RoamingFrancis' Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
ertyu
Posts: 2893
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2016 2:31 am

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by ertyu »

Imo one of the biggest misconceptions americans have is that self-employment and starting your own business is capitalism. It can be, but only if you exploit people -- where for "exploit" we take the actual definition of the term, to pay them less than the value of what they produced for you. Capitalism is mcdonalds, walmart, and anyone and everyone corporate who has explicit strategies for screwing labor over and profiting at their expense. A small business can operate like that and many do, but they don't have to. One can indeed run a place where one focuses specifically on treating one's employees well and creating opportunities for them.

RoamingFrancis
Posts: 593
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:43 am

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

I recently read Boyle's The Moneyless Man and found it a good deal more inspiring than the book about Suelo. I am seriously considering doing a moneyless year at some point in the future, though I doubt it will become a permanent lifestyle. It struck me that Rob Greenfield's year of growing and foraging 100% of his food is essentially synonymous with a moneyless year.

The book on Suelo really didn't inspire me very much. It presented Suelo as something of a tortured soul who for some reason found relief in quitting money. I have compassion for the guy, but it wasn't something I wanted to emulate. Boyle's book did a better job—he seemed to quit money for much stronger reasons, namely, a strong sense of environmental ethics. It was a good read, as it's given me more insight into the four howlies that I've seen: Jacob, Rob, Boyle, and Suelo. Though they share similar characteristics, each one has something of a unique spin on living a post-consumer lifestyle. Of the four, Rob's approach is the one that most appeals to me. I'm not particularly interested in accumulating a bunch of money a la Jacob, but in both Boyle and Suelo's books I saw elements of self-denial, including when Boyle's moneylessness indirectly lead to him breaking up with his girlfriend because the distance was too far for his bicycle. I think there is a danger, which I often fall into myself, of focusing on helping solve big picture global issues and neglecting relationships in our own day-to-day lives. So I'm considering going moneyless for a year at some point, but I think that minimizing involvement with money, Greenfield-style, is a better long-term approach than strict moneylessness. To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.

Of course, the big question with Rob is the social capital. I don't particularly want to be a public figure/Internet celebrity, at least not at this point on my journey. Is it possible to approximate his lifestyle without a big Internet platform? I don't have issues with social capital—it's actually my favorite kind of capital. I just don't want to be an Internet personality, as I'm aware of how easy it is for the ego to fall into grandiose delusions. I have more work to do in meditation and cultivation of humility before I'm ready to dive into those waters.

Of course, the advent of the Internet means that fame has shifted from a binary to a sliding scale. That likely changes the nature of the beast; regardless I stand by my wish to have privacy, at least for now. And if other capital is necessary, where is best to focus my energies? Passive income? Skills? Not really sure yet.

I have decided that I want to leave this permaculture project earlier than September as I had originally planned. I feel like I've learned most of what this leg of the journey has to teach me, and am preparing to move on. I'm estimating I'll hit the road on August 1 to go camping, visit friends, and connect with an ethnobotany mentor.

I made a list of my main life goals the other day. They were:
  • Quit money
  • Get enlightened
  • Learn an endangered language
  • Be healthy
  • Play folk music
  • Explore sexuality
  • Invest in kickass friendships
These are partially tongue-in-cheek (especially the enlightenment part), but I am happy with where I'm headed. I'm 21 years old and going in fun and unconventional directions. Things aren't perfect of course. I don't have much of a social life right now, and I've had some friction with the other people at the farm I'm living at. But it seems that there is something spontaneously emerging from me that it is wisest to simply allow to come to fruition. I have a strong sense of an inner compass.

Though mindfulness practice is good for remaining centered during challenging social situations, I am finding that I need more explicit training in communication, mediation, or conflict resolution.

I ordered a guitar capo off of Amazon and have been getting into better and better shape as the summer goes on. Fitness and Music are advancing bit by bit.

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Where to Go From Here?

Hello everyone.

Over the past couple of years I have drifted further and further into an alternative lifestyle, and have managed to get a large degree of free time for myself at a relatively young age. I probably qualify as a mini-Gert, as per Paul Wheaton's definition. However, I find myself at a crossroads and would like to solicit feedback about where to head next.

I'm currently doing a work exchange at a permaculture farm, and in about a month's time am planning to do a cross-country bike tour from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest. Now that's all fine and dandy, but I need to get a strategic bearing for my next steps. I am planning to stop at several interesting projects (permaculture sites, wilderness schools, meetings with academics) along the bike route, and connect with people who may become friends and mentors, so there is a social capital aspect to this journey, and I may be able to get some good pointers from these people.

