The OGT Daily #72 Learning language

 For the past several years and for the past 295 days in a row I have been spending at least five minutes daily learning new language skills. It was one the many distractions I used to get me through the ice wall of writing my doctoral dissertation.  I started with French probably about a two years ago on the free learning app Duolingo.  The one with the perky owl Duo who flies around and becomes supercharged if you get your lessons right.  I then decided to pick up Italian because I was watching Elena Ferranti's My Brilliant Friend on HBOMax and thought the language was beautiful. Then I launched into lessons in Arabic because ten years ago I spent time in Morocco and wanted to be able to communicate there but had no skills other than French.

For 295 days I have been on a streak mostly with French and have been able to do at least one or two lessons each day.  

With the intensity of the research writing I was doing all fall, my brain was exhausted and the little stories and situations in Italian or French were like taking a mini vacation and pretending I was someone else even for a few minutes. This kind of learning is also good for the brain and for memory due to both visual and auditory processing as well as verbal engagement.

Last night I had the word calcio stuck in my head and couldn't for the life of me remember what it meant until today.  It's another word for football or soccer.  So I've begun thinking in other languages and so I know something is sinking in.

What new thing did you learn today?