Duolingo

So I started Duolingo officially 694 days ago (though the Streak Freezes have been generous in protecting that "streak"). I started with Dutch, because my daughter is studying in the Netherlands and doesn't really intend to return and someday there might be grandchildren to eavesdrop on. And Chinese, because I have friends and family who are Chinese. And Arabic, because my husband's close friend is Sudanese, and his wife is scared of our pets and I want to be able to talk with her. Dutch is very much a language; I can even somewhat speak it. Chinese definitely a language, and just as definitely one I will never be able to speak, but I'm learning to read and understand it some. Arabic is still a mysterious puzzle game.

Then I decided to pick up Welsh, since I've been describing Dutch as "where all the vowels from Welsh ran away to." Turns out Welsh isn't overly full of consonants -- they just took "and sometimes Y" and ran with it, and then applied it to W as well. (I also picked up Scottish Gaellic as well, since it seems like it might get jealous, and you do NOT want Scots angry at you. But I'm fairly certain when it comes to spelling, Gaellic is just messing with us now.)

It was about this point when autocorrect on my phone completely gave up.

Why am I telling you this? Because nearly two years in, with five languages in play, today I learned: Dw i'n mwynhau gweithio fel nyrs ysgol. (Doo een moon-hi gwee-thee-oh fel nurs is-gol).

Just in case anyone really wanted to know how to say "I enjoy working as a School Nurse." In Welsh.