I've been reading Mark Boyle recently, and though I think going moneyless would be interesting for a year or so, it doesn't feel like my path. COVID has been a big year of discernment for me, and I now have a pretty good grasp on where I want to spend my life energy, which I've written about earlier in my Web of Goals. Basically, be a contemplative ethnoecologist, write music, be physically fit, and invest in my social life.

Here are some ideas for longer-term ways I can approach this:
1) Do it in the context of a meaningful career. Ethnobotany professor + mindfulness teacher would be ideal.
2) Build up my non-shitty income streams; do classic FIRE.
3) Invest in social capital to do a "full Rob Greenfield" version of ERE.

Shorter-term, I will probably need to have a work period after my bicycle adventure to prepare for the next phase. I want to head to Latin America after I've crossed the US on my bike. I have about $5k saved up, which will get me across the country, but I'll be pretty close to broke by the end of the adventure. The main thing is that I want any work I do to be homeotelic with the rest of my life.

I've been doing sporadic translation and landscaping work, but the contexts in which I'm working are not providing many opportunities to learn, hone my skills, or increase my income. I'm really looking to work at a wilderness school or permaculture project, so hopefully the social capital from this trip will result in some opportunities. I'm considering reaching out to Rob Greenfield to work on one of his projects as well.


Other News

I've become more active in my local sustainability organization and have connected with a much better permaculture mentor. I have also been investigating Druid philosophy, which is helping me to integrate these disparate strands of my Web of Goals. I have been feeling much more creative and connected to nature. I've been writing poetry, and am trying to figure out how to write music. I've also had an urge to paint and make pottery, not necessarily to deeply dedicate myself to those mediums, but I want to do it at least once.

daylen
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Location: Lawrence, KS

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by daylen »

Sometimes the way forward presents itself in the way back.

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

A Month in the Salt Mines?

I think I've learned all there is to learn from this particular permaculture site, and am considering living with my parents for a month and getting a job somewhere to get myself some more travel funds.

I give myself credit for having radically low expenses over the past year or so. I've made a lot of progress with ERE and learning skills in bike maintenance, cooking, gardening, etc. I've become a mini-Gert; I've tiptoed up to the edge of moneylessness and peeked over.

But I've come to realize that moneylessness is not conducive to my own deepest goals, and won't serve to help me get what I want out of life. So I'm back to square one—ERE and traditional FI. But I am now much clearer about my goals—working to become a contemplative ethnoecologist—and will be able to better navigate the terrain. Though I do want to include a certain amount of dirtbagging in my twenties, I've come to realize a couple things:

1) Jacob's warning about having no foundation when I turn 30 is accurate, and I don't want to be WWOOFing into my thirties.
2) Moneyless living is not for me; I will be a more effective Bodhisattva my allowing myself some involvement in the monetary economy.
3) I will have to develop a career path/income stream that is homeotelic with my Web of Goals. Until now, I've been sort of sitting around at my organic farm waiting for an opportunity to fall into my lap. I need to proactively get out there, make opportunities happen, and sharpen my skillset.

Given my goal of being a contemplative ethnoecologist, I have a couple different pathways open to me. I can:
  • Go for academia, do anthropology or ethnobotany. This has the benefit of having potential funding available for research, access to peers and mentors, and easier access to information and research papers. Downsides include publish-or-perish, student debt, a specialized skillset not fit to survive and thrive in 21st century climate chaos, and the opportunity cost of not earning money while in school. I have heard some of my heroes in this field advise people to go travel and have adventures instead of going straight to the Academy. If I were 100% certain I would get tenure, I would go for this, but it seems like a long, narrow, and fragile path to dedicate oneself to. And I think that I could accomplish my goals equally effectively as an FI independent scholar.
  • Find a profitable permaculture niche to work in. I could perhaps apply as an intern on one of Rob Greenfield's projects, or find an urban farm elsewhere that is hiring. I would 100% be willing to relocate for work. When I have more skills and experience, I could start my own business that could free me up to do semi-ERE and travel more, though that is a long way off and I would have to learn the business side of things as well. But the idea would be to apply ERE in this context and do my language revitalization work as an independent scholar.
  • If I get further training, there is pay available for people certified in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and yoga. I would really prefer to avoid this one, as I'm not a huge fan of the commercialization of either of these practices. To me, they're just too precious to charge people money for. I list it as a possibility, but it is one I would prefer to avoid.
  • Since health is included in my Web of Goals, I could go for being a personal trainer as well. However, I would prefer to do any of the above.
So there you have it. I'm probably going to spend some time in the salt mines this summer, in order to travel and figure out which of these pathways I'm going to go down. I'm not too happy about moving back to my parents' place, or looking for a shitty job to endure, but it looks like the key to my future freedom. Daylen's comment about the way forward being the way back is pertinent; quite the Zen Master here.

