lauren in japan

Being a teacher at a language school has got me wanting to be a student at a language school, but I don't know if I could stick with it, and I don't know which language I would choose. Of course, Spanish would be the most useful back in the homeland, but for some reason I've never been all that interested in it compared to other languages that have perked my linguistic senses. So, having already won the language lottery with English, any language study would be purely for...fun? I don't know. Based on seeing all of the work my students put into learning another language day in and day out, it can be fun, but it can also be frustrating, exhausting, and obviously incredibly time-consuming.

So I've got this idea to take six languages and six months and study one language every month using various resources just to feel each of them out as well as to prove that I would have the discipline to study (I'm thinking of maintaining a minimum of 15 minutes a day for studying, which may not sound like much, but any more seems a bit too daunting and I'd probably quit immediately because I'm just that flaky regarding self-imposed goals).

I keep feeling like I should say that I know just one month of studying isn't going to be very valuable -- but I see what just a month's break can do in decreasing a student's ability (you'd be surprised), and I see what improvements can be made in a just month (quite a bit) -- all the time.

I think the important thing is I'll definitely know more than when I started, even if all I'll be able to say is "hello," "thank you," and "I'm sorry, I don't speak _______" six different ways. Throw in the occasional "you seem to have mustard on your shirt, ambassador" or "my your mustache is bushy!" and I'll be happy.

The languages I've been considering are:

Portuguese
Italian
Hungarian
because I love the way they sound

Russian
German
because I'm scared of the way they sound

Spanish
because I could secretly be harboring an interest in it

Will I have the time and energy to get this idea rolling by the start of March? Time will tell. I guess the only way to do it is to do it.

For now, though, I'm going to drink some water upside-down because I've had violent hiccups throughout the writing of this entire post and ZEY MUSTEINT CONTINUENICHT! NEIN! (Perhaps I'll be starting with German! But real German, not made-up-when-I-have-violent-hiccups German.)