My progress of book lessons has been like a Sturzflut (flash-flood - not to be confused with a Sturmflut = storm surge :-) ) in the last day or two. I finished lesson 96 by this morning. For some reason I couldn't sleep and got up about an hour earlier than usual. However, since the traffic is significantly worse if I leave earlier, I decided to finish this lesson instead and just leave a little earlier than usual. I listened to it a few more times in the car, repeating it in german, and then repeating the english translations along just after the german-speakers. Then I switched over to the SBS radio german program for the last 20 minutes of the trip. I'm going to do my best to finish the active lesson (47) today as well, so I can start on the next passive lesson tomorrow.
It feels good to be making some faster progress. Completing the passive lessons in Assimil's "German with Ease" is one of my mini-goal milestones on the road to the B2 exam in July. Of course, July won't be the end of my german learning. As long as I keep using my german, I will keep learning all my life. I just don't have any plans to do more exams beyond B2 at this stage. If I ever need a formal qualification in german, I think B2 will be sufficient for all my possible purposes, and if I manage my other goal of fostering a few good friendships with germans in Australia, then I shouldn't need to work too hard *consciously* towards any specific goal in german.
In a way, this spurt of activity towards the end of something, following a short period quite close to the end where it all feels too hard, and like it's never going to happen, is much like how I get during long runs. I won't stretch the analogy too far, but often when I have less than 5% left, I just feel like I'm done, like I can't push myself anymore. And then when I know I'm a lot closer, I find much more energy and enthusiasm. Of course, I only do these runs for fun, so perhaps it's partially just a matter of not feeling the need to destroy myself every time I go for one :-) Is it the same with language learning? After all, I'm not competing against anyone but myself, and it's only really for fun. Maybe that explains my standard "5% malaise".
Whatever the case, with the fnishing line very much in sight, I've got my second wind :-)
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