Getting inspired

Polyglottally's 52 in 52 challenge*

What?

To familiarize oneself with 52 languages, and perhaps even learn something, or to improve those languages I already am familiar with.

Why?

Because I can. Duh!

The List:

Yes, I will publish it in beforehand. I have no problems with discussing it, and I will take suggestions into consideration, but this list is pretty much carved in stone now, and won't be changed, unless I choose to do so. I have my reasons for choosing these specific languages, and as I don't know half of them, I might find out that I am not very interested in knowing them either.

1) They are all European languages, or spoken in Europe.
2) Most of them are very closely related.
3) I am a medievalist romantic... so I have chosen such languages like Lombard, Gascon and Aragonese. They sound interesting :-D

I know I'm not very adventurous, and courageous; I am familiar with about half of them already, but I want to know all of them better.

Estonian
Sámi
Hungarian
Irish Gaelic
Scottisch Gaelic
Welsch
Breton
Manx
Cornish
Scots
Dutch
Icelandic
Norwegian
Danish
Franconian
Yiddish
German
Alemannic
Polish
Serbo-Croatian
Bulgarian
Russian
Lithuanian
Latvian
Albanian
Romansch
Latin
Italian
Monegasque
Lombard
Francoprovençal
Walloon
French
Romanian
Occitan
Gascon
Asturian
Aragonese
Catalan
Castilian Spanish
Galician
Portuguese
Basque
Greek
Romani
Sanskrit
Turkish
Maltese
Cypriot Arabic
Arabic
Hebrew
Syriac

Edited 17/7-16

The "polyglottally" blog isn't there any more
 Here's the blog entry

The Challenge

This is the first full week of 2010. The new year—indeed, the new decade—is a fine time to dedicate oneself to an outlandish, over-the-top resolution. And what could be more over-the-top than to learn 52 languages in 52 weeks?
Before you get all excited, let me qualify: I’m aiming for familiarity rather than fluency. I intend to learn about each language, its usage, the peculiarities, the history, some basic vocabulary to get by, that sort of thing. At the end of each week I will know enough to be polite to strangers and an obnoxious know-it-all to my friends.

Why?

Every quest needs a purpose. I have four:

1. To familiarize myself with as many languages as possible. The more I know, the valuable I can pretend I am to others.
2. To focus my energy and learn some discipline. But only some.
3. To productively use my time during the commute to work, instead of reading potboiler political action thrillers.
4. Mostly to indulge my curiosity. And be an obnoxious know-it-all to my friends.

But why blog about it? I read somewhere that if you are serious about something, you should make your intentions public. That way you are accountable to others as well as yourself and it’s more difficult (i.e., embarrassing) to quit. Thanks to the internet, it has never been easier to let the public know what you are up to, even if that public is really just Google indexing your pages.

Influences and dedications

Yes, I admit it, I saw Julie & Julia and was inspired to pursue my own silly, ambitious quest. If it weren’t for Julie Powell, I would still be casting about for something to do on my bus ride home.
I have also been influenced by Benny the Irish Polyglot and his crazy linguistic adventures (check out his blog Fluent in 3 Months). I can only hope to one day be as brave and as extroverted as he.
David Seah has also motivated me to make honest self-assessments and experiment with what I do to do it better. His blog, davidseah.com, is labelled “an investigative approach to design, productivity and inspiration,” three values I will need on this journey.
Finally, I would like to thank my wife in advance for putting up with my hobby. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled! :)
I don’t know any of these people personally (except for my wife, of course), but I’m judging them by their actions and their own personal missions are what gave me this idea.

Quit procrastinating

Part of this exercise is to practice action rather than merely planning or thinking. So without further ado, let’s get started.