Japanese, Dutch and German

My first language is English. It's a handy one to know. I actually had to learn it twice during my early childhood. But for now I want to concentrate on the next three languages that I aim to acquire: Japanese, Dutch and German.

Japanese print shows a Dutch man and a German man drawing up a contract in a mercantile house in Yokohama, Japan. Done by Sadahide Utagawa (1807-1873) in 1861.

My 3 ‘Easy’ Languages

I want to acquire languages from varying start points, both to test whether my methods are universally applicable, but also because it would be a waste to ignore languages on which I’ve made a start.

Japanese
First started 20+ years ago but made very little progress. Have a history of resistance. In the past 2 years began to make some headway as a result of experimenting and refining my ideas. At the start of this 2-year period, I begin at an intermediate level as regards written Japanese, but at a beginner’s level with regard to speaking and listening.

Initial plan:

• Children’s book e.g. Enid Blyton, Magic Tree House to read and mine sentences
• Shadow HNT 1-10 in Japanese (Mami’s)
• Harry Potter for kanji
• Harry Potter for listening

Dutch

Technically my first language. I picked it up at home. I’ve spent the first year of elementary school in the Netherlands, but have never studied either grammar or tried to memorize any vocabulary. I start from a fairly advanced level.

Initial plan:

• Read Ghost Boy in Dutch done

German

Natural affinity to this language since I can guess at a good deal of it because of my Dutch and English. I completed a half-year beginner’s course in German at University 40 years ago. I’ve spent 2 weeks in Germany soon after that.

Initial plan:

• View My Name is Nobody in German and English done
  
• Thereafter, Harry book 3 text+audio

Other possible languages

French

I just love the work of Serge Gainsbourgh. But at high school, where I was obliged to do French for 2 years, I hated the language and thought it effeminate. Consequently I did poorly.

Hindi

I spent 18 months working at a school in the Punjab 35 years ago. I picked up the odd word, and tried to learn the alphabet. But since Punjabi and Urdu were spoken (at the English-medium school) I failed to make any further progress.

Update: see this blog.