Multilingual

Year in Languages 2025

19 languages
guess the city

Even if this blog has become once-a-year affair, I find it useful to post about my annual language adventures, as a reminder to self.

Because 2025 was an eventful year professionally, it seemed that no time was left for any proper language learning.

Still, looking back, some progress has been made, of which a short summary.

English

I kept to my routine learning English idiom, read, and did regular writing.

Polish

The hero of the year. I read several books, practised speaking with a colleague, and spoke Polish on a visit to Warsaw, where taxi drivers not only understood me, but started correcting my grammar, which is a good sign!

Latvian

I read many books, talked to plenty of people, gave some public talks, and started learning some cute idioms by heart.

French, Italian, Spanish

I read some books, spent some time in the three countries, and talked to people whenever I had an opportunity.

These three languages are solid. Like quality silverware that has been in the family possession for a long time, they can be taken out, polished, and voila, they are ready to shine again and to delight the audience.

Estonian

I read one book over the summer, with difficulties and with a dictionary, and feel that the language is slipping through my fingers.

I need to bring it to a higher level, or find a way to maintain it below the forgetting point.

German

I read one book, just to keep it up.

Ancient Greek and Latin

I read some texts in both, but not as many as I would have wanted.

For Latin, which is weaker, I need to spend some time to bring it up, too, so that to enjoy reading.

In July, I decided to develop a new habit: each month, learn one poem by heart.

By the end of the year, I learned six: one in English, one in Italian, one in Latvian, and three in Polish.

I found it both feasible and satisfying. Did this new habit make any difference for my language learning goals?

Not for English, Italian, or Latvian, in all of which I am fluent.

For Polish though, I think it helped me to gain confidence, learn several expressions, and get a better grasp of some grammar features.

I will continue with one poem a month in the next year, to make sure the habit sticks.

I have not started learning any new language in 2025 and although the temptation to start one in one in 2026 is great, and I have a prime candidate, I do not think it would be wise, not yet.

The reason of postponing this pleasure is that I am totally besotted with Polish.

I want to bring my Polish to a higher level, to the point of no return, to the level where I will not forget it, aka B2. This requires lots of input, practice, and time, and I plan to do so next year.

Year in Languages 2024

19 languages
Warsaw vibes

If this blog got abandoned in 2024, the same cannot be said about my language learning.

On the contrary, in 2024 I learned a new language from scratch – Polish.

On the 1st of January, in the afternoon, I sat down to my first Polish lesson. 

In March, I was chatting away with a Polish colleague. In May, I started reading my first Polish book.  In June, I went to Warsaw and spoke Polish to everyone who would listen – taxi drivers, shop assistants, restaurant waiters, colleagues, and people on the street. In November, I was speaking Polish from a stage.  By December, I had read four books in the original Polish.

Learning Polish has been my fastest language learning journey so far. I am enjoying it so much that in 2025 my main language goal is to continue improving Polish.

What about other languages?

It was a mixture of reading, speaking, and travelling.

I went on several trips abroad, including Austria, Greece, Estonia, Italy, Spain, and Poland, and spoke local languages everywhere. I read forty five books in 9 languages. 

English

In 2024, I continued learning English idioms, albeit less enthusiastically than in previous years. I got engrossed in Agatha Christie, discovered Poirot and his investigations, and have been watching the British mystery TV series “Poirot” ever since.

Estonian

Finally, and the first time since I had started learning Eastonian in 2020, I visited the country. 

My verdict? No problem understanding simple conversations and making myself understood. 

However, when a lady in a bookshop in Tallinn, upon hearing that I was learning Estonian and interested in Estonian literature, struck up a conversation, I had huge troubles to follow and reply.

Not a discouragement, but rather a reality check.

Ancient Greek

I finished Xenophon Anabasis, which I had started in 2023.

Italian

Books read, my little notebook of Italian phrases replenished, plenty of Italian spoken with colleagues, acquaintances, and on a trip to Italy.

Spanish 

Books read, two trips to Spain made, and plenty of Spanish spoken. 

Modern Greek

In autumn, I spent a week in Athens, and had plenty of language practice.

Latvian 

I read and read and read.

French

Read some books, spoke to people. 

