I have been observing a few things about my blog.

First, the statistics of visitors.  I am pleased to see a wide cross-section of the world has visited.  However it is interesting to see that many of the search terms used to find my site have centered around the Volume Method.  While I wish that people were visiting because of me, it appears that they are not.

An aside, one of the search terms was “elle di bablo”.  Really?  I’ll just assume that there’s a lady living in Bablo who needs to be found.

Second, I originally intended for the blog to be somewhat anonymous.  There are people from my real life that I don’t want knowing about any struggles, self-induced or otherwise.  However, services such as Eniro, hitta.se, 11800 and Mirinfo.se make it very easy to find out a great deal about anyone living in Sweden (you’re welcome).  “Privacy” is a relative term, isn’t it?  While it might be a little exhaustive, you can definitely hide your real identity from lay-people on the Internet.  Plenty of bloggers that I follow easily do it just by monitoring their comments section.  Listing my blog on private social media profiles may invite the crazies, but at least I know who the crazies are.  While the blog is still “anonymous”, it isn’t to those who are generally acquainted with me.

Changing track!  For a few reasons, I had to take a very brief pause in my language learning.

• While the cleaning schedule has helped me get my head straight, it sucks up all my free time.  There’s no remedy to this apart from hiring someone.  Unfortunately, getting “help” is not particularly popular in this part of the country, and the prices are correspondingly high.

• The French book I chose was poorly chosen.  It is very conversation dense material.  It fit all the requirements, but it was just the wrong book.  It’s about a family of four travelling by boat to France.  It takes place around the 1950’s or 1960’s.  They “vous” each other and other strangers, so there is no “tu” verb-form used for anything.  Chapter four works a few prepositions into the conversation, and chapter five introduces a handful of adverbs.  While my writing has improved noticeably, this darn book is going to take forever, and I won’t really be armchair-exposed to any modern situations.  It’s not efficient for this purpose, and plods on at the speed of a snail.  Lesson learned!  Start off with something from this century.

• I am taking a Swedish class.  It is the final requirement I need in order to get into a University, should I choose to complete my education in whatever.

• We’re moving closer to the city (five-minute drive from “downtown”)!  This, by far, is still the most exciting thing that has happened to me within the last five minutes.  There are a few things I’m going to miss about our little village, and a few things I won’t.  More on that in another post.

Regarding Swedish –

The Swedish class I am taking is called Svensk som andraspråk 2.  It’s a high school level class specifically for immigrants.  We are not allowed (or maybe not advised?) to take Svenska 2, the actual high school class offered to Swedes.  I am assuming Svenska 2 is graded on a native level which is why they tell us not to take it.  I am attending Miroi.se i-learning.  They offer online classes, but you have to go to a physical place to take a test.  The classes are heavy on the busy work, but a teacher is available on Skype by scheduled time or by email.  The sheer, almost overwhelming amount of the workload is a little strange, as all I’ve heard about Swedish schools is that they do not give much homework, and they lag behind in international academic standing. Also, the Swedish classes I have taken at Komvux were very lax with the work.  Little to no schoolwork was ever given, and it was all to be completed “on your own time.”  Maybe Miroi is overcompensating for being an online school?

In any case, I’ve discovered that I can do these classes one of two ways:

The first way involves reading, thinking and reproducing in Swedish.  This presents some difficulties in certain areas, but it helps prepare me to take the test when the time comes.  I took Svensk som andraspråk 1 in this manner. However, my teacher deemed my answers to be “thin”.  There is a wall blocking the endless well that is my creativity.  For example, if someone asks me what is my favorite genre in literature and why, I can probably ramble on for a while in English.  But ask the same question in Swedish, and I stop cold after a few sentences.  This is not because I lack the vocabulary, but because the flow is simply cut off.  There is nowhere to go, nothing to say, and I hit a solid, white wall with no path available around it.  Why is that?

The second way to take this class involves a lengthy process of reading, sometimes translating, thinking in English, reproducing in English and translating it back into Swedish.  It seems to gives my answers more complexity, but I’m not sure it helps me plow through the material any faster. Additionally, when I go in to take the test, the monitors give me the paper to write on, and I have to turn in all back in.  I don’t think they’d be pleased to see large portions in English.

To the contrary, translating what I read into English is not entirely self-defeating.  Sometimes a Swedish sentence seems obvious in its meaning with translation not even needed – until I realize I am answering a question quite different from the one that was asked.  Or perhaps there is a subtle difference that affects the urgency of a situation.  This happens all the time.  The nuances are ridiculously never-ending.

After I am finished with that class, I’m free from Swedish classes for all eternity.  Yet, as I ponder on not having suffered enough during my lifetime, I think I may go on to take Svenska som andraspråk 3.  Any attempt to hone my language skill is probably going to be useful in the long run.  At least it’ll look good on my CV.

I am still aiming to start the VM with Swedish.  I keep taking out the books every Sunday, saying to my husband, “Let’s go over the translations tonight.”  Then other things come up and the books go back on the shelf.  When I do start it, I’ll let you know.

Regarding French –

I have started over in French using the VM, but this time, it is with a different book.  I’m using French Now! and lo, it’s the version without a CD.  D’oh!  The maximum amount of time I can spend on it is an hour a day, split up into two thirty minute chunks.  The last book wasn’t a complete bomb as I did learn things I don’t think I would have picked up elsewhere, but French Now! is much more entertaining and modern in comparison.  My biggest concern is that I still have not found a native speaker to practice my speech.  I feel like I’m wasting a valuable learning opportunity, especially if I don’t exercise all facets of language learning.  That will probably be my main focus in June (other than moving). The next step is to update all my profiles on language learning sites in order to find someone for conversational practice.  Those sites have been fairly productive in the past.

I have also applied for a French class at Miroi.  Even though it’s heavy on the busy work, I think their classes are generally challenging (albeit shallow), as they cover different media and go through a variety of topics.  Hopefully, they’ll approve me.  Fingers crossed.

Thank you for reading.