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旅立ち/Катюша-Woodsei’s TAC 2014 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Woodsei Bilingual Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Woodsei Joined 4800 days ago 614 posts - 782 votes  Speaks: English*, Arabic (Egyptian)* Studies: Russian, Japanese, Hungarian | Message 121 of 162 28 February 2013 at 4:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm posting a quick update, since it's been quite a while that I've visited the forum,
or done anything language-specific. My studies (and plans) fell through after the January Tadoku, and 2013 hasn't been nice to me so far. I'm currently dealing with a lot of family/job issues at the moment, and have been feeling flat and completely deflated. Well, I'm looking to getting back in the rhythm of things. I really miss languages, and the generally positive atmosphere around here on the forum. Hopefully, I do better come March! I didn't have time at all, and personally felt unmotivated, to join the February 6WC, but hopefully I'll try to do the next one, because they really were motivation boosters, and I usually managed to have most of my accomplishments in those little challenges :) Ok, now for a status update. 1. Japanese Well, that's basically been Tadoku. I managed to exceed my target goal of a thousand pages read. The improvements I've noticed was that I starting to leave behind furigana more and more. I'm still not there yet, and got a ways to go, but it's like, when I see the same kanji in different contexts, I'm sort of developing a prediction on which reading to use. I previously stated that I was going through RTK 2, but I lost steam, and now simply read the furigana, then ignore it later on and try to read the kanji without them. I also don't really look at it if I'm using an audiobook or an aural source along with the text, and that actually is a lot easier than trying to actively read the thing independently. So all in all, I'm slowly but surely getting there! The second improvement really has to do with basic grammar. It's interesting how structure I knew, are sort of becoming second nature, and these are all very basic points. It keeps reminding me that going back to basics is certainly helpful. I guess what I'm trying to say, as I read and listen, I actively think about the text, not translation-wise, but how comprehensible it can be for me. This happens with the more advanced grammar issues. But then I stop thinking about it and just get it, the more I'm exposed to it, which in turn clarifies a very basic grammar point that I thought I knew well, only to find a newer nuance in the structure in question. I don't know if that made sense, but It's helping me understand better news and variety show-type Japanese, where people speak like machine guns, and these two were previousy giving me issues. On the conversational front, speaking and writing have been completely non-existent, and I really don't know what my level is like now, even though I had started to shadow a lot, and a speak a few times, back i n December. But right now I just don't feel like it at all, and just want to listen and read, so I'll stick to that for now. 2. Russian I've started doing more and more Russian lately. I went back to Assimil, because over at Mir, the cosmonaut team :), we decided that it's a text we can use for our Skype meetings, along with others of personal choice. I haven't been on a meeting yet, but I'm currently literally stalking the team thread looking to see if any session is planned out so I could join. I'm thirsting to get some practice done, and these meetings sort of help me keep on track for my studies. I've also started getting some listening and reading done with a couple of graded readers, after which I have access to children's stories on my computer, iPad, and a few paperbacks. I'm planning on finishing that part this March, so that after that, I can start tackling some young adult novels I have, as well as Harry Potter, Narnia, and others. I'm fluctuating, just like Japanese, between saving sentences and words for later review, but mostly I have been just listening and reading, and maybe shadowing a few times. たく, I've been feeling so drained lately. Hope I snap out of it soon. 3. Hungarian Zilch. I know, it's embarrassing, but between the previous two languages, school, and looking for work, and all the other problems I have, I haven't been able to make any room for it. I'm planning on working sporadically on the language through out the year, and I'm not really committed t any long- or short-term goal, except that I hope I'm at a better level towards December than I currently am in now. So that's basically it. I'm looking forward to the gorgeous spring weather (not a big fan of the impending heat, though), and really just hope that I manage to pull everything back together, and keep on track language-wise. Post soon! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4847 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 122 of 162 10 March 2013 at 1:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hey Woodsei,
I hope everything's well. It looks like you're making good progress in your languages. How's your Russian? Успехов! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Woodsei Bilingual Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Woodsei Joined 4800 days ago 614 posts - 782 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Egyptian)* Studies: Russian, Japanese, Hungarian | Message 123 of 162 16 March 2013 at 12:55am | IP Logged | ||
Hi, Josquin! I'm working my way through Assimil, both the 1950 and 2011 versions. The latter is obviously more contrived, but I find that a plus since it doesn't require as much effort, plus it's useful. I'm at a stage where I can understand very basic conversations at normal speed easily, but I definitely get lost with more meaningful discussions, TV/radio is way over my head, and speaking is non-existent. I'm trying to focus more on passive understanding at the moment, because that worked great with me in Japanese, but I feel I might be able to speak sooner in Russian. I may be wrong, I don't know. We'll see! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Woodsei Bilingual Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Woodsei Joined 4800 days ago 614 posts - 782 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Egyptian)* Studies: Russian, Japanese, Hungarian | Message 124 of 162 25 March 2013 at 6:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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Another long-overdue update. I give up. 2013 hasn't been nice to me.