Looking back, the year seems uneventful, but this is mainly due to the fact that in the first half of it I was actually learning a new language.

Year in Languages 2023

19 languages

Greece, ancient and modern

It is this time of year again! It’s time to take stock of the plans made and (not quite) kept in the matter of language learning.

My plans for 2023 were to improve my English, a Sisyphean task; to continue learning Estonian, and to revive my Latin.

The year turned out to be stressful and eventful, yet gave plenty of opportunities to practise multiple languages. 

I went on several trips abroad, including to Greece, Spain, and Germany, and spoke the local languages everywhere.

I visited two countries for the first time, Poland and Portugal, whose languages are on my wish list. 

I read over eighty books, in nine languages.

Thus, I am not displeased by the outcomes, even if things did not go according to the plan.

English

In 2023, I continued learning English idiomatic expressions, grouped by theme, and deliberately using them in speech and writing.

I started learning English idioms over three years ago. Last year, I noticed that I often had an  expression at my fingertips; this year, I am tickled pink when other people notice, too.

Estonian

In April 2023, I finished the second part of an Estonian online course, intended for intermediate learners. 

Multiple placement tests put me firmly in the B1 category, which is the danger zone of my language learning. Whenever I had learned a language to B1, and then did not use it for a while, it was gone. 

I did not want my hard earned Estonian to meet the same fate, hence, I made a plan.

My plan was to continue learning Estonian to B2 by listening to videos and reading books and articles. 

I did it for several months until September, and then stopped doing it systematically, partly because of my job and partly because I did not manage to go to Estonia nor buy any Estonian books. 

This is a lame excuse.

But reading literature has always been my favourite method to acquire a richer vocabulary and  understand grammar nuances.

Thus, to improve, I need to find a book and schedule a time slot or several slots a week. 

Latin

I had made grandiose plans to resuscitate my Latin and failed epicly. 

I finished only one book, Tacitus Germania, which took me over three months, reading on weekends and holidays. 

While reading it, I realised that Tacitus mentioned various Baltic tribes. Which other ancient historian mentioned Baltic tribes, I wondered, and went off on a tangent.

Ancient Greek

Which other ancient authors mention Baltic tribes? 

Herodotus, of course! I read all chapters where he mentions ancient inhabitants of the Baltics and continued reading about the geography and tribes on the territory of modern Ukraine.

I then carried on with Xenophon Anabasis, which I am still reading.

Perhaps, when I finish the book, I will return to Latin, but let’s not make grandiose plans again.

Italian

Latin is too hard, let’s do Italian. 

Six books read, plenty of Italian spoken with colleagues and acquaintances, and my little notebook of Italian phrases and useful vocabulary has been replenished. 

Chi va piano, va sano, va lontano (“slow and steady wins the race”).

Spanish 

Three books read, two trips to Spain made, and plenty of Spanish spoken. 

Slowly but hopefully steadily, I am stopping confusing Spanish and Italian (which I know to a higher level) and am getting confident enough to use Spanish in professional settings.

Modern Greek

The language surprise of the year.

In June, I went to Athens, after an almost 20 year hiatus. 

Back in the early 2000s, my knowledge of Modern Greek was a firm B1, good enough to casually chat with friends over mezedes and retsina.

Not to fall flat on my face during my June trip, in May I spent a month reviving my knowledge of Modern Greek.

I got an old copy of the Assimil method and read all the dialogues in it. I then reread them from the beginning, noting down some expressions I liked and that would be useful. I also watched three to five EasyGreek videos every evening for a month

In Athens, my knowledge was put on text the very next day, when I had to call a taxi and explain to the driver, all in Greek, where I was and where I needed to go. When he arrived, we talked in Greek all the way, and continued to do so for every single day.

I talked to the taxi drivers, restaurant owners and waiters, and even to some sympathetic Greek colleagues.

All in all, it was great fun and gave me a blueprint for refreshing any B1 language if need be.

Latvian 

I am fluent in Latvian but want to acquire richer means of expression. Therefore, I read. 

I made good use of the local library in my summer Latvian village and read seven books, including a bestselling novel Mātes piens (“Soviet milk”) by Nora Ikstena. 

French

I am also fluent in French, but right now, I have zero ambition for the language.

