So, I kinda realized something this week, which I suppose I should have known all along. Hell, I probably did, but my goals were too great for the time I have had, and will have, so here's a revised schedule for both this week and for the year in general. I'm going to combine my old weekly goal oriented approach with
ceid donn's 2-3 three month "intensive"
1 approach. I'll tackle my five languages as best as I can two at a time (maybe the last grouping will be three).
It would be a little different if I had more time, and/or was at different levels with all of these languages, but I think this is for the best, at least for now. If I manage to find more time, and can add on at some point, I'll do so. And I have a feeling I'll be finished with my Hebrew textbook a bit sooner than May, so I might be able to start German sooner. Plus, as far as German, Irish, and Polish are concerned, I really don't have them prioritized, so I may swap them around and start one of the others before German, idk.
So, here are the groupings:
March
2 through May - Biblical Hebrew & Japanese
June Through August - Japanese
3 & German
September Through November - Japanese
3, Polish & Irish
And what the hell, let's make Year-End Goals too (which I'll keep track of throughout the year as I post updates):
Year-End GoalsHebrew
- Complete Biblical Hebrew by Kittel, et al.
- Read Biblical Texts4
Japanese
- Complete Lessons 1-8 of Reading Japanese by Jorden & Chaplin
- Complete Lessons 1-24 in Minna No Nihongo [Beginner I] (Main text and Supplements5) by 3A
- Complete Lessons X-X in Minna no Nihongo [Beginner II] (Main Text and Supp.) by 3A6
- Complete Units 1-25 of Basic Japanese by Hamano & Tsujioka
- Read from Breaking into Japanese Literature, ed. Murray [optional]4
- Watch a shit ton of anime ✓
German
- Complete Lessons 1-43 in Living German by Buckley, ed. Coggle
- Complete Units 1-29 of Basic German by Schenke, et, al.
- Read from New Penguin Parallel Short Stories in German, ed. Zillkens4
Polish
- Complete Lessons 1-30 in First Year Polish (Main text & supp.) by Swan
- Complete Units 1-40 in Basic Polish by Bielec
- Read from Fifteen Modern Polish Short Stories, ed. Schenker4
Irish7
- Complete Lessons 1-27 in Teach Yourself Irish by Dillon & Ó Cróinín
- Read Munster literature (maybe some Ua Laoghaoire)4
- Read sections relevant to Munster Irish in Modern Irish by O Siadhail
- Read from Teanga Bheo: Corca Dhuibhne by Ó Sé [optional]
- Read from Gaeilge Chorca Dhuibhne by Ó Sé [optional]
I've roughly put my yearly goals in preferred order of progression and importance for each language.
Now, time to update my weekly goals:
Goals for Weeks 2/23-2/25Japanese
- Complete Lessons 1-2 of Reading Japanese by Jorden & Chaplin**
- Read Units 1-4 and do exercises from Unit's 3 &4 in Basic Japanese by Hamano & Tsujioka
- Complete Lesson 1 of the main text of Minna no Nihongo by 3A
Hebrew
- Complete Lessons 8-15 in Biblical Hebrew by Kittel, et al.
Notes:
1 I'm not sure how intensive I will take it. Especially with regard to Japanese. Everything else should be fine. I'd be happy enough with an A1ish level with Polish, Irish and German. It's really Hebrew, and especially Japanese I want to take as far as I can get this year.
2 Well, I'm starting this pretty much now, but it's so close to March we might as well not list February.
3 As hinted at above, I want to get as far as I can with Japanese this year. Because....well, I have plans. Anyway, that's why I'm sticking with Japanese pretty much all year. I hope to complete as much of Minna no Nihongo Beginning I & II as possible.
4 I'll have to set some specific goals and texts later. the Japanese reading is optional because I'm going to focus on working through the textbook(s).
TBA5 For any resources that say "& supplement", that means any workbooks that are meant to go along with the main textbook. If, for example I have completed lessons 5 in Minna no Nihongo, assume I have completed that lesson in the main textbook and all supplementary material unless otherwise stated.
For the sake of completeness (and so anyone reading this will get an idea of the amount of material I'm trying to get through), I'll list off the supplementary materials I have here:
Minna no Nihongo [Beginner I]-workbook
-kanji study book
-kanji workbook
-sentence pattern workbook
-writing workbook
-reader
(most of these workbooks are small; lesson content is mostly 1~2 pages long.)
First Year PolishThere are three "levels" with two sets of a workbook and an instructors manual each. The "levels" are called Beginning, Intermediate & Advanced, but they all go along with the First-Year Polish textbook. That being the case, I'm not sure just how "advanced" the Advanced level is for example. Each workbook and manual usually cover around 5 lessons from Swans textbook. I have the sets up to "Intermediate II". They also come with some awesome audio that follows the textbook, including the exercises!
Anyway....Most lessons in the workbooks take about 40 pages. But some of that is either study planning material or other "skip-able" material, so it's really only about 25-30 pages of actual exercise material to get through.
6 I don't have the second book [Beginner II] in the Minna no Nihongo series yet, so I can't fill in the lesson count yet. Nor do I know how long it will take me to get through Beginner I yet, so I can''t make a guess as to how far I would hope to make it into Beginner II by December.
TBA7 The readings from the grammars that are written in Irish are lower on the list because I want to have a good footing in Irish before trying to read them. That way I can get more out of them. You'll also notice the lack of the
Basic Irish grammar/workbook by Stensen (which I do have a copy of, as mentioned earlier in my blog). That's because I want to solely focus on Munster Irish for now. Once I feel I have a solid footing in Munster I'll branch out into the other dialects and the CO.