Jin+Guice
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by Jin+Guice »

Hey man, I just wanted to say that I think you are seeing this kind of black and white. There are some decent ways to make some fucking cash. Armed with the knowledge of how to live on 7-12k/ year or whatever, you can kind of do whatever you want. The choices are not limited to 1) not using money and 2) suffering for money.

You are also super young and you can kind of just fuck around for awhile. As people get older, most but not all of them want the status/ things that a $$ job can get you. People who are 35 and only know how to make $10/ hour and that’s all they’ve ever done are generally not stoked. But if you allow yourself to be open to money and keep and eye towards skill building opportunities, it’s unlikely someone won’t offer you something lucrative and interesting eventually. Employers generally offer younger employees more learning opportunities and older employs more money.

Money is just a tool and ignoring it is kind of like ignoring simple machines. Why do everything the hard way? The point is use it but don’t let it own you (most people let it own them).

Qazwer
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by Qazwer »

Be careful around the pay for yoga and mindfulness based stress reduction train the trainer programs. A lot of them are Ponzi schemes.
Nothing wrong with learning that but just do not spend money on them. Having a marketable skill set is great. You just need ones that make sense for you.

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mouseyo22
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Location: "Self-control is true power." Michael Pierre White

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by mouseyo22 »

This here is a free MBSR https://palousemindfulness.com/ course online.
Check out the Teacher-Training Programs listed there too.

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

@J+G Thank you for pointing that out; I think you're right. And if I am still only working part-time, even salt mines shouldn't be too unbearable.

I'm aware of the bullshit involved in the "yoga-industrial complex," which is part of why I have big issues with the commercialization of the practices. In the old days you used to spend 20 years in a goddamn cave for this stuff; American culture likes to corporatize and commodify everything. This is one of the strengths of the Goenka Vipassana tradition, by the way. All of their 10-day residential courses are offered on a gift economy basis. If I do move forwards with yoga/mindfulness certification, I'll be very selective in where I get my credentials. Unified Mindfulness seems to be the most rigorous training program that I've seen, but there is a price tag attached.

The plan is to spend August with my parents. The farm people and I agreed that our arrangement would be better if it were non-residential, and I instead came over once a week for permaculture lessons. My family will be welcome to produce from the garden too. I'll be looking out for income opportunities and getting more involved with a local sustainability org I recently discovered, which is pretty kickass and offers multiple opportunities to practice skills and obtain yields. I'm considering joining a yoga studio near my parents' house; I've been mainly a solitary practitioner for nearly three years and really would like more opportunities to practice in a group. But I want to stay frugal, so I may try to see if I can cut a deal with them. I additionally have found 4 pieces of local land for permaculture practice, which I'll be experimenting with.

Since I'm moving back in for a while, I'm being intentional about setting clear expectations and boundaries with my parents so that we don't get on each other's nerves. In American culture at least, adult children living with parents can be stressful, so I'm trying to mitigate that up front. We'll see how well it works. I am planning to leave in 1-2 months for Vancouver, and then Mexico.

I was rereading Chapter 5 (Strategy, Tactics, and Guiding Principles) and grokked some things about the Web of Goals that had previously evaded me. A block is a module. A connection is a yield or skill. Seems fairly simple now, but it escaped me before. I reframed my own Web of Goals based on this insight.

Image
https://imgur.com/a/fX12KWD

A - Involvement in local sustainability org
B - Yoga/Vipassana
C - Endangered language research
D - Job
E - FI

1 - health
2 - vocation
3 - friendship and social connections
4 - gardening
5 - cooking
6 - money

The concept of tensegrity is a lot clearer to me now - if one module is knocked out, there are others that will still allow me to obtain similar yields. Framing it this way makes my goals seem much more robust than in a linear model. Of course, there are potential connections here that I have not mapped; for example, volunteering in the kitchen while serving a Vipassana retreat could yield higher-level cooking skills, but that would make the diagram awkward, and it would only be for a ten-day period. Additionally, I haven't put every area of life onto here—it leaves out my desire to make music, interest in martial arts, family relationships, dating, and others. And some of the connections may be more/less strong depending on my decisions. Yoga and vipassana will not yield friendship and social connections if I continue being a mainly solitary practitioner.

But this is a good summary of the areas of life that I currently deem most important, and the exercise has helped me clarify modules and the connections between them, and bring more resilience to the system. Jacob mentions the hardest part of the exercise is naming the concepts, which is certainly true in my case.

