The other day I reached a Duolingo rating of 80. This means that, after about five years of concentrating on German, I’ve finished the course.
From now on there’s a series of daily refresher lessons so I don’t get rusty. And I’m still talking in German with our younger daughter as she completes her A level. And after all that learning I still cannot remember which ‘the’ to use or when I should use ‘ihn’ and ‘euch’. Clearly, a different type of tuition is needed if I am to go further.
What next? I could revisit Danish, but no I no longer work for an Anglo-Danish company I don’t know if I want to. Or French would make sense since we go to France quite often. Or maybe Scots Gaelic – I grew up hearing this on telly occasionally1, though Thurso wasn’t in the Gàidhealtachd and I have nobody to practice with. I’ll decide soon.
- Grampian (north Scotland independent telly) would have a few hours of gaelic programming including the children’s programme ‘Cuir Car’ which showed life in the Islands and songs by Runrig. ↩︎
Grim up North Heath 