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Sunja’s Newspaper/TV Challenge --TAC 09

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Sunja
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6085 days ago

2020 posts - 2295 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 1 of 232
24 November 2008 at 1:05pm | IP Logged 
GOALS FOR THE YEAR

(This first post is still subject to "the edit button" to show additions to my learning sources list, and show page numbers of my benchmark tests that I'll be doing throughout the year.



I've decided to call this my "newspaper/TV challenge" since that's really what comes to mind when I think of where I want to be. To be able to read a newspaper and understand TV in my target languages would be significant improvement from where I started from:

Spanish

Nov.08 -- From July to September I'd managed to make it to B1. My vocabulary level is still very limited and my grammar needs major revision. I plan to do mostly reading for Spanish. TAC Goal: Advanced reading level. I'd really like to be able to understand TV, too; but since I'm already doing Japanese, and my family and work schedule takes up a lot of my time, I'm not so sure it's plausible. I'm just gonna have fun with these books:

Dec.20-- Langescheidt Grundwortschatz Spanisch
Dec. 25-- (Thanks, Santa!) Allí Donde el Mar Recuerda (156 pages, Sandra Benítez.) and El Demonio y la Señorita Prym (188 pages, Paulo Coelho)
Update: as of March I stopped Spanish and started French.

French

I started French when I bought Assimil, Französisch Ohne Mühe. If I follow Assimil's method I should finish in the course of the year with a B2. Sounds simple enough.

Update: as of June 1 took a break from Assimil ---- not enough hours in the day --- Japanese is going full-force...

Update: as of September 15 (or so) French Assimil is back on. I'm reviewing lessons 1-30 (the 1st CD). Watching "Star Trek" with French subtitles. It will be a close call to get to B2 by December 30. Steady on.


Japanese

End of Nov.08 -- I'd say I'm scraping intermediate. Vocabulary made fun with IKnow!. I've been with them since the end of September 08. I'm at level 3 and 4 (as of end of Nov.). I'll be giving regular updates of my IKnow! progress in subsequent entries. My Kana word level is 1000 (but not with the kanji). I know Heisig's meanings but not the Japanese readings. IKnow! will serve to unite the two. TAC Goal: 6000 and beyond!

READING/GRAMMAR STUDY:

Breaking into Japanese Literature
Reading Japanese With a Smile
シャド--イング にほんごはなそう! - dialogs with CD
Japanese in Mangaland - 3
Japanese For Busy People 3 (CD) (Added 22.01.09)
Japanese Newspaper Compounds - 1,000 Most Important... (Added 22.01.09)
日本語の凡人者、3級
完全マスタ2級レベル Kanzen Master 2kyuu Grammar/Vocab (added 07.05.09)
完全マスタ2級レベル Kanzen Master 2kyuu Listening Practice (CD)(added 07.05.09)

LISTENING:
Nov.08 --For listening I keep myself busy with the sentences from IKnow! and I try to catch whatever I can from DVDs, Channel J, FNN, Internet, etc.. I use six cassete tapes of ようこそ! Intermed. Level. for listening and dictation practice.

Update: as of May I stopped IKnow! or smartfm, as it's now called.
I'm using Listening Quizes for 2kyuu and the various learning CDs that I have.
   

Update: as of July I stopped it with the books and started my "USE IT OR LOSE IT" summer plan which includes becoming a member at mylanguageexchange.com. I have (I'm not sure but I think) 5 active Japanese partners, to whom I'm writing every day.

Update: August: I have this off-again-on-again thing going with smart.fm. I won't make it to the end of the Core 6000. Well...maybe...I won't push it. I'm doing wordlists and using those words in writings to my penpals. "chat" has been put on hold. I've switched to dictation to improve my output.

Update: October. Doing kanji worksheets. New goal: make it through worksheets for 2,000 kanji. I'm hoping this will improve my very weak reading level which got stalled somewhere around JLPT 3.

