Trying not to speak Irish with a Spanish accent

I'm trying to learn how to speak Irish.  Well, that may be a bit of an overstatement.  I'm trying to learn to pronounce Irish words.  My first hint that Irish pronunciation was not going to be a pushover was learning that the greeting Dia duit  (literally "God be with you")  is pronounced [jee-uh ghitch].  That pronunciation was quite a shock. My mind had been silently sounding the letters as [dee-a do-it]. Silly me!

Another obstacle to learning oral Irish is that I speak it with a Spanish accent.  Spanish was the first foreign language I acquired. My Spanish accent is not native-like, but it is acceptable. When I try to speak other Romance languages, Portuguese, French or Italian, they all come out with a bit of a Spanish accent.  But since all of those languages belong to the same language family, my funny accent is not so noticeable. Have you experienced the same phenomenon in your language learning?

Well, enough of excuses.  It is time to make a plan for pronouncing Irish.  If I don't suspend my study of Irish grammar right now and learn to say the words correctly that I am writing, I fear I may be digging myself a deeper hole.

My first step was a short investigation of the Irish sound system in my new book, Speak Irish Now. The authors explain that the six Irish vowels are a, e, i, o and u.  Ah now that sounds familiar.  On the next page, however, they explain that the vowels can have a short or long sound, with the long sound indicated by an accent on the vowel (á,é,í,ó, ú). For example, "a" sounds like "uh," as in the English word "up."  But á makes the sound of "aw," as in English "paw."   Well, fair enough.  English also has short and long vowel sounds, and it doesn't even bother to mark them with a written accent.

Another key concept of the Irish vowel system is the identification of broad vowels, that is "a," "o," and "u"  and slender vowels, "e" and "i."  Whether a vowel is identified as broad or slender may affect the pronunciation of consonants.

The thirteen Irish consonants are  b, c, d, f, g, h, l, m, n, p, r, s, and t.  The consonants may have two different pronunciations, depending on whether they are surrounded by broad or slender vowels. Take the letter "d" for example.  When "d" is surrounded by broad vowels, it is pronounced as an English speaker would expect, like the [d} in "dot."  But when the "d" appears with slender vowels, the sound changes to the [dj] sound of English "edge."  Now I understand why the Irish word for "god," "Dia" sounds like "jee-uh."  (See first paragraph of this post.)

And more changes to consonant sounds lie in wait to trip up the unsuspecting student of Irish. Some consonants can be softened by putting an "h" after the consonant.  For example, "fh" surrounded by either broad or slender vowels, becomes silent!  And "bh" with broad vowels is [w] while "bh" with slender vowels is [v].  I wonder if the softening is what gives Irish its lyrical quality?

Are you glassy-eyed yet?  Finally, some consonants can be "eclipsed" by other consonant sounds.  If you see the letter combination "gc," the "g" is eclipsing the "c," so you will make a "g" sound, not a "c' sound.

Oh, my!  The phonetic and phonological rules of Irish are fascinating but formidable. I will probably have more success with being given an approximate pronunciation, as in this sentence that translates as, "Are you here?"

Will I ever be able to pronounce Irish without a Spanish accent?

Do I REALLY need to learn grammar?

About two years ago, I added Irish Gaelic to the list of my languages on DuoLingo, a popular on line language learning site.  DuoLingo has the best motivational program I have found, on or off line.  I wouldn't think of failing to do my daily DuoLingo any more than I would fail to feed the cat.

Wow!  I have a great streak going on DuoLingo!

I had made a vow to myself that if I started a new language on DuoLingo, one that I had no previous experience with, that I would try a  natural approach, that is, no grammar study.  I would do the practice exercises and try to deduce how the Irish language works from the material presented. DuoLingo does offer grammar explanations, but I was not going to read them.

A fierce debate about grammar study has been raging in the language learning world for some time now, with neither side claiming a clear victory.  Grammar proponents, many of them traditionalists, insist that learners study grammar as a first step to learning a new language. Grammar opponents, on the other hand, believe that language learners should be introduced to a new language, mainly through listening and reading, before formal grammar study begins.  

