Polyglots Anonymous

A Podcast, a Jug of Languages, and Thou

Hey howdy, everyone! It's the beginning of a new birth year, a new semester, and a (re)newification of goals and projects. But I'll keep this short for now: My dear friend/evil nemesis Rick Dearman and I have teamed up and created The Lollygagging Podcast, wherein we talk about language learning from our personal perspectives. We'll be up and running on larger platforms down the line, but for now, you can access all 'casts as they're posted at http://www.polyglotsanonymous.com/lollygagging.html In other news, I've posted my language goals for the next 16 months on the Language Learner's Forum--you'll need to register to... Read more →

Journal Entry

Dear Diary, The last few weeks have been so busy! I submitted my application for grad school at UVa. My partner and I moved into our new house and we’re almost done unpacking. (I finally got most of my language books on the shelves!) And although I’m not an official student (yet, fingers crossed!), I’ve been invited to participate in a few classes. I’m “on grounds” (as they say) five days a week, and while that keeps me busy, I love being on a college campus again. So much energy and possibility! I’ve got the life I had when I... Read more →

Language Goals for 2017 (and beyond)

It’s only the second week of 2017 and already a lot is going on. There are the usual day-to-day activities that take up the better portion of my day. There are unique circumstances (moving to a new house, applying for grad school) that have been intense but will be wrapping up in the next few weeks. There are the language-related projects (reaching out the local and global community to see how I can get more involved) that excite me but take up time. And then there are the 7000 languages I want to study. But with a new year comes... Read more →

Polyglots Anonymous is back online!

Happy New Year, everyone! Another year has passed, and a new year offers promise of a clean start, new opportunities, and yet another chance to define and realize goals. A chance to better oneself, to learn and grow, to correct the mistakes of the past year...if only to fail 3 weeks later and go back to eating donuts every day for breakfast. And lunch. Eons ago, when I started Polyglots Anonymous, I wanted to create an outlet for my passion for languages. I wanted to share stories, review products, connect with polyglot communities, and most of all, study as many... Read more →

Project ALOT 2015 Update/Navajo Goal/Endangered Languages #13 & #14/ICLDC Trip

Happy New Year! OK, that was 30 days ago! Anyway, now it’s (mostly) a new year, some language projects are wrapping up as other ones are beginning, travel plans and language conferences are on the horizon, and I’m now beginning to ramp up my networking, advocacy, reviews, videos, and updates! Plus, more languages in 2015! So without further ado, here’s what’s going on so far: New Languages! January’s language (lucky #13!!) happens to be CHEROKEE And #14 (theoretically beginning tomorrow) will be MAORI News on old languages (Aren’t all languages pretty old? Hmm….) First up, as of the end of... Read more →

Project ALOT Endangered Languages #11 and #12

Happy December! I can't believe I'm almost at the 1-year mark with Project ALOT! Yipes! I'm wrapping up with Navajo with some posts in the works starting January 1st, as well as a few changes with everything to make things a little clearer and more organized (for me, at least). In the meantime, I need to get caught up on the languages for the last two months for 2014! I've decided to make things a little easier (?) on me so I can play catch-up. Both languages are ones I've dabbled in a little. (Don't worry, I'll make up for... Read more →

Project ALOT Endangered Languages #9 and #10

Happy October! Looks like after doing a little traveling around the first of the month, I never officially announced September's language (which was only finally settled on yesterday after several weeks of thought): INUKTITUT (South Qikiqtaaluk dialect) And while I'm here (and it's October 1st), I'll fill you in on this month's language: LAKOTA Of course, there's a bit of catching up to do with the other languages, and it seems more likely that I'll be able to report more on each language after a year's worth of study (with Navajo wrapping up in a few months...YIKES!). But I'll see... Read more →

Project ALOT Endangered Language #8

Hi Everyone, I'm still recovering from my trip to Europe where I tried to practice some Manx and Welsh (as well as learn about how each language is being revitalized), and I'm excited to be working on a few ideas for posts (and possible articles elsewhere) BUT........it's time to introduce August's language before September gets here. This month, I'll start working on.... EUCHEE / YUCHI I've heard about this language a while ago and I've been wanting to get in touch with the people working to keep this language going, but now that they've lost two elders in a span... Read more →

Project ALOT follow-up for July 1st's post (with belated video)

Hi everyone! Even though I posted the information on July 1st, I wanted to make good on my promise (to myself) to post a video. I had the footage, and I needed the experience with editing footage anyway, so here you go! Check out Languages Around The Globe (www.latg.org) to learn about their Esperanto Challenge (www.latg.org/2014/07/Esperantoprojectbegun.html) while there's still time! Hasta! Read more →

Project ALOT Endangered Language #7, Travel Plans, and The 3-Week Esperanto Challenge

Hey, everyone! I have some slightly sad news: I had hoped to post a video today, but due to technical difficulties (which I won't deny might involve user error), I was unable to upload any footage today. I must say you all are really missing out. There were some amazing special effects, a car chase, Ewoks, lasers, Hugh Grant...I really outdid myself with this one. I hope to be up and running by week's end, because I really want to get more videos up! In the meantime, I'll have to update you guys the way our ancestors did: a plain... Read more →