September Learn A Language Challenge

The first version of this blog is dated 10th February 2022 with the title Celebrating Small Victories.

For as long as I can remember, I've always been a big fan of language and culture. I'm an Egun girl, born and raised in Yoruba communities. People often confuse the Egun people to be a part of the Yoruba tribe of Nigeria, but that can't be more wrong. Egun language is a language on it's own with several dialects. Naturally, some Yoruba words have creeped into the basics but beyond that, it's an impossible maze for a native Yoruba speaker to crack. I was the best in English and Yoruba in my class and my knowledge of French was very decent (note my use of the past tense, don't bring me a Yoruba or French mystery to solve now, you'll be disappointed).

I don't really understand my parents' language; something I regret now but I can get the main idea in conversations. I can also successfully communicate to you that I don't understand a word of your conversation when you direct the conversation at me. People often find that funny and I think I get it.

This natural flare for languages made me decide to pick up a foreign language. I love so many languages but you can say my love for the Spanish language was transmitted. At the time I decided to learn the Spanish language, my immediate sister was learning it as well. I loved hearing people speak the language and their music culture especially attracted me. Infact, I made a cover of Vivir mi vida, you can check it out here and one day I hope to practice my salsa steps.

I made that decision 2018 and at the time, I picked my sister's notes, skimmed through and learned some words. I didn't know about any apps so I checked and downloaded materials from google and I got to realize that there's more to Spanish than hola and gracias. I discovered there are variants of the language mostly distinguished by geographical location. I kept at it then and when my eldest sister introduced me to Duolingo, I was more than overjoyed. She used to oppress me with the speaking lessons so I started learning from Duo too.

In my search, I discovered a site that encourages peer learning. You sign up, update your profile indicating your interests and you get suggestions on other people who have knowledge of that language and need to learn the language you are skilled in. It's a wonderful initiative but wasn't working for me as most people didn't respond to friend requests and the site wasn't easy to navigate. I made a Turkish friend though; I learned some Turkish for a short period of time and understand basic words like merhaba, arkadasim, tesekuler, gule gule and so many other words I've forgotten now. My friend got too busy and I wanted to focus on one language at a time so I dropped it.

Though he's been nothing but pure kindness, I have broken Duo's heart many times since then. My last attempt at maintaining a streak and being consistent was to spite my friend @monioluwa who used to flaunt his three-figure streak in my face mercilessly. I made it to day 76! but I eventually flopped. I was no longer enjoying the experience and hibernated for 4 months! That definitely neutralized my streak. Though I still catch myself chattering in Spanish whenever I feel excited about a post or something.

Now, with a mutual agreement, myself and @monioluwa have embarked on a 30 day streak, starting from the first of September with a minimum daily xp of 50, achievable yeah. This post is meant to keep me in check and hopefully, I'll be back to update you on September 30 how it goes. You could join in on this challenge too, let's learn and grow together. Might sound childish but I can just imagine me and my friends communicating in Spanish where nobody has a clue what we're talking about and that picture alone gives me joy in advance. And thanks to Hive, I can always practice by reading to understand posts in Spanish. You thought I was going to say write? Nah, the Spanish community would probably wonder what gibberish I wrote.

If you desire to join in on this challenge, it doesn't necessarily have to be the Spanish language, you could pick a language of your choice. For me, this challenge will help me practice grit and consistency. Drop your username on Duolingo so we can keep one another in check and grow together.

Thanks for visiting my blog, your opinions and suggestions would be highly welcome. See you next time 😘❤️❤️