I am currently at Level 16 (out of 25 levels) on DuoLingo in Irish, and I have deduced many structural elements of that language—the verb, subject, object (VSO) word order; the use of prepositions to say "have;" the placing of adjective after nouns, to name a few.  I can even recognize the subject of most verbs by their endings.  But recently I had two experiences that made me long for, yes, an Irish grammar book.

My husband, Wayne, and I spent two weeks traveling around Ireland by train and car. 

Sunbathers on a warm day in Galway City, Ireland

It was a memorable trip, but I found that I had no functional ability in Irish. When we returned, a blog post I wrote about my new Irish dictionary connected me with a lovely Irish lady who offered to help me learn Irish!  As I was struggling to communicate with her via Messenger, I discovered that I couldn't express myself in Irish without some grammar assistance.

Two grammar sources are now giving me support and a modicum of peace of mind.  The grammar explanations offered on DuoLingo are looking a lot more appealing.  And Speak Irish Now, ordered on amazon.com, offers tantalizing chapter titles such as "Regular Verbs in Irish," and "A Little About Attributive Adjectives." 

Have I answered my own question, "Do I REALLY need to learn grammar?"  Unfortunately, no.  As they say nowadays, it's complicated.  What I do know is that if I would have had to learn the information on this DuoLingo chart when I first began to learn Irish,

I probably would have given up.  Now that I have some Irish under my belt, the chart is proving to be very useful, even fascinating  (Yes, really!).

My best wishes to language learners throughout the world who wrestle with the complexities of language acquisition. It is a struggle, but oh the rewards! 

Irish accents have captivated me

What a treat to watch a historical drama and hear another dialect of English as a bonus.

I'm thinking of the TV series "Peaky Blinders," now in its third season on Netflix from the BBC.

One of the main characters in the first two episodes is Major Chester Campbell who plays a detective from the Royal Irish Constabulary, sent from Belfast, Northern Ireland to subdue a criminal gang in Birmingham, England (the "Peaky Blinders").  Major Campbell is a character I grew to despise as the series progressed, and I did not mourn when he was sent to his just reward.  I must admit though I did love it every time he came on the scene because of his lyrical, captivating Irish accent, even when he said truly horrible things. 

Major Campbell is played by the actor Sam Neill.  I read that Mr. Neill enlisted the help of two Northern Irish actors, James Nesbitt and Liam Neeson to coach him in using an Ulster Irish accent; however, Mr. Neill had to tone down his accent because the series was going to be distributed for American audiences.  What a shame!  As long as closed captioning remains available, I would have been intrigued by a "full strength" Irish English accent.

See if you can pick out Major Campbell's accent in the following YouTube trailer.

Another connection I have to Irish English is an interest in Irish Gaelic, which I get a daily dose of on the language learning site Duolingo.  Irish English is also known as Hiberno-English, a set of dialects spoken in the different regions of Ireland. And some of the features of Hiberno-English can be traced to Irish Gaelic.

Irish Gaelic does not use separate words for "yes" and "no" when answering questions.  Rather, a Gaelic speaker answers with the verb of the question, using a negative form of the verb if needed. As a result, Hiberno-English speakers use the words "yes" and "no" less frequently than speakers of other English dialects. Examples would be  "Are you leaving soon?  I am." "Is your car fixed?  It isn't."

Another difference in Hiberno-English and Standard English is the use of the verbs "bring" and "take."  (I must admit to finding these words confusing.)  In Standard English, direction is the deciding factor of which verb to use.  Going from here to there?  Use "take."  Coming from there to here?  Use "bring."  In Hiberno-English, "take"  is only used to describe transfer of possession from one person to another.  "Bring" is used in all other circumstance, whether coming or going.

