Learning a Language

No, not a programming language. This time I am talking about a natural language. In my youth I was not a big fan of school, and I did everything to avoid spending time at it. And although my curriculum on the Dutch equivalent of high school included German, English and French, I definitely did not get everything out of that learning opportunity because of my own attitude.

Fortunately I was able to catch up later in my life. Because I lived In Germany for 4 years, and in the USA for 1.5 years I was able to bring my knowledge of German and English to a level that I feel totally comfortable doing business in both of them. My English and German are not perfect, but I can speak/write/understand both of them on such a level that I can communicate without any problems.

After moving to Zurich (Switzerland) in April this year a new challenge arose; “Switzerdeutsch”. Hearing it for the first few days it is like hearing Germans speaking Welsh. But after a few weeks I was really comfortable with it. Of course I have to ask for the exact meaning of words sometimes, but I understand really the most of it. I can`t speak it, but lucky for me the Swiss people understand German, so I am able to communicate. And for me that is the key issue of learning any language;

Being able to communicate.

And this got my interest lately because of two events. A few weeks ago I spend 5 days in the beautiful city Sofia (Bulgaria). I was visiting a friend (Моника, thanks for the invite!) and had really a blast.



Before my visit I learned a few words Bulgarian from my friend and her sister, but since I only knew them in Latin this did not do me any good in Bulgaria, because they write in Cyrillic.

Inspired by a post from Timothy Ferris titled “How to Learn Any Language in 3 Months”, I decided to give learning Bulgarian a fair shot. So I asked my friend to teach me Cyrillic. After practicing those few days on street signs, restaurant menus, magazines and news papers, I am actually pretty fluent in translating Latin in Cyrillic and the other way around now.

The last day I bought a book; “приказки от хиляда и eдна нощ” which is "One Thousand and One Nights" in English. Also known as the “Arabian Nights”, it is a collection of folk tales and other stories. Because I know the book from my childhood, I have at least a rough idea of what is told in each story. At the hand of the book I am further improving my Cyrillic, and start growing my vocabulary.

The next step will be learning some grammar. Additionally I am practicing Bulgarian by exchanging messages with Bulgarian friends on Facebook whom I met in Sofia, and during my studies in Germany.

Is this the right way to learn a new language? I don´t know (probably not), but it sure is a lot of fun, and I feel very comfortable with the process. I really feel like I make progress on a weekly basis, and I do not have to force myself, because I like doing it.

The second thing that happened and awakened my interest in learning languages is a project at work. I will spend 3.5 months in Lausanne (Switzerland) and they speak French over there. Timothy Ferris wrote another very interesting post titled “How To Resurrect you High School Spanish (Or Any Other Language)”, and that is exactly what I plan to do.

I want to use this opportunity to resurrect my high school French. Five years I had classes in French, but I have hardly used it the past 12 years. So it is far away, and I want to bring it back.

So as Timothy suggests I am actually watching some French videos (you got to love Youtube), and reading some French texts. In Lausanne I will practice conversations, grow my vocabulary and catch up on my grammar. I am really looking forward to it.

I will keep you posted on my progress. And when you have some good tips on how to learn a language (or some places I have to see in Lausanne); don´t be shy and leave a comment.

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