Language Log: The Objectives

Hi everyone! In mid-February I began my language log for this year on Fluent in 3 Months (Fi3M). I have two language goals this time around, so I've decided to give myself plenty of time to work on them. This is partially because 1) learning two languages will make the process slower, and 2) I have work/life commitments as well. 

Here is the breakdown:

Primary Objectives: 

German (B1.2 - C1/2) — January 2016 through mid-January 2017 
Hindi (A1 - B1) — January 2016 through July 2016 

Main Materials: 

Complete Teach Yourself Hindi 
Die Deutschen ZDF series & relevant youtube videos 
Goethe Institut practice examination materials Skype sessions? 
Writing prompts based on news readings/short books/videos watched

Methodology: 

For Hindi I am taking a rather straight forward approach. My goal is to complete 3 chapters per month, usually with a 1 week "layover" for review, extra practice, etc. Currently I am on chapter 6 - but once verbs were introduced, I started taking it slow. This covers reading, listening and writing. Since I will be living in India, I should have no problems with language partners. 

Now German is a bit more difficult. I studied it along with Russian and Arabic in college, but because I was doing 3 languages at once, my vocabulary was rather shallow. As I'm attempting to break through the B1 barrier into B2 and beyond, a little extra work is involved on my end. Here is the detailed plan:

Grammar Goals: 

• Master using subjunctive tense (I & II) 
• Use more complex conjunctions to create longer sentences 
• Resolve word order issues 

Grammar Methods: 

• Write at least 1 long essay a month. Includes planning, checking the drafts on 8-lang/italki.
• Every other month, the essay will be a video to practice speaking. Regardless of video, I should try to loosely memorize each topic. 

Vocabulary Goals: 

• Go from understanding 65-70% of material to at least 95% (based on general readings, no super-specific medical terminology or anything like that). 
• Be able to speak for at least 1 hour before getting tired/switching into English. 
• Be able to use at least 2000 new words in writing and speaking. 

Vocabulary Methods: 

• Practicing at least once a week with a speaking partner 
• Try summarizing books/movies out-loud. 
• Write down new vocabulary as needed and use it in the next writing assignment. 
• At the end of every week, review the vocabulary learned. 

Evaluation: 

Currently my plan for evaluation in German is just to take a Goethe Institut practice exam at the end of every three month period. If I score higher than 60-70%, I'll move up to the next level test in the text eval period.

For Hindi, my only evaluation is speaking with my mother-in-law. :) So I'll be pretty motivated every day!

Potential Problem Areas: 

Speaking will be the most difficult for me. I have pretty terrible anxiety about it, and to make matters worse, I worked so much in college I'm just trying to find topics to talk about again. Luckily I've made some progress in the last few months hobby-wise, so I'll be trying to apply that.  Before beginning with a partner though, I'll probably make some youtube videos and build confidence. :)  Updates and Rewards:  So I'll be posting updates on my Fi3M topic and here on my blog.  If I'm at B2 level in Hindi by the end of 6 months, which I'll know, because I should be able to live daily life pretty easily & I'll be able to understand 70% of movies, I'll reward myself by letting myself learn Modern Greek. I already have some background in the language, so I could hit the ground running. :) It'll be another 6 month project. If I can pass a Goethe C1/2 exam by February 2017, I will start Bengali or Japanese. Given that I've completed by Hindi level (then presumably Greek) and my German level by 2017, I'll be back on a 1 language track with maintenance for the other three.