Have you ever wished English had a plural form for "you"?  Irish English has one, based on the influence of Gaelic, which has both a singular you, "tú" and a plural you, "sibh."  The form is "ye" or sometimes "yous" or "youse."  (We Texans are just as inventive as the Irish with our "y'all.")

Great history.  Great language lessons.  Great entertainment.  The series "Peaky Blinders" provides it all. 

Are you frustrated with language learning?

I have been feeling a little frustrated recently about language learning.  Do you know the sensation? You really want to make progress in a certain language, but it is just not happening for you.

Irish Gaelic is the language that is currently making me chew my fingernails when I sit down at the computer. Irish is the only foreign language I have studied that is not in the Romance family of languages.  And I chose Irish on purpose for that very reason - I wanted a challenge.  And did I ever get what I asked for!

Currently I am trying to acquire Irish Gaelic on two different programs. Let's call them Program 1 and Program 2. Both are web-based.  I'm not going to slander them, because both programs are well formulated and well presented.  But the fact that I am very frustrated doing Program 2 leads me to analyze what's going wrong for me personally. The answer may lie in the language skills that each program chooses to present first.

The traditional language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing are well known.

Although all four language skills can be interrelated, each skill has unique aspects as well.   Two of the most sought after language skills are listening and speaking, you know, so you can actually have a face-to-face conversation with someone.  The reading and writing skills are important for such mundane communication as text messages or emails, and also, of course, for reading and writing great literature.

One of the many debates in the field of language acquisition is which skill or skills to learn first.  Or should there be a first skill?  Should all skills be learned simultaneously?

Program 1, which I have been doing daily in Irish for about a year now, has yet to require me to speak Irish.  I have to read Irish, write Irish, and translate Irish, but I have not yet been asked to speak Irish. I know from working in other languages in the same program that after you reach a certain level, questions that require an oral response to be recorded are included. But a whole year without speaking?  There may be a method to their madness.

Program 2, which I have been doing for only several weeks, almost immediately required that I listen to phrases, repeat them, and then formulate my own sentences.  And I couldn't do it!  After a few minutes, I clicked off the computer and walked away, feeling very guilty.  Sound familiar?

Although the perfect language learning experience has yet to be discovered, one well-known approach is to allow learners to have a "Silent Period," during which language is presented for understanding, but no immediate response is required.

When working with Program 2, I would have enjoyed a more gradual introduction to Irish, where I could concentrate on understanding what was being said, rather than immediately being asked to perform all the tasks that speaking requires - remembering the vocabulary, arranging the words in the right order, and making the correct sounds, some of them familiar and others not.  Whew!  No wonder we language learners tear our hair out!

Now that I have ranted and raved, I may log on to Program 2 one more time, just to see if it caught me in a bad mood last time around.  But I am really looking forward to working in Irish in Program 1 again, where I can relax and take my time with the language.  But I can't order a Guinness in Dublin in Irish as yet!

   

Why I study languages I may never speak

Studying World Languages

The Holy Grail of language acquisition is the ability to speak another language.  And I have no quarrel with that.  Communicating in a new language is, I think, pretty thrilling.

But recently I was questioning why I continue to study Irish Gaelic, faithfully devoting time to it each and every day.

Maybe our family travels will take me to Ireland in the near future. Maybe I will be able to read a sign or two in the Dublin Airport.  Or maybe I will understand a snatch of conversation as I crowd in with other tourists to view the Book of Kells at Trinity University.

But my true motivation in studying Irish Gaelic is none of the above.  The truth is I like the effect that even a small amount of this Celtic language has on my brain.  Let me explain.  My daily routine is to practice four languages on my favorite web-based language program, Duolingo.

Duolingo Owl

When I practice French, Portuguese, and Spanish, which are all Latin-based languages that I have studied formally, I can answer Duolingo's questions pretty much on automatic pilot.  Sometimes I even daydream and make silly typing mistakes.  But I always leave Irish Gaelic practice to the end, because I know this language will require me to actually THINK.

