Again I realize that this has been another month with no posts. Unlike the Latin languages, I do not have a strong enough grounding in these Slavic languages (Russian last month and Czech this month) to really be able to write my thoughts in the language well. I specifically am missing the past and future tenses which are so vital for this type of writing. Czech has been going very well this month. I have made my way through the Pimsleur 1-A course as of yesterday and hope to import the 1-B course tonight when I get home from work. I unfortunately do not have anyone to talk to in Czech (nor will I for Swedish) but I still find myself progressing despite this. Next month I start German. This is one of my vital languages that I must learn well. I will have people to speak with and hope to be able to devote a little more time to this language in all areas.
This month, I read Polyglot: How I Learn Languages by Katò Lomb. I found the book very interesting - especially since it was free! I am intrigued by her method of learning languages and plan to try this once I get around to the top of my cycle again. This brings to my attention the need to describe what the next step of my process is going to be as I am nearing the beginning of the last third of my cycle.
After this month I only have three months left in my cycle of nine languages: German (Nov.), Swedish (Dec.), and Arabic (Jan.). When I come back around to the top of my cycle I am going to reorganize the languages into three categories which will determine the order I work on them. The categories are as follows:
Vital: Italian, French, German
Important: Russian, Spanish, Czech
Recreational: Portuguese, Swedish, Arabic
A brief description of these categories - The languages listed as vital are such due to my vocation as a singer. These are the three most important languages for a singer to know. Likewise, the important languages are also necessary for a singer to know, although more of a specialization. Lastly the final third of my languages are simply languages that I am interested in and have very little bearing on my vocation, at least in my current scope.
When I get to the top of my cycle I will change from one month per language to three months per language with a focus on developing my vocabulary and grammar abilities as well as striving to become comfortable conversationally in most normal situations. I will outline my methods more as I get closer to this time.
As for singing, I sang my first Bb4 in an aria the other day which was very exciting. In general I have noticed that a lot of things have started happening vocally which I am very pleased with. The largest accomplishment was the development of the Ab4 into a not that I can sing consistently. After this many things started happening: my range has begun increasing more quickly, the tessitura has become more manageable and I noticed that I am able to sing softly (although not fully coordinated) up through at least the F4. The biggest achievement is a generally more comfortable feeling through my useable range. I hope to get in for a lesson next month so that I can get a real evalutaion of my progress from JRL and find out the next step in my process.
Hopefully next month I will be able to write a little bit in German for those of you who do actually follow this. See you in November!
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