My friend Mary asked me to come up with twelve languages I'd like to learn and where I'd like to go to learn them. It's taken me a while to get back to her, but I think I've finally got it. My strategy was to get as many etymologically and structurally different kinds of languages as possible, while at the same time trying to get the most out of my efforts. Hence, learning Hindi so that I could later 'claim' Urdu, and learning Serbian so that I could immediately claim Croatian. I also played it pretty conservatively on the phonological systems, opting for the non-tonal language in a family of mostly tonal languages, and preferring languages with fewer vowels. I've found I enjoy learning a language so much more when I can actually hear the words from early on.
Without further ado and in no particular order, 12 months, 12 languages:
1. Portuguese, Brazil
a. It sounds like fun, and would be interesting to compare to Spanish. Plus, I secretly want to be a bossa nova lounge singer.
2. Romanian, Romania
a. A lifelong dream.
b. The Romance language with heavy Slavic influence.
c. It was the only Romance language crazy enough to retain the case system.
3. Turkish, Turkey
a. Mary made it sound so fun, and I'm excited to look for Arabic cognates.
b. Vowel Harmony sounds like something I want to try. A real challenge.
4. Quarani, Paraguay
a. I’ve heard good things about the ‘guays.
b. It’s HIGHLY AGLUTINATIVE!
c. Nasal Harmony, but otherwise close to the Spanish sound system
d. Along with Spanish, the official language of Paraguay. 88% of the population speaks it, INCLUDING a large portion of non-indigenous people- socio-politico-linguistic anomaly in South America and, arguably, the world.
e. A Tupí language… a cute word that lends itself well to many jokes. Now excuse me, I have to pee.
5. Haitian Creole, Haiti
a. My students are all Haitian and they are lovely people.
b. It sounds like so much fun to speak.
c. I want to learn a creole.
d. This way, I don’t have to learn French. Awesome.
e. I feel like everyone should do something for Haiti, so maybe this would open up that path for me.
6. Tamazight, Morocco
a. The only known language with no limit on consonant clusters!!!
b. Syllables don’t need to contain a vowel!!!!
c. There are only 3 vowels.
d. The Tifinagh looks like top secret ancient code.
e. It’s a minority language.
f. It has a root system.
7. Hindi, India
a. I’d like to learn the alphabet
b. Since I already know the Arabic alphabet, with a little work I could tag Urdu onto the language list.
c. It’s an Indo-Iranian language, and I secretly dream of becoming a world-renowned Indo-European Linguist.
d. Good food, and my friend Mary Carroll made it look like a lot of fun.
e. Non-verbal communication. It has distinguishing gestures that I want to learn how to do, like the head roll.
8. Russian, Russia
a. Aside from the Cyrillic Alphabet, the TV looks pretty good (We get a Russian channel at my gym).
9. Tswana, Botswana
a. I read the Ladies’ First Detective Agency book that Andy left after he visited Morocco, and the author made Botswana sound fascinating.
b. Subsequent online research confirmed that Botswana is fascinating.
c. It’s a tonal language, but only has two tones, so I think I can handle that.
d. It’s a Bantu language.
10. Serbian
a. AKA Croatian. Two! Two languages for the price of one! Yes, I want to learn this language just because I can turn around and count it as two.
b. Cyrillic Alphabet
11. Ainu, Hokkaido, Japan
a. Two birds with one stone: a language isolate and an endangered language.
b. Generally simple sound system (5 vowels) but they do have pitch accent.
c. Written in Japanese Katakana and/or Latin alphabet.
12. Korean, Korea
a. Unique alphabet
b. Similarities to Japanese (Jap: ichi, ni, san, shi, go= Kor: il, e, sam, sa, o). I love discovering patterns, so I think this would be a real treat.
Runners Up: Finnish, Wolof, Khmer, Pennsylvania Dutch (Because you have to recognize the local)
Without further ado and in no particular order, 12 months, 12 languages:
1. Portuguese, Brazil
a. It sounds like fun, and would be interesting to compare to Spanish. Plus, I secretly want to be a bossa nova lounge singer.
2. Romanian, Romania
a. A lifelong dream.
b. The Romance language with heavy Slavic influence.
c. It was the only Romance language crazy enough to retain the case system.
3. Turkish, Turkey
a. Mary made it sound so fun, and I'm excited to look for Arabic cognates.
b. Vowel Harmony sounds like something I want to try. A real challenge.
4. Quarani, Paraguay
a. I’ve heard good things about the ‘guays.
b. It’s HIGHLY AGLUTINATIVE!
c. Nasal Harmony, but otherwise close to the Spanish sound system
d. Along with Spanish, the official language of Paraguay. 88% of the population speaks it, INCLUDING a large portion of non-indigenous people- socio-politico-linguistic anomaly in South America and, arguably, the world.
e. A Tupí language… a cute word that lends itself well to many jokes. Now excuse me, I have to pee.
5. Haitian Creole, Haiti
a. My students are all Haitian and they are lovely people.
b. It sounds like so much fun to speak.
c. I want to learn a creole.
d. This way, I don’t have to learn French. Awesome.
e. I feel like everyone should do something for Haiti, so maybe this would open up that path for me.
6. Tamazight, Morocco
a. The only known language with no limit on consonant clusters!!!
b. Syllables don’t need to contain a vowel!!!!
c. There are only 3 vowels.
d. The Tifinagh looks like top secret ancient code.
e. It’s a minority language.
f. It has a root system.
7. Hindi, India
a. I’d like to learn the alphabet
b. Since I already know the Arabic alphabet, with a little work I could tag Urdu onto the language list.
c. It’s an Indo-Iranian language, and I secretly dream of becoming a world-renowned Indo-European Linguist.
d. Good food, and my friend Mary Carroll made it look like a lot of fun.
e. Non-verbal communication. It has distinguishing gestures that I want to learn how to do, like the head roll.
8. Russian, Russia
a. Aside from the Cyrillic Alphabet, the TV looks pretty good (We get a Russian channel at my gym).
9. Tswana, Botswana
a. I read the Ladies’ First Detective Agency book that Andy left after he visited Morocco, and the author made Botswana sound fascinating.
b. Subsequent online research confirmed that Botswana is fascinating.
c. It’s a tonal language, but only has two tones, so I think I can handle that.
d. It’s a Bantu language.
10. Serbian
a. AKA Croatian. Two! Two languages for the price of one! Yes, I want to learn this language just because I can turn around and count it as two.
b. Cyrillic Alphabet
11. Ainu, Hokkaido, Japan
a. Two birds with one stone: a language isolate and an endangered language.
b. Generally simple sound system (5 vowels) but they do have pitch accent.
c. Written in Japanese Katakana and/or Latin alphabet.
12. Korean, Korea
a. Unique alphabet
b. Similarities to Japanese (Jap: ichi, ni, san, shi, go= Kor: il, e, sam, sa, o). I love discovering patterns, so I think this would be a real treat.
Runners Up: Finnish, Wolof, Khmer, Pennsylvania Dutch (Because you have to recognize the local)
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