Still, I read four books in French, all of them translations from Polish, which gives you a hint as to which language I want to learn next.

Between three seas

19 languages

mare nostrum

I am very fond of the sea. 

Of the Baltic sea, obviously, but also of the Mediterranean, less as a swimming pool (for that, I prefer colder water), but more as a geographical and linguistic area to explore.

Since I started learning languages in my early 20s, I decided to learn all major languages of the European Mediterranean.

I have learnt many of them, starting from Latin: Italian, French, Spanish, and Modern Greek. 

Portuguese is the largest gap remaining, but it is on my to-do list; and Catalan is on my wish list.

However, recent geopolitical events have been shifting the centre of power towards the east of Europe. Thus,I have been toying with the idea of learning all major languages of the Baltic and the Black seas. 

For the Baltic sea region, I already know Latvian, Russian, German, and Estonian. If I add Polish and Swedish, as is my plan, I am almost there. Finnish is too similar to Estonian, perhaps I would pass. But after having learned Estonian, learning Lithuanian is becoming increasingly appealing, to get all three Baltic languages under my belt.

Now, to the Black sea region. Ukrainian is a must, and adding Bulgarian, a Slavic language, and Romanian, a Romance one, should not be too difficult.

Intermarium, meaning “between seas”, was an idea to unite the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lands stretching from the Baltic sea in the north to the Black and Mediterranean seas in the south, developed by a Polish statesman Józef Piłsudski in the aftermath of WWI.  The idea did not materialise then, for a variety of reasons, but an idea to build a regional alliance along the similar geographical lines is seeing a revival recently. 

For my part, I find the idea attractive. The countries in the region would benefit from closer cooperation, better mutual knowledge, and strategic alignment on critical issues. They will also be better heard on the global stage if they speak up and defend their interests together.

So, in my language-focused mind, I am now pondering about learning all the languages of the Intermarium. This basically means resuscitating my forgotten Hungarian and adding some Croatian, Slovakian, and Slovenian, all Slavic languages. 

How hard can it be?

Reading geography

19 languages

Spanish letters

I am late to the party. It took me over 10 years to discover a 2012 project by Ann Morgan to read a book from every country in the world. She had realised that she was reading mainly English and North American writers, and decided to remedy the situation by finding and reading one book from every country, in English translation.

The list of book suggestions made my mouth water. It also made me think: what about my own reading geography? 

I read in different languages, that’s for sure. But from which countries do these books originate?

I decided to do a quick breakdown by the author’s country of my readings, mainly in the originals, but some in translation.

English. The UK and US are obviously well represented. But what about other English-speaking countries?

I have read a couple of authors from Canada and Ireland; one British author born in South Africa and another of Ugandan descent.

But: nobody from the Indian subcontinent, nor English-speaking African countries, nor Australia  and New Zealand…

French. Authors from France and Belgium. That’s it. No francophone Africa, North or West! 

Spanish. The widest geographical representation. Authors from Spain (obviously), but also from Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay.

German. Obviously Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, and an eccentric selection of authors born in other countries but writing in German: Georgia, Japan, Russia, and Turkey.

Latvian. Writers from Latvia.

Russian. Russia, but also books written in Russian by authors from Armenia, Israel, and Ukraine.

Three languages are straightforward.

I read writers from Czechia in Czech, from Italy in Italian, and from Estonia in Estonian.

Greek. It ‘s all Ancient Greek to me! I have not read a single book by a contemporary Greek or Cypriot author!!!

Translations

I rarely read in translation, so the list is pretty short.

I have read books translated into English from Croatian, Hebrew, Hungarian, and Japanese; into French from Polish and Japanese; into Russian from Hungarian, Japanese, Georgian, Kyrgyz, Norwegian, and Swedish; and into Latvian from Hungarian and Japanese.

After looking at this breakdown, time to draw conclusions.

Unexpectedly, the most broadly read continent, by far, is the Americas! I have read books by authors from the US, Canada, and many Latin American countries.

Brazil is the only major gap, but that is because I intend to learn Portuguese and read in the original.

Breakdown by country in Europe is predictable. Whenever I know the language, I read authors from the countries where it is used. The exceptions are rare and confirm the rule. 

Hence, almost total absence of Scandinavian, Balkan, and Central and Eastern European writers. 

