Duolingo Progress - spotlight on Finnish

Making progress with Zulu, Irish, Russian, Esperanto, Romanian, Czech, Danish, Hebrew, Italian, Vietnamese,  Spanish.

Can you recognise any words that I learned?

I am doing better at Hawaiian and Brazilian Portuguese.

Can you translate any of these words to English or your target langauge?

I am interested to learn Finnish. So far, the first Finnish word that I have come across in English is sauna.  It seems the Finns invented the sauna.

Finnish -	Minulla on ystävä, jolla on kolme kissaa

Part of speech	Translation
	English - I have a friend who has three cats

 Reflection: Most Finnish words don't remind me of English or another language that I am learning.  But I like kissaa for cats.  It makes me think of kitty.

   Vocabulary comparison across languages: 

English - cat German - Katze Danish - kat Dutch - kat Swedish- katt Norwegian - katt Yiddish - קאַץ kats Italiano - gatto  Francais - chat Romanian-pisică Haitian Creole - chat Esperanto - kato Latin-cattus Welsh - cath Irish - cat Scottish Gaelic - cat Zulu - ikati Hawaiian - popoki Swahili-paka Czech - kočka Hungarian-kočka Polish-kot Ukranian-кіт kit Turk-kedi Indonesian - kucing Japanese-猫 Neko Korean -고양이goyang-i Hindi - बिल्ली billee  Vietnamese- con mèo Greek- Γάτα Gáta Russian кошка

koshka

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Duolingo October Progress with Zulu, Romanian ,Brazilian Portuguese & Czech

Learning Focus in October: language maintenacne and progression at my pace

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October Language Learning Log

I dabble in lots of languages asa hoboby around work, family and commitments   It fits in between in stolen moments but helps keep my work/life balance. My language journal when I have free time at home and Duolingo when I am out and about in waiting rooms helps me maximise my idle time and make it more productive than scrolling on Facebook endlessly.

*** Spotlight on Czech *** 

 I am interested to learn Czech, but have no real background to connection to it. My parents traelled there when Dad was at a conference. Mum came home saying she loved going to the supermarket and reading the signs in the fruit and veg section. “mandarinky” she thought was a fun and cute word and friendly to the English speaker trying out new words in a foreign language as it it similar to the English. 

Czech -  Nejsem muz’. (I am not (1 word) (a) man.) 

English - I am not a man. 

Reflection: 'muz' means 'man'. It helps an English speaker that is it also a short word sarting with M. It makes me think of similar words

Compare langauges

English - man 

Italiano - uomo 

Français - homme 

Cymraeg - dyn

Español - man 

Polskie - facet 

Türk - adam 

Spotlight on Portuguese I am trying to learn Brazilian Portuguese. It is further from Italian than Spanish but there are similarities. It is slow going, so I am taking my time. 

Brazilian Portuguese - Eu escrevi naquele relogio.

 English - I wrote on that watch. 

Reflection: 'escrevi' means 'wrote '. The Romance languages often have similar root word often from Latin. So, words like to write are formed from similiar etymology or sounds, althrough spelling patterns can differ. English to write Italiano scrivere 

Compare langauges

English - to write 

Italiano - scrivere 

Français - écrire 

Español - escribir 

Cymraeg - ysgrifennu

Polskie - pisać 

Türk - yazmak 

 I have not been working on Zulu long, but I eagerly jumped in to have a go when Zulu was out of Duolingo's incubator.  It is exciting to have a go, and less daunting since it uses the alphabet I am familiar with in English and no accents written on letters.  It makes it easier to read and write let alone listen to and pronounce as a beginner.  It is the spelling that takes some adjustment.  I was surprised how many words are similar to English and other languages I have learned earlier in my languages journey. I have tried learning Swahili and now Zulu as the only langauges from the continent of Africa.  It is exciting to try since I have had no opportunity in my schooling to try learning them now until Duolingo.  I have noticed a few familiar words, sawubona namely for hello from a song I learned in a choir. 

 Zulu -  Ngisebenza esikoleni. (I work (1 word) in a school (1 word) 

English - I work in a school. 

Reflection: 'esikoleni' means 'in a school'. I guess that means the preposition is integrated.  Some languages, this would appear as a prefix or a suffix. It makes me think of similar words: English - in a school Italiano - in una scuola Francais - dans une école

Compare langauges

English - schol

Italiano - scuola 

Français - école 

Español - escuela 

Cymraeg - ysgol

Polskie - szkoła 

Türk - okul 

Duolingo September Progress includes Zulu, Haitian Creole, Irish, Swedish and Czech

Learning Focus in September: trying to level up in Duolingo (jump each language to the next increasing Duolingo level)

I am trying different ways to keep me on track around work and family and keep my motivation up.

My September Challenge

This month, I am working through languages I haven't had a chance to revisit for a while.  I am dabbling in them until I level up.  Each subsequent language level is harder to obtain because each level is a much higher number of XP.  Level 25 is the highest level.

Trying out the new Duolingo update

I have enjoyed revisiting languages once again and getting into their mode or head space.  I am also enjoying this in combination with the new interface in Duolingo.   I have been a Duolingo member since begin on their waitlist 10 years ago.  I love the new path way and how it organises a set path of mini steps to try in bite size pieces as well as revision sets of mistakes, listening and speaking that can be forgotten about if like me you often play Duolingo in waiting rooms and near others so you never want to to turn the volume up in case it annoys other people.  The speaking and listening exercises remind me to concentrate on these skills when I am away from others.

So far, I have levelled up in 9 Languages across Turkish, Polish, Russian, Irish, Danish, Swedish, Czech, Finnish as well as the newest language Zulu.  I have worked hard and am enjoying every minute of Level 11 Zulu.

I wonder how many more level ups I can work towards by the end of September? I don't want to set a goal, because my family and work come first, but I celebrate every achievement along the way. 

Dabbling across more than 30 languages in my long term goal at my own pace. 5 languages I have already reached Level 25: Italian, French, German, Spanish, Welsh, however as Duolingo evolves and updates more lessons and units are being added to more courses. So, 38 - 9 levelled up recently - 5 at level 25 = 24 languages to work my way though.  At the moment, I am cycling through 3 langauges daily, usually a Romance language, a Germanic language (as the two language families I have the most experience/background in) and one from another family.

Next in line: 

•  Romanian, Latin,
• Norwegian*, Finnish, 
• Indonesian, Chinese, Korean
• Hawaiian, Navajo, Swahili
• Arabic, Greek, Yiddish

*Norwegian is a huge course

Level 6 vs Level 23 comparison

*Norwegian is a huge course and is going to hard to be level up from Level 23 to level 24. This next level needs over 1200XP to be completed. Be aware, lower levels like my Hindi is only on level 6, so needs only 150 XP to level up.  I think this tiered systems is effective because it allows you to concentrate in bite size amounts when you first meet a langauge and lets you get spaced repetition until you do the next lesson.  Whereas, with higher levels, you can concentrate for longer periods when you are used to more grammar and more vocabulary and can take on more complicated sentences. I certainly notice how much more alert you are and how quickly you fatigue with a new language as a beginner.

Hence, I have currently completed 10 trophies but Spanish and French as 2 of the largest courses with the most learners have been significantly updated and grown.

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Edit

Next 10 level ups completed: Esperanto,  Scottish Gaelic, Swedish, Japanese,  Hungarian, Hindi, Dutch, Haitian Creole, Hebrew and Vietnamese this week.

Now 19 levels up in September :-)