Chi va piano, va sano...

... Chi va sano, va lontano.

Mother probably thinks that my passion for languages is a kind of weird addiction (and she may well have a point).

A few years ago, as I was writing some fiction, I started learning Russian by accident: one of my characters was Russian; I didn't want the three words I needed him to say in his native language to be ridiculous, and so I started investigating how the Russian language works. I'd always said that I wouldn't start Russian because of the many declension, but I found the culture fascinating, and I grew quite attached to that Russian character, and... there you go; one more language.

[Incidentally, when I can travel normally (right now, my right ear could explode if I were to take a plane), I will go to Ukraine. Kiev... be ready for me!... And I promise to learn basic Ukrainian, at the very least.]

I've been learning Romance and Germanic languages mostly.

In college, I learnt bits of ancient Egyptian.

When I (briefly) converted to Protestantism, my awesome minister taught us biblical Hebrew, which I loved.

I've tried to learn Arabic, but that was really tough to do all alone, but that gave me a taste for non-European languages, and that was how I started to learn Mandarin. [Of course, I'm that kind of weird. Are you even surprised?]

I cowardly stopped rather fast because the exercises were killing my throat. A friend, who's got an MA in Mandarin, told me that it was a very good sign, that my vocal chords were learning to pronounce the tones in Chinese... I stopped nonetheless because that was really painful.

However... learning how to write in Chinese prepared me for my great swap: the day I started learning Japanese. Without that detour in Chinese, Japanese kanji would have been much, much, much harder to start.

My last real holiday (a few centuries ago!) was in Japan. I could shop there, and chat with a few people (in Japanese, yes). When I watch telly, whether it's the news or series, I understand the big picture, and I can write (a few programmes help me type in Japanese, and they come with very handy dictionaries).

My current big problem is... reading Japanese.

I could be happy with what I can do, and with the tiny bits I can read, but I want more, and so I've decided to start doing the one thing that has helped me with improving my knowledge of other languages: grabbing a book, a dictionary, and fight with literature.

Now that I've seen the drama 妻は、くノ一 (Tsuma wa, kunoichi; My Wife Is a Ninja), I'd like to try to read the books by  風野 真知雄 (Machio Kazeno). 

[I'm still looking for an online store that wouldn't have shipping options from hell. Suggestions welcome, by the way]

Since I need a lot of training, I grabbed a book that I already own, and I started this (on a photocopy!!!): 

Wish me luck?

(And buy me aspirin for Christmas? ô.O)