Benchmarktest 1, "TV Test" -- Page 4

Bonjinsha Quiz 最小 JLPT 3 -- page 6

Benchmarktest 2/ Bonjinsha Quiz 最後 JLPT 3 -- page 14

Benchmarktest 3 --

Edited by Sunja on 27 September 2009 at 5:42pm

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Sunja
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6085 days ago

2020 posts - 2295 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 2 of 232
28 November 2008 at 9:31am | IP Logged 
I decided to pull my log up and practice a bit. I didn't have time to do much. Speaking and writing are my weakest areas so it takes me twice as long to write something. (Corrections and suggestions welcome!) I'll be coming in to edit.

ベイトがないから、勉強する時間もある。  レーベル3,4がほぼ終わる。

難しかった日。。。午後帰れたら、母から荷 物が来た。 子供の短所美のプレセントだっ た。でも、娘にはプレセントくれたので、姉 妹けんかだ。ちょっとうるさいね。

夜に、子供たちはベドに行ったら、Dictationを するつもりだ。。

Translation: I don't have to work today so I have more time to study. I'm almost finished with Level 3,4. Difficult day. When I got home this afternoon a package came from my mother. It was (my) kid's birthday present. But because my daughter got a birthday present there was "sister-rivalry". (It was) a little loud. This evening after the kids go to bed I plan to do Dictation.

Edited by Sunja on 28 November 2008 at 11:48am

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Fasulye
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2012
Moderator
Germany
fasulyespolyglotblog
Joined 5847 days ago

5460 posts - 6006 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto
Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 3 of 232
28 November 2008 at 9:46am | IP Logged 
Hi Sunja,

I am looking forward to your participation of the TAC 2009 and I will keep en eye on your log. I cannot read or understand your Japanese at all, but it looks very Japanese to me.

Concerning your second target language Spanish I might be able to give you language advice, we will see...

Mucho éxito and good luck for your TAC 2009 log and learning activities!

Fasulye-Babylonia

Edited by Fasulye on 28 November 2008 at 9:48am

1 person has voted this message useful



Sunja
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6085 days ago

2020 posts - 2295 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 4 of 232
28 November 2008 at 10:47am | IP Logged 
Thanks :)

Spanish is the easier language and it gets pushed aside sometimes because I don't want to forget any of the kanji I've worked so hard to memorize.

Maybe you could help me develop a better learning system. I was using StudySpanish for grammar and AlbaAudioLibros for listening+reading. It's gotten me out of the beginner level, but I think I may need more if I want to continue at a decent pace of improving my Spanish. I'd like to get Langenscheidt's Spanish/German Wortschatzbuch that's grouped by theme. (Not sure of the exact title). I need to increase my vocabulary. My grammar is also not so great. I think reading will automatically strengthen both of those weak areas. I'm really looking forward to Christmas time when I can curl up with a good book -- even a not-so-good book. As long as it's in Spanish!

Edited by Sunja on 28 November 2008 at 11:42am

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Fasulye
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2012
Moderator
Germany
fasulyespolyglotblog
Joined 5847 days ago

5460 posts - 6006 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto
Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 5 of 232
28 November 2008 at 12:39pm | IP Logged 
Hi Sunja,

For your study of the Spanish language I can recommend you two very useful tools:

1. PONS Verbtabellen Spanisch, übersichtlich und umfassend, 2006,
ISBN:3-12-561158-X,

2. Thematischer Grund- und Aufbauwortschatz Spanisch, nach Themenbereichen gegliedert, Klett-Verlag,
ISBN:3-12-519570-5

With both books I have worked succesfully!

Have a look in your German bookshop.

Fasulye-Babylonia





Edited by Fasulye on 28 November 2008 at 12:39pm

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ExtraLean
Triglot
Senior Member
France
languagelearners.myf
Joined 5994 days ago

897 posts - 880 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Spanish
Studies: German

 
 Message 6 of 232
28 November 2008 at 2:29pm | IP Logged 
Sunja wrote:
From July to September I'd managed to make it to B1.


Did you start from scratch? And how did you do it? Any tips?

Keep up the good work, and good luck.

1 person has voted this message useful



Sunja
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6085 days ago

2020 posts - 2295 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 7 of 232
28 November 2008 at 5:12pm | IP Logged 
ExtraLean wrote:
Sunja wrote:
From July to September I'd managed to make it to B1.


