I have a Russian and German degree but have not used my languages in an active sense since graduating. They’ve been handy every now and again in a passive sense (eg transcribing German books at RNIB) but I am saddened at how much I’ve forgotten. So, I’m going to give myself a refresher course!
German
I’d already had 5 years of German at school, plus a few visits with my exchange partner, before uni, and for that reason I think that a week or so spent immersed in the language and I would pick up my German again relatively painlessly. Last year I bought Anne Franks Tagebuch from a charity shop and I aim to read that, making vocabulary lists and (re-)learning vocab. The entries are relatively short so I aim to read a couple a week (more if possible but let’s keep it easy for now).
Russian
I started Russian ab initio at uni. For that reason I don’t feel it’s as deeply embedded as my German but it’s got to be hidden there somewhere, still, hasn’t it? To make a start on improving the russki I’ve printed off this article from the BBC website. It’s broken into short paragraphs about different people so I can tackle it in several chunks, again, making vocab lists and (re-)learning as I go along. Let’s see if I can get through it by the middle of January (again, trying not to overload myself but I will do more if possible).
