[an excerpt from the 2024/08/16 newsletter]

~~~~~

Good morning. Good evening. Good afternoon. How are you?

In this issue, I am going to talk about a few things I learned from my 957-day streak on Duolingo.

Every day for a total of about half an hour, I practice French, German, Italian, and Mandarin. I suck. Watch me speak to my phone in Mandarin, and it might just give you a reason to live when you feel like giving it all up.

It feels so good to be bad at something. I find it liberating. Most of us grownups are expected to do things relatively well – around home, at work, or even in a yoga class. And we perform accordingly, all day. Good to take a break.

I like people who study languages

1. We’re not afraid to look like an idiot. Okay, not exactly. We’re the kind of people who are deeply afraid of embarrassing ourselves, but we do it anyway.
2. Some of us may achieve goals in language acquisition. Some of us may never reach the desired level in our lifetime. As with everything else in life, there’s no guarantee. But we do it anyway.
3. We study languages for a myriad of different reasons. I love listening to language learners’ stories; how they started, and how their journey has evolved. More often than not, their stories tell me we learn for someone. We learn for people, connection, and identity. (Share your stories if you feel like it!)

How my brain works

I started with German and French courses, then last year added Mandarin, and then this year, Italian. I like to do all four in one sitting.

My good friend M: How do you do that, don’t you get them mixed up?
Me: No. It’s like having different cuisines of food on one plate. They all taste different.
M: Oh.

It works for me. Our brains all work differently, so this may not be the case for you. To each their own.

According to Duolingo, German folks are into forests, witches, and animals

Duolingo gives me sentence examples unique to one language that they don’t offer in the other three. It’s been delightful.

These exercises go on for days on end, with people sharing worldly activities with wild their rabbit, bear, giraffe, lion, owl, etc.

Ich möchte wandern gehen. (= I would like to go hiking.) Duolingo made me say and write this sentence so many times that I was able to express my desire to be in nature before I learned how to apologize in German.

Also, I had the repeated opportunity to get to know Hexe (= witch) and her life in the forest.

According to Duolingo, Chinese people need to know these things

How many children does she have? Does he have a son? Is she your younger sister or older sister? His older brother’s daughter is 23 years old. Is your son going to live in London next year? Does your son have a child? I saw Teacher Li yesterday morning. I saw Dr. Wang’s wife standing next to your house. What time do you get off work?

I am transparent. I will tell you everything you want to know.

Here in Japan, folks need to know these things too. If you’re studying Japanese on Duolingo, I have a question for you. What are we like? I am curious.

According to Duolingo, Italian folks feel the vibe

I hear strange voices in the bathroom. Aren’t you scared? Don’t you hear a voice when you sleep?

You’re right. This hotel is frightening. I’d like another room.

Guys, I’m sure! There’s a ghost here, it’s too frightening! Help, there’s a ghost in this hotel!

This goes on for days on end. Delightful.

I don’t have psychic powers, but I am the kind of person who tends to feel intense emotions about places. The sentiment expressed in these examples resonates with me; feel, express, and request for another room.

I’m not sure what French people are into but…

How much did you pay for this apartment? How many other apartments does she own? In Lyon or Paris?

This is their first house with a garden. How many apartments did you look at last weekend?

Which apartment did you like? The one on the 1st floor or the 7th floor? I prefer the ground floor.

What color is the wall? I don’t like the room because red walls.

I guess I’ll find out.

today’s special

something new: Swedish cardamom bun
something read: Marion Franklin “What Would a Wise Person Do?” , a little bit of