What to do about it? I will definitely learn Polish, so Polish authors can wait till then. Same for Portuguese. I envisage to learn one Scandinavian language, perhaps Swedish, so they can wait as well. 

For the rest, I will need to decide, and it will depend. After Estonian, learning Lithuanian suddenly seems so appealing, to be able to converse in all three Baltic languages. I toy with the idea of learning one South Slavic language, but which?

Last not least, Ukrainian literature is amazing, its history is fascinating, and the future of Ukraine is critical for humanity – I should at least learn enough language to read.

For Asia, my reading focuses on three regions. First, Japan, where I have lived, learned the basics of language, and intend to learn properly one day.

Second, Israel, in excellent English translations from Hebrew and some authors writing in Russian.

Third, Caucasus and Central Asia. This particular regional interest may sound unusual but it is not, if you consider that these regions and the Baltics were once part of the Russian and Soviet Empire, which has led to a fair amount of post-colonial solidarity and mutual interest after we regained our independence.

I have no particular interest in other Asian regions right now, but time will tell.

Finally, the glaring absence in my reading geography is Africa. Given that many African writers write in English or French, this gap is probably the easiest to close.

Year in Languages 2022

19 languages

two flags and two languages

In French, the period between Christmas and New Year is known as la trêve des confiseurs, “the confectioners’ truce”, when many people fall into a festive lull.

For others, especially those like myself who do not care about confectionery, it’s time to take stock.

For 2022, I had set myself three lofty language goals: improving English, continuing learning Estonian, and bringing my Modern Greek to an upper intermediate level. 

But in early 2022, life brought corrections to this plan. I had to scrap Modern Greek, and decided to read in French instead, as an easy way out.

So, how did it go?

Spoiler alert: not according to the plan.

English

In 2022, I continued learning idiomatic expressions, grouped by theme, and deliberately using them in speech and writing. 

On a whim, I decided to read Jane Austen, and surprisingly for myself, I liked it so much that I read every single novel of hers, watched multiple film adaptations, and even followed some YoutTube channels dedicated to her and other female writers of the period. 

On a second whim, I read Agatha Christie, also someone I had never read before, and found her Poirot novels much to my taste. A friend mentioned David Souchet’s Poirot interpretation, I looked it up, and I was conquered, hook, line, and sinker.

I have mixed feelings about my progress, finding it too slow, but then keep repeating to myself, that slow and steady wins the race.

Estonian

Estonian was the second focus of 2022. I took an online intermediate course called Keeletee. 

I did not go to Estonia to practise and buy books, nor was I systematic in learning vocabulary. 

What I did improve, though, was my listening comprehension. I both did intensive listening to short videos in my course, and extensive listening to Kaja Kallas, Estonian Prime Minister, who is articulate, has a clear diction, and speaks about current hot topics at her press conferences. 

Finding an engaging learning material, something you are genuinely interested in, is key to successful language learning. For me, Estonian government press conferences tick all the right boxes, so I will stick with them for a while.

French

I read five books in French, got bored, and stopped. Lately, I have changed my approach and decided to focus on French idiomatic expressions I wish I had known in the heat of the moment. I need to let time do it work, donner du temps au temps, before seeing any results.

Spanish

Unexpectedly, this year I made a major breakthrough with my Spanish conversation. First, several Spanish friends came to visit, then I spent a week in Spain, and, finally, ended up speaking to different Spanish colleagues at various international events. Although the first interactions were always rusty, after a while of listening and mimicking, I would converse pretty comfortably and at times elegantly. It looks like I have reached the tipping point, where my passive knowledge has achieved a critical mass and somehow transformed itself into active knowledge. At least, I like to think so!

Czech

An extra bonus of the year was a trip to Prague. I did a quick refresher by listening to videos of Super Easy Czech and Easy Czech for a couple of weeks before the trip. When in Prague, my Czech was good enough to hold a basic conversation in the hotel, restaurant, or swimming pool. I bought some books and made a mental note to come back to Czech in the future.

Latvian

The local library in a Latvian village where I spend my summers has a good collection of Latvian Classical and contemporary writers, and I took full advantage of it. My Latvian is fluent, yet plain. Reading high quality literature has always been my favourite method to acquire a richer vocabulary; in due course, I trust to make good progress.