Did you start from scratch? And how did you do it? Any tips?

Keep up the good work, and good luck.


I'd had some Spanish in high school about 20 years ago so I started with a limited "tourist" vocabulary. I also knew some basic grammar. After memorizing 300 words I was able to read a small book of about 40 pages. Then I read about Iversen's wordlists and started memorizing -- not nearly the amount that he does, more like 20 per day. I was having trouble remembering all of them so I started googling words and seeing what kind of contexts would pop up. That was tedious but a lot of fun. I was keeping a log of these "hits" but dropped it after the summer ended. I'd say I was studying an average of 3 hours per day, 8 on Sunday ;) I still keep flashcards for my vocabulary. I move around a lot and always carry a bunch of them with me everywhere I go.

I read every childrens' short story I could find on the Internet and listened to NotesinSpanish.com podcasts. A few times I did dictation, just copying down what I could make out. This really honed my listening skills. I did "homework" with NotesinSpanish and had them check it in their forum. I spent many hours trying to write proper Spanish sentences and I'm not sure if what I got out of it justifies the amount of hours I spent writing and rewriting. I could have invested that time better by reading. Maybe it's just hard to imagine writing Spanish right now. I'll start by reading.

I must add that I really feel a strong connection to Spanish. I grew up in Texas and I lived in Southern Cal. for a time -- I love how it sounds when people speak it! I've grown to cherish the memories I have of when I was still in contact with the culture. Same with Japanese. My first really successful job in Los Angeles was giving English lessons to Kenji Watanabe, General Manager of Fuji Bank, Limited. Even after he moved back to Japan I continued to stay on with the company. It enabled me to develop an appreciation of Japanese. That includes those great lunches in Little Tokyo. naja, I digress. Time to close for the day..

Edited by Sunja on 29 November 2008 at 4:27pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Sunja
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6085 days ago

2020 posts - 2295 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 8 of 232
30 November 2008 at 10:39am | IP Logged 
I'll be coming in to ediiii..taaah, what a bummer. There seems to be a bit of garbage mixed in with my Japanese. I've tried cleaning up the garbage but it keeps coming back. It's kind of like the kids' room....

雪がやめた。。。あまり深くない。でも、雪 をかききなければならないよ。寒いだ。気温 は 5   ごどに達した。今日の午後ク � �キ--を作りま� ��   ��。クッキ--が大好きで 。クッキ--が作�� �� �方 の材料をそろえました。簡単だ。

バタ、こ、さとう、卵、アマンドのひった。 。。

     クッキ--をめいめいの ら� ��取� ��わける。次�   ��に、次に ろうそくをつけて、クッキ--を� �� ����   �て、コ-ヒ-を飲みま よ。日本語の勉強す� �� �� のIKnow!でいいだ。IKnow!よかったことは新しく て、面白い日本語の言葉が習うが
できたことです。

   今日までに日本語のポヅカスト を聞きます。      japanesep od101ポヅカストの� ��き� ��、日本人が� �� �� ��してることが分かりません。毎日日本語 の� ��キストを読んだり、ポヅカストを聞いた り� ��ている。毎日勉強すれば上手なります。

eigonosetsumesuru (translation):

It's stopped snowing. It's not deep. Still, I have to sweep the snow. It's cold. The temperature reached 5 today. (Obviously the wrong verb! I don't know "dropped to" yet.) This afternooon I'm baking cookies (Plätzchen). I have all the ingredients for the recipe. It's easy: butter, flour, ground almonds, sugar, and eggs. Next I put the Plätzchen on a plate, light a (n Advent's) candle, eat cookies and drink coffee.

It's good to study Japanese with IKnow! The good thing about IKnow! is that I can learn new and interesting Japanese words. Today I'm still going to listen to a Japanese podcast. If I listen to japanesepod101 I don't understand the Japanese when they talk. I read Japanese text and listen to podcasts every day. If I study every day I'll get better.



Edited by Sunja on 30 November 2008 at 1:59pm



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