I may be able to increase my income by increasing involvement with my existing income streams (law office + landscaping), which have thus far been sporadic. If that fails and I decide to take a "salt mines" job, I'll aim for one that allows me to practice cooking or gardening skills.

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Am spending 1-2 months with my parents; I will be saving some more cash and hitting the road again soon. Plan is to go camping in the Black Hills and the Pacific Northwest.

Dunkelheit
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 4:24 pm
Location: Somewhere in Spain

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by Dunkelheit »

After a very long time missing I felt obliged to devore your journal and leave this comment.

BTW, I had a great digestion and you have a new fan.

Saludos desde España ;)

RoamingFrancis
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Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:43 am

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Gracias por comentar. Por que te llamas "oscuridad" en aleman?

Dunkelheit
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 4:24 pm
Location: Somewhere in Spain

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by Dunkelheit »

RoamingFrancis wrote:
Wed Jul 07, 2021 9:57 pm
Gracias por comentar. Por que te llamas "oscuridad" en aleman?
Before moving to Germany years ago I searched for "favourite word in german" in google and I got Dunkelheit, which I loved. Oscuridad no me gusta tanto en español. Tengo curiosidad, ¿cómo y por qué aprendiste español? ¿has viajado alguna vez a España?

Un saludo ;)

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Dunkelheit is a very cool word. Me enamoré de la lengua cuando tenía 12 años. Crecí cerca de un barrio mexicano en Chicago y fui semi adoptado por ellos.

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Since arriving at my parent's place I've experienced a huge upswing in energy and creativity. Every day I've been writing, researching, going to the gym, and actualizing my goals. I can't pinpoint the reason for this, but I definitely am grateful.

I recently read one of Jacob's blog posts and wanted to highlight my primary reasons for pursuing this path. He says ERE is for:

- People who want to make a difference doing things which aren’t traditionally rewarded in the working place, such as traveling, volunteering, semi-professional sports, arts and acting, saving the world, …
- People who are concerned about the way consumerism is affecting the environment and who want to do something about it rather than just fly around to conferences and talk about it. In particular those who realize that buying a $4000 electric bicycle made out of sustainably harvested bamboo and lithium batteries isn’t as “green” as fixing up an old bicycle.

Those two are me.

I have been thinking on how to apply the Pareto principle to each goal category. Let's wu wei this shit:
  • Meditation - Formless awareness practice seems to be working well for me. I'll stick with it.
  • Fitness/martial arts - The best thing to do would be to join a dojo, but since I'm only here a month I'm just going to use BJJ YouTube videos and make sure I take advantage of gym access while I can.
  • Music - Finally got Chan Chan sheet music for piano. I will find another Buena Vista Social Club song and try to do some creative analysis and synthesis of the two. Will likely make a recording.
  • Dating - I will probably give in and invest real energy into getting good at dating apps. I had procrastinated this at the height of the pandemic, and now want to get back in the action.
  • Permaculture - I've been reading through Mollison's Designer's Manual, feel stuck/blocked. I'll draw up a paper design and have a knowledgeable friend suggest improvements
  • Anthropology - The next key issue to investigate is land rights for indigenous people. I suspect this will be a key strategic component of any language protection campaign
  • Financial independence - I have enough cash to dirtbag for 3-6 months in the winter, if frugal. However, I'll be living off of savings, which is not a good long-term strategy for obvious reasons. During the winter I will strategize and look for options for a long-term income stream/career path which is homeotelic with my Web of Goals and that I can use to get to FI. My work is still too sporadic to be an actual reliable income; I will strategize over the winter and in 2022 will launch whatever my "career" (or anti-career) will be. It should be noted that I am only interested in financial independence to the extent that it supports my development in these other areas. Next year I may also be looking for a location to act as a home base location. I will likely be fairly nomadic over the coming years, but I know I do well when I have a place that feels like home to return to.

Dunkelheit
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 4:24 pm
Location: Somewhere in Spain

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by Dunkelheit »

RoamingFrancis wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:10 pm
Dunkelheit is a very cool word. Me enamoré de la lengua cuando tenía 12 años. Crecí cerca de un barrio mexicano en Chicago y fui semi adoptado por ellos.
So you have mexican roots, qué onda!

I can understand your passion for languages (before finding your journal I didn't know what a ethnoecologist was). In particular, I like those words that can't be easily expressed into other languages like Spannungsbogen, Zeitgeist, Wanderlust or Geborgenheit. In Spanish we also have some but most of them don't have such a deep meaning: siesta, merienda o los verbos ser/estar que vuelven locos a los extranjeros.

Can you share some insights about language learning? I read you mentioned Stephen Krashen but don't know where to begin.

