Is 'casual language proficiency' enough?

Let's say you have finally taken the leap and made the decision to acquire another language. Would you be satisfied with the goal of "casual proficiency" in the new language?  I read this term recently in a Profhacker blog, "Learn Another Language During Your Commute with Duolingo."

The reference to  Duolingo in the title is what caught my eye.  Duolingo is an online language learning program. I'll admit that I have been addicted to it for about a year now.  As a matter of fact, I  have a 357 day streak going, which means I have used Duolingo every day without fail for almost a year! Whenever I run across an article about Duolingo, which is getting great coverage in the news these days. I read it with great interest.

The Duolingo Owl keeps me motivated!

I have often thought that one of the most difficult aspects of language acquisition is the "stick-to-ivness factor."  Lots of people claim they want to learn another language.  But when it comes to the daily effort required, most of us give up before we reach our goal. 

And this is where the concept of "casual proficiency" may be of benefit to language learners.  The idea of setting a reasonable but not overly ambitious goal for language acquisition sounds great to me!  After all, the idea that I am learning a new language to be a translator for the United Nations may be a bit unrealistic.

I signed on to Duolingo practice with the goal of maintaining proficiency in Portuguese, which I had been teaching at a local state university.  Then I added Spanish, because my college major was Spanish, and I live on the Texas-Mexico border where daily opportunities to use Spanish exist. Next I added French because I have taken lots of French courses in the past, and also because I have French Canadian friends whose bilingual ability puts me to shame.  And finally, I added Irish Gaelic.

My profile on Duolingo

Why Irish Gaelic, you may well ask. I'm not sure myself except to say I have always been drawn to Celtic languages. And let me tell you, Irish Gaelic is not an easy language for a native English speaker to learn!   But  the concept of "casual proficiency"   keeps me working on Irish every day.

I am certainly not going to be recruited by the European Union as a translator.  I will not have any college credits in Irish Gaelic on a transcript. I will not be able to understand Irish on radio or television or read an Irish language newspaper. If I were fortunate enough to travel to Ireland in the next year, I still would not feel confident enough to strike up a conversation in Irish in one of those lively pubs.

Irish pub

  

And yet, just the mere fact that I can now recognize some Irish words, find the verb at the beginning of the sentence, and maybe understand a familiar word spoken in the lilting accent is enough to keep me slogging through the Duolingo lessons. And I shouldn't say slogging. Duolingo lessons are one of my favorite entertainments.

After all, I can find comfort in the fact that "casual proficiency" just about describes the relationship I have with my iPhone 5s.  And I'm certainly not going to give up on it anytime soon!