Language Learning Update

I recently completed the Norwegian skill tree on Duolingo.  This changes my language practicing routine a bit (and I've recently added a few things anyway), so I thought I would write a post about it.

To the ten languages that I've been practicing every day (German, French, Latin, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Russian, Hebrew, Greek, and one from a cycle of what's left*), I'm now adding Esperanto.  If I were to follow my original plan and add the next language I started learning on Duolingo, I would be adding Spanish (which, actually, I started before Norwegian), but frankly, I don't like Spanish enough to practice it every day.  Besides, I feel like I've been neglecting Esperanto a bit, and this may help redress that.

Along with Duolingo, I use a few other resources:

• Since August 2014, I've been working my way through Wheelock's Latin again.  (It was my Latin textbook in college, from fall 2011 to spring 2012.)  I've been going extremely slowly (with the hope that this will result in better learning), and I'm currently working through the practice sentences in chapter XVIII.
• Since March 2015, I've been translating a German novel from 1916 at the rate of a sentence or so a day.  Last month, I passed page 100 (of 417).
• In October 2016, I started following along with The Daily Dose of Hebrew and The Daily Dose of Greek.  Since May 2017, I've been copying out the Greek verses, and I started doing the same thing with the Hebrew verses in July 2019.  Since last October, I've also been working my way through Mark via the archives, and to "celebrate" completing the Hebrew skill tree on Duolingo earlier this month, I started doing the same with Ruth.  In March, The Daily Dose of Latin launched, and I've been following along with that series too.  All together, then, I'm currently going through Deuteronomy, Ruth, Mark, and (in both Greek and Latin) John.  (The "weekend edition" of The Daily Dose of Hebrew is going through Jeremiah, and while I've been following along, I haven't been copying out the verses.)
• Since around November 2016, I've been following along in the lectionary in various languages.  For the first three years, I used my German New Testament (with the Psalms and Proverbs), and for the last year or so (since the lectionary started over), I've been using my French New Testament (and whatever Psalms are available in Liturgies et cantiques Luthériens).  Because I don't have a German or French Old Testament, I follow along in the Latin Vulgate for those readings.  Recently, I've made it part of my routine to read the translation in all three of these (when possible) after copying out the verses from the Daily Doses.  When the lectionary starts over again, I'll be focusing on the Latin Vulgate, and after that - if I can acquire a copy - an Italian translation (I'm going in the order I started learning the languages).
• Near the beginning of the year, The Daily Dose of Hebrew introduced me to Aleph with Beth, a series of Hebrew video lessons.  At first, I watched the videos sporadically, but I've been more consistent since September.  (I'm about thirty lessons behind, but I watch the next one in sequence whenever a new lesson is uploaded.)

I started learning languages because I felt stupid for not understanding German and then French and then Latin and then Italian.  From there, it developed into something I simply had an interest in, but now there's a more important reason for me to study.  Even before I graduated university, I was considering going back to school because the degree that I "earned" was a useless joke from a terrible institution.  (I transferred universities half way through my junior year because I couldn't stand dorm life, but now I feel that I would have been much better just dropping out.)  Over the last few years especially, I've felt a growing urge to go back to the university I originally enrolled in, and the Theological Languages major that it offers (which focuses on Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and German) seems a far better fit for me than a degree in English was.  With my present circumstances, going back to school is impossible (I simply can't afford it, especially because it involves moving to an-other state), but as I work towards that goal, I'm trying to learn as much as I can on my own so that if/when I eventually start classes, they'll be that much easier.

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*Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hawaiian, Hungarian, Irish, Navajo, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Scottish Gaelic, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, and Welsh

Conquered Norwegian Skill Tree

I conquered the Norwegian skill tree on Duolingo:

Part of me feels like I cheated a bit though because I skipt over six or seven lessons.  There were some disgusting sentences in the Identity lesson that I refused to type, and I couldn't even test out of that specific skill without avoiding them, so I tested out at checkpoint 11.

Russian Level 2 Trophy

Conquered Hebrew Skill Tree

I conquered the Hebrew Skill Tree!  Also I have a 2,600-day streak.

Here's the level 1 trophy from the mobile version (which I've been avoiding lately because of the insufferable new hearts system):

Greek Level 3 Trophy

I earned the Greek level 3 trophy:

Italian Level 3 Trophy

This feels like more of an accomplishment than some of the other trophies I've earned because Italian was the first language I started on Duolingo in which I hadn't previously taken any classes.

German Level 4 Trophy

I earned the level 4 trophy in German Duolingo:

Latin Level 5 Trophy

I got the level 5 trophy in Latin Duolingo:

I took two semesters of Latin in college, and they contained a lot more grammar than the Duolingo course, but the Duolingo course had 100% more drunk parrots (psittaci ebrii) and dirty weasels (mustelae sordidae).

Navajo Level 2 Trophy

I earned the Level 2 Trophy in Navajo!

I must admit, though, that most of the time in the Navajo course, I'm just guessing until I stumble upon the correct answer.

Conquered Russian Skill Tree

I conquered the Russian Skill Tree on Duolingo:

I don't know specifically when (I noticed this only recently), but Duolingo has also introduced levels into the trophies.  If all of the lessons in a particular skill tree are completed to the second level, the trophy becomes a level two trophy (a trophy with two crowns).  If they're completed to the third level, it's a level three trophy, and so on.  Last week (the 6th), I earned the level 2 trophy in Greek, and I'm close to earning a few others.  One of the main purposes of creating this blog was to record when I levelled up in languages; since Duolingo replaced levels with this crown system, I guess the different level trophies are what I'll be tracking now.

Finnish

Yester-day, Duolingo announced the Finnish course, and I started it this morning.

This is the twenty-fifth foreign language I've started learning, which means I have only one more to go before I've matched Noah Webster's twenty-six.  Finnish was one of the languages I was holding out for, mostly because of Tolkien's glowing enthusiasm about it.  He writes that finding a book on Finnish grammar was "like discovering a complete wine-cellar filled with bottles of an amazing wine of a kind and flavour never tasted before.  It quite intoxicated me."  (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, p. 214).

I still have my sights set on Anglo-Saxon (Old English) and Sanskrit.

Conquered Greek Skill Tree

I did an extra Greek lesson to-day because I was only one away from conquering the skill tree on Duolingo.