German and French

When I was a kid, I really wanted to learn German.

I borrowed "learn German" books from the library, and picked up an old 1960s German course book from a second hand store. I diligently read the first couple of lessons in that book, feeling so very proud of myself when I could "read" those dinky little passages of text they have at the end of each chapter (something about a boy and his dog going to the park).

But, if I have one character flaw that has haunted me for as long as I can remember, it's my inability to finish anything that doesn't come with a due date. In the absence of some external force saying: "Continue to read this book until some good can come of it - the outcomes of which will be measured on this specific and clearly defined date", I just sort of let everything slide.

Thus, I never really got as far as the numbers, no matter how many times I borrowed a book on the subject from a library, or looked at that old course book. I looked at that old course book a fair bit, over the years, as I ended up using it to prop up a piece of furniture after a foot broke off. I'd like to see you do that with an electronic book.

Anyway, I managed to distract myself with other languages with which I never really did anything. A brief infatuation with Spanish caused me to learn enough of the third most spoken language in the world to say "Hola! Habla Español?", which is about as useful as a cheeseburger to a drowning elephant in the grand scheme of things.

Then it was Indonesian in high school - not because I actually wanted to learn Indonesian, but because it was offered opposite Geography, and sounded more interesting. Personally, I thought Indonesian was a bit of a waste of my time, due to the fact that it is only spoken in Indonesia. Very handy if one was planning to visit Indonesia, but it won't give you any kind of advantage in Vladivostok, will it? And, quite frankly, I've always been more likely to visit Vladivostok than Indonesia. Obviously, I should have taken Geography.

It was also during these years that I started watching French In Action on ABC on a semi-regular basis. They repeated it a few times, and I never quite caught the whole series, but the language kind of spoke to me. So much so, that I ended up putting myself through an Elementary French evening course at the university when I was in Year 11.

Now, I didn't follow up on that with Intermediate and Advanced courses, which I should have. I also didn't take any French subjects at university (although I was thinking about it) because I was focused on the English and Theatre subjects I needed for my course. I regret both of those things, because it would have been the ideal time to actually get some real language skills. Instead, most of what I learnt from that short course and the French in Action programme atrophied and fell out of my brain.

That said, I think my vague interest in French coincided with just the right period of synapse development in my brain, because there's something about French that feels like a comfortable pair of shoes. I can't communicate in the language in any way, shape or form, but I can read some basic bits - I picked up a feel for how English and French dance with each other so I can sometimes work out what the French text is getting at.

Also, some of the phrases from the show are burned into my brain so that, to this day, when I don't like something I have to fight the urge to declare: "Je détester ce!" - something which I have no doubt spelt badly as I actually have no idea how to write it. I also have a weird tendency to occasionally say "Salut!" instead of "hello", which usually just confuses whoever actually notices what I say. Thankfully, most people don't.

The crazy-annoying thing is that French and Indonesian managed to get into my brain when the getting was easy, and now when I'm trying to learn another language, I find that they're getting in the way. I'll try to think of the Russian for "hello", but the French will come to me. I'll try to count in Estonian, but realise that I've managed to switch to Indonesian part-way through.

I hope, one day, to go back to French and learn it well-ish. In the meantime, I've actually come full circle, and now I'm back to German again. I've decided that I should try to have a "useful" European language under my belt before considering moving to Europe, and my brief fling in Estonia has convinced me that German is probably the best one to go with.

I'm back to borrowing "introduction to German" books out of the library, and I'm planning on starting a Diploma in Languages next year with a German major. I'm still trundling ahead with Estonian, and I haven't completely given up on Russian, but I think German will probably be my primary language focus once I get started.

Just so long as someone gives me a due date...