Chinese mission

As promised—an entry to my new language adventure. I am going to learn Mandarin Chinese. It has always been one of the languages that I wanted to learn. If you are curious about the details, check out the video below.

Halftime

It’s been more than a year since I returned from France. One chapter of my language missions is over. From 2012 to 2015, I had been traveling around Europe as a nomad.

One year break

The entire year of 2016 meant a break for my language missions. I traveled, but not because of the languages. I wanted to save some money in Germany and then find a job in the United States. I executed the plan. From January until June, I lived in Hamburg again. Then, I worked offsite from Slovakia, still for the same company, before I quit in October. Only then, I bought the airplane ticket and went for two and half a month to San Francisco.

Plan A did not work out, as I failed to find a job. However, the alphabet has plenty of letters and I still want to settle there. I am trying for the plan B now. Meanwhile, I am going to move to the city of my birth and make Bratislava my home again.

How are my languages doing?

In the place where I lived in San Francisco, the only two languages I did not have anyone to practice with were Slovak and Czech. I have to admit my Romanian got a bit rusty. Maybe the next book I pick to read should be written in this beautiful romance language.

As a little graphical summary for myself, I wanted to create a map of the world with highlighted countries whose languages I speak. Here it is: The parts of the world where I should be able to explain to the waiter that the beer tastes sour and that I want a different one.

I almost got all of the American continent covered. Stupid Surinam.

What now?

The first part of my language missions is over. Traveling in Europe was, thanks to the Schengen Area and my online job, as easy as sitting in a car and driving off. I was also studying intensively and 

basically wrapping my entire life around them.

You know I would not stop at this point, right? I just like to talk to new, interesting people and deciphering books in new languages too much to just let this part of my life go. So I am starting with a new language mission. It will be bit different this time. I will announce it in the next post. Until then, I wish you a wonderful start into the new year of 2017!