Russian

I read some books in Russian early in the year, but given what Russians are doing in Ukraine, I am off any Russian cultural or literary production for a long, long while.

Ancient Greek

I finished Selected speeches by Lysias over the summer, reading every day, and then stopped. 

In retrospect, I regret not carrying on after the holidays, something I had done in previous years, when I continued my morning Greek readings every single week-end, and progressed nicely. 

Latin

I started the year with a bang and read Tacitus Agricola. Tacitus is my favourite Latin author, and Agricola is a masterpiece. I plan to be more disciplined in 2023 with Latin reading, doing a passage every week-end and on holidays.

That’s a wrap!

Happy New Year, annum novum faustum felicem!

A long hiatus

19 languages3 Comments

blue and yellow

This blog went silent for almost a year.

A mixture of personal events happened last winter. I needed to deal with them as a matter of priority and had to put my language learning on ice.

Then, on 24 February, Russia invaded Ukraine, and I could not focus on anything else for a long while.

For me, like for many in the Baltics, this war matters, as the Ukrainians are fighting for their and for our freedom and survival. We must help them to win.

Ukrainian culture is one of the targets of this brutal war, together with civilian population, essential infrastructure, and environment. Books are burned. Libraries are destroyed. Museums are looted.

Before the war, I knew next to nothing about Ukrainian history and literature. Now, I have been educating myself, most notably, by following Timothy Snyder’s lectures on the history of Ukraine given at Yale and freely available online.

I am amazed by Ukrainian resilience in general, but also by the literary production, which did not stop during the war.

This poem by Lesyk Panasiuk particularly resonates with me.

Russian soldiers park a tank in our yard
break into the apartment
read our books not understanding Ukrainian English
Polish Belarusian Czech Latvian Romanian German
French Georgian Croatian Turkish Spanish
and even in Russian

It encapsulates the essence of this war: Ukrainian, European civilisation against Russian barbarity.

Below are some other recent Ukrainian poems translated into English.

Lesyk Panasiuk, In the hospital rooms of my country

Boris Khersonsky, They printed in the medical history

Ukrainian poetry from another era

“You’ve got to live somewhere you aren’t afraid to die.” Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry From Kharkiv

6 Ukrainian poems that capture a bold moment in contemporary poetry

Ukrainian Feature: Words for War

Year in Languages 2021

19 languages
reading Cicero on the terrace

The name ‘19 languages’ reflects my desire to learn 19 languages, to various degrees of mastery.

I first started planning language learning in 2020, as remote work had given me more control over my free time. 

For 2021, I had three priorities: improving English, an uphill battle, learning Estonian, and maintaining German. 

It is time to take stock of the progress made.

English.

In 2021, I set myself only one goal: to speak more idiomatically. To this end, I learned plenty of idiomatic expressions, grouped by theme, and deliberately used them in speech and writing. To continue.

Estonian. 

Estonian was the second focus of 2021, and I am pleased with my progress. I finished the beginners’ online course Keeleklikk, and have started its sequel, called Keeletee and intended for intermediate learners. I listened, once again, to a radio show Как это по-эстонски? (‘How do you say it in Estonian?’), and did grammar exercises. I have read my first book in Estonian, Maailma otsas. Pildikesi heade inimeste elust (At the End of the World. Scenes from the Lives of Good People) by a contemporary writer Andrus Kivirähk, and I watched some Estonian cartoons.

In 2022, the goal is to finish the intermediate course, to work systematically on acquiring vocabulary, and to go to Estonia to practice (and to buy books).

German.

I had many lofty goals for brushing up my German: revising grammar, enriching vocabulary, and improving listening skills. I started the year with a bang, doing grammar exercises every day, but as the year progressed, I threw methodology to the wind and just carried on reading fiction. As a result, I read 17 books in German over the year, which has enhanced my passive vocabulary. Given that travelling is out of the question for the time being, perhaps, that’s not too bad, I console myself.

Italian.

The only trip I made last year was to Bologna, where I not only talked to locals and ate copious ice-cream, but also went to a book-shop and got a copy of Machiavelli’s Il Principe (‘The prince’), a long-time object of desire, to read it on the plane back home.

