It’s been three months since I started with the “Hello Chinese” app. I have really enjoyed it and the most important thing is: I have stuck with it. They promised I’d be fluent in three months if I did ten minutes a day. That’s what I did, except for a handful days when I was too busy. I do feel my Mandarin has really improved, but it’s still far from being fluent. However I’ll keep using the app because it’s fun and very useful. My understanding of Swedish has also improved with the Coffee Break Swedish podcasts.
As far as Scots is concerned, we have been granted funding from the Doric Board to hold a Doric Bootcamp. This means we’re able to offer it as a real bargain. It will take place from 5th to the 7th July 2024 in Portsoy. Teachers from Banff Academy will be providing the workshops. We will have the beautiful Sail Loft right by the beach to ourselves. More info to follow soon.
From Mandarin, a language spoken by around a billion people via Swedish with ca. 10 million native speakers to Scots, which over 1.5 million people claim to speak and on to Fering, the Northern Frisian dialect on the German island of Feer/ Fรถhr, which has 2,000 speakers. The Northern Frisian language family has 10,000 speakers, but not all dialects are mutually intelligible. I am soon going to brush up on my Fering again for my upcoming visit and hopefully I’ll be able to organise a bootcamp there as well in the future.
Right: Bilingual road sign on Feer/ Fรถhr
Andreas G. Wolff, MA (International Journalism) 