The first challenge is the structure of the Irish sentence.  After years of thinking of a normal English sentence as a subject, a verb, and an object, in that order, I have to make a conscious effort to construct an Irish sentence with a verb, a subject, and an object, in that order.

English:  He loses his cat every night.

Irish (literal) Loses he his cat every night. (Cailleann sé a chat gach oiche.)

And this small change is not as easy to internalize as one might think. I can't tell you how many times I have been bleeped by the Duolingo Owl for an incorrect response by failing to put the verb first in the Irish sentence.

The same Irish sentence (Cailleann sé a chat gach oiche)  also presents another brain challenge - keeping languages straight in the mind.  The third Irish word, "a," meaning "his" is the same word as a word very familiar to me in Portuguese - "the" as in a gata- the cat. So Duolingo has another chance to bleep me for mistranslating "his," a possessive pronoun for the definite article "the."

An even bigger brain challenge in Irish that is new to me is the "prepositional pronoun," that is, a combination of a preposition and a pronoun.  An example is uaithi, meaning "on her." My mind is still trying to cope with the Irish translation of "She wants food" as Tá bia uaithi, literally, "food is on her."

One hears much talk these days about the importance of keeping one's brain active and flexible. Crosswords I enjoy; Sudoku I don't; but analyzing other languages, even if I never achieve fluency, makes my brain add new pieces of learning.  And that must be doing something positive for my brain health.

         

Language Learning Frustration

Language learning frustration!  The emotion was a new one for me.  I generally feel motivated, excited, proud of myself when I study languages, but a recent session of Irish Gaelic on Duolingo filled me negative emotions.  I just couldn't get things right to move that Duolingo progress bar forward and earn points.

I could feel myself becoming more and more confused and finally, yes!  I clicked the X and gave up. You may have experienced similar negative emotions while trying to acquire another language. Is there a way to avoid this unpleasantness in the future?

Many schools of thought exist about the optimum way of acquiring another language.  My early experience with Spanish and French study was definitely old school - based on a grammar translation approach.  As a consequence, I can probably still easily pass a grammar test in either language. However, since I would like to be able to use the languages I study for practical purposes,  I have long since moved on to the Communicative Approach to language acquisition.

The goal of the umbrella-like Communicative Approach is exactly what the title implies -learners use the language studied for communicative purposes - listening, speaking, reading and writing. The role of grammar study in the Communicative Approach is less well defined, but most proponents relegate explicit grammar study to a supportive role, in varying degrees.

When I discovered that Duolingo, my favorite online language learning program, offered Irish Gaelic,

I made the decision to try out the Communicative Approach in its perhaps most radical form - no grammar study.  Although Duolingo offers grammar explanations in the form of Tips and Notes as part of its program. I decided to forego them and jump right into the language exercises, figuring out structures from the raw language data.

That was about a year ago now, and I have done fairly well.  A list of the Irish grammar points  I have hypothesized and tested includes sentence word order, relative position of nouns and adjectives, definite and indefinite markers for nouns, plural forms, and verb endings, all without resorting to reading grammar explanations.  Exercises labeled as "eclipsis" and "lenition" are not as clear, but I can make my way through them.

And then one morning recently, I attempted to do an Irish exercise that appeared to be about what people have, want or prefer, but Irish was not using verbs to express those meanings, but prepositions!  And the subjects of the verbs were pronouns used as objects of those prepositions. Dear me!  I was really confused, an emotion that quickly escalated to anger and frustration.

I realize that in the giant scheme of things, not being able to quickly make sense of an Irish grammar point is of minimal importance, but I still consider it a personal defeat.  Recently I have found myself attempting only the easier review features of Irish so that I can zip right through and earn points for the day.

It is decision time.    Do I go back to the difficult grammar point on my own and slog my way through it, or do I give up and let Duolingo or some other source teach me the grammar point before I attempt the exercise again?

The bigger question is, can a communicative approach to language study ban explicit grammar study completely?