Spanish.

Slowly but steadily. I have read one book, spoke Spanish to some colleagues, and spent several memorable evenings with close friends from Spain who were visiting. 

French.

Nothing to write home about. I speak French daily at work, and feel this is more than enough. I read one book, though, Les vacances du petit Nicolas (‘Nicholas on holiday’), part of a series about a mischievous boy, which I used to adore in my French-learning years.  I got the book for a neighbour who is learning French, and ended up reading it myself on a plane.

Ancient Greek

Not too bad. I finished the final books of Plato’s Republic, reading several sections every week-end.

Latin

The surprise of the year. I got inspired by an old FS post on friendship to read Cicero’s De amicitia (‘On friendship’), enjoyed it, and read another two texts, De petitione consulatus (‘How to win an election’) and  De senectute (‘On old age’). 

This year, just like last year, was a year of reading. I read over 60 books in total, in English, French, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Ancient Greek, and Latin.

The picture that sums up the year: I sit on the terrace, sip my morning coffee, and read Cicero.

Dripping water hollows a stone

19 languages
gutta cavat lapidem

Among different branches of linguistics, phraseology is among my favourites. 

I like encountering new idioms, phrases, and metaphors, learning them, and using them. I like researching their origins, I like comparing expressions in different languages, and I like figuring out how some darling expression of mine from an obscure source can be rendered in English, lingua franca of my life and work.

Here is a random selection of idioms in different languages and coming from various sources, which I added to my inner multilingual thesaurus this year.

French: la fête du slip (‘the underpants party’) describes a messy, grotesque, and shameless situation that degenerates quickly, when everyone feels like everything is allowed; an open bar. 

French: fondre comme neige au soleil (‘melt like snow in the sun’) is to melt away overnight, to disappear into thin air.

French: ne pas y aller par quatre chemins (‘do not go there by four ways’), meaning not mincing one’s words; not beating around the bush.

German: jemandem fliegen gebratene Tauben in den Mund (‘roasted pigeons fly into somebody’s mouth’), is to have it easy, to be handed something on a silver platter.

Italian: passata la festa, gabbato lo santo (‘the festivity is over, the saint is cheated’), which means that promises made in unusual circumstances are easily & often broken; similar to the ‘once on shore, we pray no more’.

Spanish: todo el pescado está vendido (‘all fish is sold’), meaning cut and dried; be done and dusted.

Latin: gutta cavat lapidem non vi, sed sæpe cadendo (‘dripping water hollows a stone, not by force, but by falling often’). The meaning is similar to the English saying ‘little strokes fell great oaks’. 

This one is worth remembering as we are heading into a new year.

Knocking at an open door

19 languages
doors are open

Whenever I think that my inner linguist is half asleep, she’s always wide awake.

In the middle of a busy day, a colleague of a former colleague asked: what is an English equivalent of a German expression offene Türen einrennen (literally, “to run into open doors”).

My inner linguist immediately leapt to help with a version in French, enfoncer des portes ouvertes, in Russian, ломиться в открытые двери, and in Italian, sfondare una porta aperta.

For English, however, she had to consult a dictionary, to find out that indeed, there is an expression to push at an open door (or to push against an open door).

Other English expressions with close meanings are to state the obvious, to preach to the choir, and to preach to the converted.

I like to think about meanings of similar expressions in different languages as Venn diagrams. 

Sometimes, the overlap is almost complete, perhaps, due to a shared origin or source. 

For example, the expression open sesame in English, if we continue with the door theme, has close parallels: Sésame, ouvre-toi in French, Сим-сим, откройся! in Russian, apriti sesamo! in Italian, Sesam, öffne dich! in German, etc. They all come from the magical command used by Ali Baba to open the door of the robbers’ den in “One Thousand and One Nights”, rather, in its translations into different languages.

Often, the overlap is partial, like in the case of the French expression “enfoncer des portes ouvertes”, which can be rendered in English also as to flog  a dead horse and even to teach your grandmother to suck eggs — depending on the context.

Sometimes, there is no overlap, and in order to render the meaning correctly, I need to have more than one string to my bow.

I am fascinated by comparative phraseology and tend to repeat that all languages can convey any meaning, but they do it with different means.