1000 Days of Language Learning

Today I crossed 1000 consecutive days of learning on Duolingo.

The lion’s share of this has been French. The goal has been to try to get to a point where I can be comfortable speaking French at work. Once the pandemic hit and my workshops went online, I started to get engaged with more customers in Quebec.

That hasn’t really worked out. My level of speaking is still at the level of greetings and short sentences, even if my reading comprehension is much higher. Without speaking French in an immersion or conversational environment, I really have my doubts that I will ever get to a point where I am comfortable. I greet my Quebec coworkers and can exchange pleasantries, so that I think is a moral victory.

The other thing that derailed the French-at-work notion is that we have hired a francophone Solution Architect, who is now taking on more of the work in Quebec. I will still need to work with primarily French-speaking clients, but not as often.

But my ability to read is really good and my vocabulary is getting quite large. I am about a quarter of the way through reading the French version of The Fires of Heaven, the 5th book in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. That’s a lot of reading, and it keeps getting faster and smoother.

Will I keep at it? Sure. We’ve got a Duolingo Plus family plan. Tammy does her German practice daily, and she’ll be crossing the 1000 day mark in a week or two. Miranda tries a bunch of different languages and Ian works on his French from time to time. I imagine that even if I get frustrated with my French speaking and try something new, I will come back and pick up some other language. It’s fun and works really well.