But of course, no beginning is the actual beginning. For me, knowing English gives me a foothold in many languages. For one thing, their alphabets are often the same, or similar.
I’ve dabbled with other languages at school and on my own. I’ve lived in a few countries. I’m not a total newbie.
The languages with which I’ve had the most contact are English, Dutch, Japanese, German, French, Kiribati, Hindi and Latin.
This first month—less actually, since it is already the 9th of September—I’ll keep the ball rolling with Dutch, Japanese and German. They are my ‘cheat’ languages.
Maybe a good definition of a 'cheat' language is one that you can understand simply by listening to without the need for written script. You can comfortably practice them on a Walkman.
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