Gali Gali Sim Sim Kids TV

Watching videos is an excellent way to learn a language after all listening and watching are two ways kids learn language and other skills. The Pimsleur method is even built upon the ways children naturally learn. More about that later.

I think that Sesame Street Hindi Style AKA Gali Gali Sim Sim is proving to be a fun way to practice and learn Hindi. Some of the videos are absolutely hysterical. I particularly enjoyed the two videos below.

I found these (go to the playlist for more) at about three months into my Hindi learning journey and can understand most of the words in the videos after watching a couple times.

How Many Languages Do I Speak

Here is a video answering the question "how many languages do I speak?"

YouTube Practice

One of my favorite ways to practice speaking is on YouTube. I realize that you don't get to practice conversational skills this way, which is where I struggle in all my languages.

But here are the steps for how I practice using YouTube.

1. Preparation.
My preparation for a YouTube video varies greatly. I either decide on a topic or simply take out my phone and start rambling. Sometimes I will write out a script and read it or use notes (I do both of these from time to time in English as well).

2. Recording.
This is simple. Sometimes I use the webcam on my computer and if I'm not at home, I use my phone.

3. Editing. 
I realize that I could just upload the videos but I have noticed that it is helpful for viewers to at least have subtitles and its no fun for them to sit through my ums and pauses. It can make the video more enjoyable for my viewers, who are primarily English speaking.

4. Posting.
Upload and share.

2016 Langauge Learning Goals

While I was home over the holidays, I was able to take a few moments and wish you all a Merry Christmas in a couple different languages. You can see me do the language challenge in the first few moments of this video. I took 15 seconds to send my holiday wishes in as many languages as possible.

And a Happy New Year!!!!

So now let's get to it! I have been a bit of a slacker the last few months as far as language learning goes. As you probably know my language learning is a hobby and not a job. So it really only gets a focus when I have extra time...But here are some goals for the next year or at least January and February ish ;)

Português - I don't want to get worse and hope to maintain my Portuguese skills by listening to "Você Sabia?" on YouTube and commenting weekly.

Hindi - Weekly listening. Practice writing sentences. More complex sentences and find someone to correct them.

Urdu - Relearn the alphabet.

Spanish - It will be important to learn Spanish in the future. I want to finish the Portuguese tree in DuoLingo and then start on the Spanish tree in Portuguese.

Latin - I would love to finish reading John but that may need to wait.

Somali - Listen when given the opportunity. Practice the few phrases I know.

Arabic - Listen to speakers when they are around. Pick up common words and Urdu words. I don't plan to put any effort into finding Arabic speakers. Learn the alphabet and the difference between Urdu and Arabic.

Picture credit - You can learn more about me and my art on my website.
See Www.feliciafollum.com
Or www.etsy.com/shop/feliciafollum