What do you think?

    

Language learning may change your brain and personality!

Yet another article touting the benefits of language learning caught my eye recently,  How to learn 30 languages by David Robson on BBC.com. He states that language learning is "arguably the best brain training you can try." Since I  enjoy the process of studying languages anyway, it is heartening to think that I am also giving my brain what Robson describes as a "tough mental workout." I may be strengthening attention and memory and even delaying the onset of dementia.

Another key idea is that of multiple languages providing learners with "a new cultural skin." You may have experienced the sensation of adopting a new identity when you speak another language.  I certainly have, but only with certain languages.

When I speak Spanish rather than my native English, I soften my expression to be more polite. I find that I invade others' personal space by giving more abrazos to my speaking companions. ( Abrazo is translated into English as "hug" or "embrace," but I would never give a hug to someone I just met when speaking English; however, I might give an abrazo in the same situation when speaking Spanish.)  My expression is less abrupt in Spanish; for example, I  answer questions in English with a "yeah," or an "uh-uh", while in Spanish, I might say "Sí, ¿cómo no? (yes, of course), or "No, gracias" (no, thanks)

The Portuguese language has an even more noticeable effect on my reticent personality.  I love to speak Portuguese. The sounds are pleasing to the ear, and I can produce all Portuguese sounds with some resemblance to the original.   The grammar is playful.  Can grammar really be described as playful?  I think so.  I enjoy leaving out the word "it" when not required for meaning, as in the response, "Tenho, sim." (Yes, I have it).  I think it is cool to have a special subjunctive tense to express future doubt.  "If I speak Portuguese" becomes "Se eu falar português," and it feels like I have gotten away with not conjugating the ver "falar." Yes, a bit geeky, I'll admit.

When I speak Portuguese, memories of when and how I first learned Portuguese come to mind.  For a few minutes at least, I can again be a young language teacher on an NEH-sponsored trip to Brazil to learn Portuguese.  I can buy a morning café com leite (coffee with milk) from the nuns at a small stand in front of the university.  And I can smile at the Brazilian immigration officer who remarked that I spoke pretty good Portuguese as I was leaving the country. 

The two other languages I work on every day, French and Irish Gaelic, are mainly for brain training. I never expect to be fluent in either language, but I enjoy the challenge on Duolingo of analyzing how these two somewhat complex languages express meaning.

So, thanks to the BBC article for helping me justify the amount of time and energy I spend on language learning. I have high hopes that my brain and personality are changing for the better with each passing day!

Choosing a Language on a Whim

6,500.  That's the number of different languages estimated to exist in today's world.  Some counts give a higher number, some a lower, but no matter how you look at it, acquiring all languages in a lifetime is not a reasonable option, even for dyed-in-the-wool language enthusiasts.

How then does a language learner make a decision about which language (or languages) to select for study? We might like to think that when choosing certain languages we make rational, clear-headed decisions that will pay tangible dividends in the future, like new job opportunities, job promotions, and increased social contacts.

After examining my own rationales for selecting different languages, however, I have come to the conclusion that language choice is often not rational at all.  Sometimes a language choice is merely circumstantial. And often the choice of a language for study is subjective, based on emotions, feelings, and yes, even whims.  

English is my native language. I really didn't choose it; it chose me by reason of birth and upbringing. English is my everyday, working, default language.  I am very happy to have it as a means of communication, but as a subject for study, English doesn't interest me. I get really annoyed when I have to research an English grammar or punctuation rule.  And I get no particular thrill from speaking English.

Spanish, my first foreign language, was a natural choice. My home town of El Paso, Texas is located on the United States-Mexico border.

We are a bilingual community.  I  heard Spanish as a child and still continue to hear it on a daily basis. Studying Spanish in elementary and high school and later in college was an easy choice for me, one that felt natural in my environment. But I still categorize Spanish as one of my workaday languages, along with English,  that I use for purposes of communication.

