Revised Weekly Language Goals: Review

I think I've reached a plateau in my language learning. This always happens to me at some point during the journey (it did with French and later Italian), and usually occurs when life becomes busy. Well February has been more than busy, because I have spent/will spend 3 out of the 4 weekends abroad (Paris, Vienna, England), and as I currently am not entitled to paid holidays, I've had to make up the hours. All that to say I am slacking seriously with German, but looking forward to resetting the motivation in March (although that's already looking to be very busy too!).

Anyway on to this week's review, which will be short and sweet...

1. Done. I have the radio on whenever I walk to work, and I of course make sure I watch at least 2 programmes in German every week. I particularly like Karambolage on Arte because the programs are very short and they're all about explaining the German and French culture and way of life to the foreigner.
2. Done. On the conversation front, things are going quite well and it feels like I can hold up my end. I now use words that I have subconsciously learnt from reading.
3. Done. I wrote an email to my MIL as usual, but decided this time to really pay attention. I'm starting to move past the stage of being unable to communicate, to the stage where I have the vocabulary and know how to construct simple sentences, so I have decided to be stricter with myself and work harder on avoiding mistakes.
4. Done. I am still reading the book above, which I bought in Vienna. It's a normal novel for adults and is similar to the kind of books in English that I would normally pick up, so that makes it hold my attention. However my reading speed is much slower, and I will probably only finish it in another week.  Still, I am learning lots of new vocabulary which gets imprinted in my head, because I see the words being used repeatedly.
5. Done. I did my one chapter and managed to assimilate it. In fact I think that because I am working hard with the reading and conversation exchange, each week the chapter/grammar exercises seem easier. Kind of like the book is slower than my actual progress!
6. Not done. This is where I am really slacking. I can't seem to find the time or the motivation to do this to be honest. I might have to review this goal soon (maybe reducing the frequency), because I feel so bad whenever I realise I haven't achieved it.

I felt the week was a total flop, and was rather sad about how February seems to have gone, but writing this makes me realise I'm still making a lot of progress. And to be fair, doing 5 out of the 6 things on the list can in no one's books be classified as being an abject failure. There are a few more days to go before we finish the month, so I'm going to try to work hard and finish February on a high.

Wishing everyone a lovely week!