Every year, on my Japanese study log, I do a yearly retrospective post where I talk about everything that I did over the year, and whether or not I met my goals.
I went back and forth on whether I wanted to do one for this log or not. On the one hand, there were some pretty significant language learning things, like this log coming into existence, for one thing (I just checked, and this is actually this thread’s one year anniversary to the day), not to mention me starting to learn a whole entire new language!
On the other hand, 2024 was an awful, terrible year that I will remember the rest of my life, and I didn’t feel like I had accomplished enough language stuff to bother reporting back on it.
I guess the side of me that feels compelled to log stuff won out in the end, though, because here I am, writing a belated 2024 retrospective post after all.
Reading/listening practice
Here is my very short list of accomplishments last year (see my Japanese study log post for Japanese stuff specifically).
Books finished in Spanish:
- Mentirosa | L24 by Sonia Bellido Aguirre and Clara Ann Simons
Books started in Spanish:
- Lobizona | L30?? by Romina Garber
- La Ciudad de las Bestias | L27 by Isabel Allende
Podcasts listened to in Spanish:
- Radio Ambulante (29 episodes)
Films watched in Spanish:
- Coco | L23 (no subtitles)
I didn’t get far enough with Palestinian Arabic to really read/listen to much media (except with English subtitles, which I did watch several films that way), so I have nothing to report back on there.
Instead of setting direct goals or anything like that, I’m going to do something a little different and write a reflection on each language, and some of the things that are on my mind as we head into 2025.
Palestinian Arabic
Well, my big update here is that I know anything at all about the language now! This section in my log wouldn’t have even existed prior to this year.
However, I’m not even A1 level yet in any skill, so I can’t claim that I know any more than just some of the very basics.
As part of my reflection, I wanted to link this article titled Huda Fakhreddine & Yasmeen Hanoosh: Translating Arabic & Gaza, where two Arabic-English translators talk about the translator’s burden and the inadequacy of language during a genocide.
The piece resonated with me for many reasons, but one of my takeaways from it was, “Man, I need to get back into learning Arabic.” I want to do away with needing the intermediary of English.
It made me think, too, about how I once ended up on the Arabic version of wikipedia late last year (I was looking up خشخاش poppies when looking for art references for my October drawing challenge), and it had a banner at the top of the page with a message about Palestine, which the English version of wikipedia did not have. What does it mean that this was separated by language? What did they feel so compelled to say in Arabic that they couldn’t say with the same voice in English?
So I want to learn Arabic. I don’t know exactly when or how or where, but I want to learn it.
The friend I was learning the language with previously (before we had to put our lessons on pause due to her moving out of the state) is also interested in getting back into it, so I think if we can make it work, we’ll try to resume our lessons with our instructor in the West Bank, but there’s still so much up in the air, it’s impossible to say when that will happen, or if that will be able to happen.
I do want to learn more, though. If I have any sort of goal for 2025, that’s it: I want to learn more Palestinian Arabic.
Spanish
I had hoped, with Natively adding Spanish at the very start of the year, that 2024 would be an extremely productive year for me with reading in Spanish. I started out with pretty good momentum! But life had other plans for me, and I had to let go of a lot of my language goals because I didn’t have the time/energy for it anymore.
So I did not, in fact, manage to read more in Spanish this year than the last.
2025 also isn’t looking too great in that regard, either, so I’m not going to set any concrete goals, but I do want to try to read (and watch/listen, hopefully) at least some amount of Spanish, at whatever energy level I’m able to manage. It’d be nice if I can finish the books I already have in progress, but I know myself, and I’m not going to enforce that.
My first Spanish read of the year is probably going to be Nos llamaron Enemigo (They Called Us Enemy Spanish Edition) | L22??, the Spanish translation of George Takei’s graphic novel, which the Spanish fiction book club here is likely going to be reading next.
Just yesterday, I was talking to a Japanese-American friend and a Mexican-American friend, and we were talking about the history of Japanese internment camps in the U.S., and about how the current extreme anti-immigrant political climate in the U.S. feels alarmingly similar to the political climate from that time.
So Nos llamaron enemigo feels unfortunately very timely in that regard…
I don’t know if I really have much to say, and I’m probably already pushing the bounds of a study log a bit, but I feel like languages are always connected to the circumstances and politics which surround you.
I get the sense that knowing Spanish might become even more important in these coming years.
So I am going to keep doing what I can do, and keep practicing, and I guess prepare for the worst world while hoping I never have to see it.