French entered my life in college as a natural choice for the college second language requirement, and it has been in and out of my life several times since then.  I'm afraid my interest in French waned in college when a grumpy professor told the class that I had the worse pronunciation for a French 'r' that he had ever heard!

I once taught a semester of high school French in an emergency situation, but my pronunciation never improved.  I sort of gave up on French until I had the opportunity recently to travel to Canada and spend time with French-speaking friends (who are completely fluent in English as well).  Oh, how I envy their language abilities.  I still include French on my daily Duolingo study, but my chances of becoming a fluent French speaker are not promising, as much as I admire the language.

Then I enrolled in a Portuguese course at our local university.

It was love at first sight, or more accurately, first sound. What an absolutely gorgeous language! Speaking Portuguese is pure joy - and I have no trouble at all pronouncing the Brazilian 'r' sound! Even the grammar seems less complicated and demanding than other languages. And Brazilian Portuguese has an interesting future subjunctive verb that adds a richness of expression.  No wonder  Brazilians refer to their language as "the language of the angels."

My most recent language, Irish Gaelic, is truly a labor of love.  It is a Celtic language and not easy for an English speaker to learn.  Quite honestly, I have little hope of acquiring communicative abilities in Irish Gaelic, but the vocabulary and grammar are so different from the Romance languages that I usually study that I am intrigued. Each sentence I am given to work with on Duolingo is like an absorbing puzzle.  And the sounds of Irish Gaelic are soft on the ear.  I at least know how to say "I like..." in Irish Gaelic:

Some of my languages were thrust into my life by circumstance.  Portuguese and Irish Gaelic are the languages I choose to study.  Who knows why?  I only know that when I log on to Duolingo every day to practice my four foreign languages, Portuguese and Irish Gaelic are the languages that feed my soul.

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!

Mountain climbing and language learning

Quora, a question and answer website, recently featured a post that caught my eye - "What works the best when learning a new language?" by Gruff Davies.

I'm a real sucker for any information that has to do with learning a new language.  And the opening sentence promising a trick to learning languages made me immediately jump into the information.

In truth, the trick was not one trick but rather numerous tricks explained by the author.  That's okay, because otherwise I would probably write him off as a crank, I know there is no silver bullet for learning languages.    

Gruff Davies effectively uses the metaphor of climbing a mountain for the journey of acquiring a second language.  He reminds us how important it is to understand the task we are undertaking and especially the length of time it will require.  And there's the rub.  Technology has made our modern lives go by in a flash of instant messages, news updates, and life complexities that beg for quick solutions.  How can we squeeze one more activity into our lives?

I'm reminded of an ambitious young professional I met once who informed me with great confidence that he was going to learn Spanish next summer.  My first thought ( which I did not share with him) was that maybe he could begin learning Spanish in three months; however, he would need many more summers in order to learn Spanish to a useful level.  I wish I would have reminded him that, as Gruff Davies states, "Learning a language isn't hard.  It's just LONG."  Be realistic, he cautions.

I decided to apply that advice to my study of Irish Gaelic on Duolingo.  For English speakers, Irish Gaelic is at approximately the same difficulty level as Arabic or Russian.

So when Davies estimates that it takes 600 hours or more to reach fluency in French (an easier language for English speakers), I would have to revise that number upward for Gaelic.  Here's the math.  If I study Gaelic at my current rate  of about 20 minutes a day, 365 days a year, I will have racked up 122 hours in a year.  At that rate, even if it took me only 600 hours for fluency, my journey up the Gaelic mountain would be about five years.

So Davies' message for me is to be realistic about my Gaelic study and to be kind to myself if I don't see instant progress.  I feel better!   

I am never ceased to be amazed at the interest the public still demonstrates in acquiring other languages. Quora frequently has comments related to language acquisition, and Duolingo discussions on language reveal a world full of people desiring to conquer new languages. Google Translate, although often very useful, must not be fulfilling our human desires for communication and the cognitive satisfaction of learning and using a new language.