I am not a 'completer finisher' or so my wife tells me. This is unfortunate and I'm starting to suspect accurate.
This year, I decided that I would focus on French, which is a language that I read and understand reasonably well, but can't speak at all. I don't need to speak French, but every now and then visit France and cringe inwardly as I mutter the odd 'merci'. The French wince rather more obviously, and I don't blame them.
I thought that I should be able to at least reach some sort of competent (albeit low) conversational level in French over the year.
And everything was going fine. My French comprehension has improved through repeated listening to and reading to Alice au pays des merveilles, and I was on the cusp of finding someone to talk to (through iTalki or somewhere similar).
But recently I've been distracted partly by Morte a Firenze (a thriller by Marco Vichi), which has lead me back to Afrikaans.
Let me explain.
I've been listening to and reading to 'Morte a Firenze' to improve my Italian comprehension and vocabulary. I've read several Italian novels this year, and have noticed a huge improvement in my spoken language (I have a weekly Italian conversation exchange). I'm totally convinced that listening and reading are the way forward - for me anyway.
And so I was wondering whether I could listen and read to improve my (very poor) Afrikaans. I more or less understand how Afrikaans grammar works (many of the structures are similar to English), and armed with that knowledge I've decided to work my way through Kobra by Deon Meyer and also listen to the audio book at the same time.
Initially this will be a painful process. It certainly was with Italian, but I discovered with Italian that after reading my first novel that my progress was exponential.
I'm more interested in understanding and reading Afrikaans than conversation, as realistically I will never need to speak it, but that doesn't mean that I can't have access to Afrikaans literature.
Many of my projects start with "I've decided to ... and don't always come to fruition, but hope springs eternal.
Pax,
Moonface. May. 2016