeks".
In fact, I'll just continue using the 4 languages I'll start + 5 languages I already speak after those 12 weeks.
Language learning isn't all about just starting to learn a language, it's meant to maintain them too.

Writing this reminds me that I would need to practise my German more often, I haven't used it for a month already. @_@

Changed it a bit:
6 months for each language instead of 12 weeks.
I don't think 12 weeks has been a realistic idea.

The downside would be that Spanish and French got postponed to 2017.
The upside would be that I can actually focus on fluency in each language.

[djordje87]

   Recently I made a decision to start learning a new language every year. Even if I do it by myself over the internet I will try to keep that in mind. I already tried French and it was good but I had to leave my country to work and I didn't have much time so I stopped. Maybe I will try and finish learning French next year, even go to some classes, online chat or just find some people online from France and ask their help, like here on this forum. French is adorable language but also very hard in some parts. Nevertheless, I am a person who never gives up and I know I will learn it sooner or latter and next year will be a long one so time will not be a problem.

[Nekomimi_mode]

I’m so ready for the New Year! I plan on making more pen pals and improving my language. I need to study more Chinese and practice my Japanese. I also plan to formally start learning Korean by taking a class on my college campus. I starting compiling all of my Chinese notes a while back into a huge study guide but I stopped half-way through. I want to finish that out before I start taking more Chinese classes. I don’t think I’ll be taking anymore Japanese classes for now since I’ve been mixing my kanji and Chinese characters up as of late, but once I get my Chinese down I plan to take a Japanese class again. Honestly I also want to focus more harshly on learning characters. I have really been slacking in that regard and so I can speak way more Chinese than I can write. I want to switch over to writing traditional characters as well since I plan to visit Taiwan next year and I heard they don’t use simplified characters. It’ll be hard but I have a whole year to put my plan in action before I come up with another one.

[Trellum]

This year I'd like to master my Dutch. I plan to use a couple courses for that, 2 audio courses and some books and Ukrainian friend gave me.  I might get a subscription to Dutch 101,  just because I find their approach so very motivating, but I have yet to find a decent physical Dutch course!   So yes, this year I must dedicate myself to this language, I  need to find a job as soon as possible! For that I need to learn Dutch QUICK. 

[宇崎ちゃん]

I made a major change again (and hopefully it's the last change).

I decided to save Chinese for last and learn Russian + Spanish now.
The main reason is because I'm already learning Kanji and once I know all the necessary Kanji, Chinese will become much more accessible to me (especially since all real world learning materials are written in Hanzi (Chinese characters), while I already know the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets).
I used to say I would concentrate on the spoken language only, but now I prefer to concentrate on both spoken and written language.

[anna3101]

On 10 January 2016, Trellum said:

This year I'd like to master my Dutch. I plan to use a couple courses for that, 2 audio courses and some books and Ukrainian friend gave me.  I might get a subscription to Dutch 101,  just because I find their approach so very motivating, but I have yet to find a decent physical Dutch course!   So yes, this year I must dedicate myself to this language, I  need to find a job as soon as possible! For that I need to learn Dutch QUICK. 

Good luck, I'm sure you'll do fine. Nothing is as motivating as the need to get a job And now that you are in the Netherlands, you can practise loads.