1. Russian: Listening and reading has been mainly my focus this month. I managed to borrow a Russian audiobook for both the first Harry Potter book, and the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia. As I am kind of getting tired of Harry Potter right now (gasp!) I'll start with the other book; I've always loved the series and it'll be interesting trying that out in Russian. I'm up to Lesson 45 in Assimil, and no Skype meeting yet. Unfortunately I haven't been following the forum much, or any thread, let alone update mine. I really have to get back to that. I wish had more hours in the day... 2. Japanese: Manga. I'm reading short stories and novellas, too, but I'm in a manga phase right now, and I'm really enjoying it. I'm also working on a few grammar points everyday, mainly as review to reinforce what I already know. I'm simply looking at structures in any given day, and keeping an eye out for examples of said structure in my reading and listening/TV. The other reason I'm spending time with more spoken forms of the language is that I really want to get my speech up in skill, since I hope (I hope) that I might be able to go to Japan as part of a research project for school the following year. But so far it's just a hope. 3. Hungarian: Again, nothing yet :S So basically, this is my update. I really should keep them this short, and update more often. またこんど！ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Emme Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 5350 days ago 980 posts - 1594 votes Speaks: Italian*, English, German Studies: Russian, Swedish, French | Message 125 of 162 26 March 2013 at 7:40pm | IP Logged | ||
Don’t give up! You’re not alone: 2013 hasn’t been kind to several of us so far, but I hope that we can still cheer one another up and offer moral support when things get tough! And if languages languish somewhat compared to what we wanted to achieve at the beginning of the year, so be it. We’re in for the long haul and a few months of stagnation are not a big deal if deep down we still enjoy language learning. Good luck with everything! Emme 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Woodsei Bilingual Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Woodsei Joined 4800 days ago 614 posts - 782 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Egyptian)* Studies: Russian, Japanese, Hungarian | Message 126 of 162 04 April 2013 at 11:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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@Emme: Thank you, Emme! I'm following your log too, and it's refreshing to see your
motivation, especially through all the start/stop periods. I'm plodding through, and I have to say, it ain't easy! But I'm finally back to being able to devote sometime language-wise, as well as see how all my teammates are doing. Update:1 I'm finally managing to get a grip on time spent for languages, after some months of school- and family-related issues. I've mostly been reading for Japanese, for the most part manga and some grammar, as it's low-key and not so brain-intensive as reading books, or working on my writing. Other languages haven't fared so well. So now I'm back to set some mini-goals (week-long ones) in an attempt at getting things done. That and time-boxing should help. 1. Russian: Try to finish 7 Assimil lessons and review the previous ones, as well as read a children's book. 2. Japanese: Read a series of short stories for Miyazawa Kenji, vocab on Anki, and review some grammar points while trying to use them to write a journal entry, probably on Lang-8. 3. German and Spanish: I'm adding in two more languages to the mix, for both school and personal reasons. I still don't have a plan or resources for either yet, so any suggestions would be appreciated, and hopefully I'll try to do some research this week and see what I come up with. I'm guessing that shouldn't be too hard to find, given the insane popularity of both languages. 4. Hungarian: I'm putting it on the back-burner for a while, simply because of time commitments and my preoccupation with the above-mentioned ones, but I haven't abandoned it. I'm hoping soon enough I'll be able to free some time for this beautiful language. I hope that through setting some short-term goals I'll be able to stick to schedule, as well as be able to record the time I spend on any one language. I guess I feel like doing so because I'm busy with school and family commitments, and would like to see if I need to scale my plans down to bite-sized chunks, or do more if I can handle it. I like keeping my posts shorter, since that allows me more time for both language- learning and following other logs, as well as sticking to posting more regularly. As usual, great being back again! 'Later! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5985 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 127 of 162 04 April 2013 at 11:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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Welcome back Woodsei!
I just love how you've decided you're too busy for Hungarian, so are picking up two other languages instead! I'm enjoying working with Assimil's German With Ease and finding it surprisingly helpful, even though the dialogues are pretty quirky in their entirety, they seem packed full of useful little phrases. I also highly recommend all the free stuff aimed at beginners on Deutsche Welle's website. I've been working through the podcast courses Radio D and Warum Nicht. I decided to go for a paper textbook over their online textbook Deutsch Interaktiv though - in terms of content it's great, but I just prefer the look, smell and feel of dead tree in my hands... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6623 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 128 of 162 05 April 2013 at 6:40am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm using FSI Programmatic for Spanish. It is available for free. However I just checked the site and it seems to be down. Hopefully they will get it back up again soon. I've seen it down several times before and it's always come back. Edited by Brun Ugle on 05 April 2013 at 6:40am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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