There's too little information online, in the library and in the bookstore.
It is a lovely language, don't get me wrong, and it's nice to know it, and it's wonderful to have learned more about it and to learn to know Viola, but... there just isn't enough reward in it.
I will continue, though, as I am getting there, but... It's not going to be a fun weekend.
Albanian wordbook online and Verbix - the verb conjugation tool - for Albanian
BTW, eel in Albanian is ngjala. Astrid Lindgren wrote a book in which was the magical world of Nangijala.
One thing about the flash cards. Don't forget to write a little something so that you recognize the language in the future...
Or use Anki. A lot of people love it, like Judith. I'm not sure... I don't have an iPod or a mobile phone so advanced it could handle this amount of information, or any other such device, so I would need to use it on my computer only. I want the vocabulary card movability, so I think I'll stay with my pieces of paper.
Guess what, I didn't know about flash cards before I moved to Sweden. Here they are obviously a common practice in language learning. They are called "glosor". There's even several internet sites teaching foreign languages to Swedes connected to this idea. As far as I know these things don't even have a Finnish name.
AJATT: Critical Frequency
I know the feeling. I am Finnish, and I moved to Sweden when I was about 25. I met my husband-to-be, and at 30 we got married. At the moment I use three languages all the time.
My Finnish used to be perfect. It's not anymore. I'm losing it, and it makes me terrified. I really thought that the language I have once gained, I'm going to keep for the rest of my life. Not so.
My Finnish is still strong enough that I understand every word I hear and read, but I'm struggling with finding the right word or expression. I still get it back quickly, a week in Finland is enough to give me back my Finnish accent.
One solution to the problem is to read. I am lucky to be living in Sweden, where there is a lot of Finnish literature available. We also have Finnish television.
But - I do want to be a polyglot, and know ALL the languages of the world... I used to fantasize about being able to go and rescue dying languages, especially the Finnish languages in Russia... but if it means that I have to choose... the more languages I know, the less of each language I can know... that I pay for my English with my Finnish... that idea makes the ability to fluently speak several languages less attractive. I really don't want to lose ANY of my Finnish...
On the other hand...
I don't know how much of this "we only use some 10 % of our brain capacity" theories are true and valid. Someone said that's bull, because we use all of our brain all the time. We just don't controll most of the brain usage.
I do know that we can learn to read faster.
I also know that there's a lot of time in a day we aren't using or could be using better.
Perhaps I could take the "reading-listening" method and get all the books both in audio format and paper format. In stead of reading two languages side by side, read one language with sound... it should do something to keep my perfect Finnish accent :-D
Also, I suppose one, two or three languages aren't yet too noticeable in the amount of words, considering that a lot of the words in each language are borrowed, like astrology.
Hyvää päivää / hei,
ReplyDeleteI have just stumbled across your collection of blogs, from googling Klaus Haapeniemi, and would like to say how much I have enjoyed reading them.
Especially your Aspin Words (in English, my Finnish extends to counting to two, bookshop, university, hello and thank you)
My boy is in the process of diagnosis for Aspergers and your words gave us much comfort. Kiitos.
Blessings,
Charlotte (ironically married to a half English/half Swedish speaking Finn).