I set a goal a few years back that I want to be able to communicate in at least seven languages. On my list are French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Mandarin, Polish, and Spanish, and since I've never really had the time and resources for an official education in all of them, I'm using whatever means I have at my disposal, in this case, one of my favorite books of all time, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, which, if you haven't read it yet, please do.
So, thanks to the public library system, I'm transcribing the story in different languages and compiling them into an Excel spreadsheet, something like this:
The nice thing about this format is that each phrase is in an adjoining cell, which makes context and vocabulary interpretation much easier. With external lessons in pronunciation and other vocabulary, it's actually been very effective at improving my written understanding of these languages. Now if only I could figure out the same for speaking them.
In any case, the project smitten in this category is the scanning of the next round. Le Petit Prince and Der Kleine Prinz are due back at the library today after renewing them twice. I probably won't get around to actually transcribing them for another year or so, because of other projects, but at least it's ready to go.
So, thanks to the public library system, I'm transcribing the story in different languages and compiling them into an Excel spreadsheet, something like this:
| English | Italian | Polish |
| "It’s the time you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important." | « È il tempo che tu hai perduto per la tua rosa che ha fatto la tua rosa cosí importante ». | – Poświęcileś swojej róży wiele czasu i dlatego jest dla ciebie aż tak ważna. |
The nice thing about this format is that each phrase is in an adjoining cell, which makes context and vocabulary interpretation much easier. With external lessons in pronunciation and other vocabulary, it's actually been very effective at improving my written understanding of these languages. Now if only I could figure out the same for speaking them.
In any case, the project smitten in this category is the scanning of the next round. Le Petit Prince and Der Kleine Prinz are due back at the library today after renewing them twice. I probably won't get around to actually transcribing them for another year or so, because of other projects, but at least it's ready to go.
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