I feel very identified with you (but a decade older): languages, permaculture, meditation, the desire to know (too) many things and making the world a better place. But wow, at your age I was an amoeba!

I feel very intrigued about your future plans. If you want to spend next winter/spring some time in Spain I have an offer for you ;)

Saludos

RoamingFrancis
Posts: 593
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:43 am

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Dankeschön, ich habe ein Paar neue deutsche Wörter gelernt :)

Tell me about it; I still am capable of fucking up ser/estar even after 10 years of speaking Spanish!

Krashen's key contribution is the Input Hypothesis - basically, the way that humans acquire languages is by exposure to understandable messages in the target language, ideally at an n+1 level, meaning slightly more difficult than the learner's current level.

Here's a short video of Krashen modeling it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnUc_W3xE1w

Other language teachers have created teaching methodologies around the Comprehensible Input framework, notably TPRS storytelling and the LingQ platform. I like both.

Gracias; me interesa la oferta. ¿Me podrías enviar más detalles en un mensaje privado?

Dunkelheit
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Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 4:24 pm
Location: Somewhere in Spain

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by Dunkelheit »

Thanks for your explanation and the video of Mr Krashen! I have heard of the comprehensible input before thanks to my wife who is spanish teacher, but have never stopped to understand it. How have you applied it directly to your own language learning?

How are your advances in indigenous languages? Right now I am fluent in English, quasi-fluent in German, a novice in French. I would like to learn Esperanto (any advice?), improve my French and maybe trying Arabic. No interest in Asian languages, too complicated for me.

Te envío un mensaje privado.

Saludos!

RoamingFrancis
Posts: 593
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:43 am

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Well, I basically ignore all grammar worksheets in favor of reading, listening, and direct interaction with native speakers. Mnemonic devices such as memory palaces and spaced repetition software can be good if you need to get a lot of vocab words very quickly, but personally I prefer to focus on consuming actual, in-context interesting content. I think a key principle is to find an enjoyable learning approach; this makes you much more likely to stick with the learning longer-term.

No advances in the indigenous languages yet; I haven't even selected which language I want to learn. Interested in learning Kogi, though haven't committed yet. I will be meeting with an anthropologist in 1-2 months to get some guidance on this.

If you are a native Spanish speaker, an Asian language will likely be about as easy to learn as Arabic. Here's a useful document from the US Foreign Service Institute; it details language difficulty based on linguistic distance from English: https://effectivelanguagelearning.com/l ... ifficulty/ Because Spanish and English are considered to be fairly similar, it should work for Spanish as well.

For Esperanto, lernu.net has a good story-based course. Since I'm into the CI approach, I just read the stories and skip the questions. Also Esperanto is available on LingQ, which in my opinion is the best learning platform out there. Esperanto was designed to be extremely easy to learn; it is not uncommon to reach conversational fluency within 2-4 weeks, depending on commitment etc. Esperanto derives a lot of vocabulary roots from Romance and Germanic languages, which you already have a background in, so I imagine it shouldn't be too difficult.

If you pursue Arabic you'll have to decide whether you want to learn Modern Standard Arabic / Fusha, or a local dialect. The little Arabic I know is the Levantine dialect, which I learned from a Syrian friend. If you decide on MSA, I once again recommend LingQ. If you want a dialect, Talk In Arabic is a good resource.

Hope that helps.

Dunkelheit
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 4:24 pm
Location: Somewhere in Spain

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by Dunkelheit »

Oh, man! Thanks a lot for the advice!

I find very interesting that you plan to learn some indigenous language, which puts you directly into its own culture and doesn't just make you a language-learner but being part of a "tribe". Just for curiosity, why are you so interested in begin an ethnoecologist?

Finding an enjoyable approach is I think the main problem, together with a lack of necessity due to the low use of foreign languages right now, except for English which I use everyday to read, write, think, and sometimes dream. Where I live I don't have access to native-speakers, so maybe looking for a virtual tandem is a good option.

I have never heard about LingQ, but have already installed it. Is it worth paying for the premium? I'm going to refresh my old-school French and maybe begin learning Esperanto, which I find very interesting but not so useful, although it seems it is usually used as a basis to learn another languages easier. I began learning it twice but forgot most of it due to the lack of use. It may be an stupid question, but whom do you speak Esperanto with or how do you use it?

After taking a look at the "Language difficulty ranking" table, Arabic is moved for now into the too-hard-pile. At least in my case it would require a mix of necessity and motivation that I lack now, but would love to visit some arab countries and be able to understand something. Asian languages are "too tonal" for me.

Thanks again!

Un saludo

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