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Muddling through in TAC ’10 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| annette Senior Member United States Joined 5513 days ago 164 posts - 192 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 65 of 95 21 July 2010 at 8:58pm | IP Logged |
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Ok, I need to find some way to practice speaking my shitty Arabic but I don't know how.
Nobody who I know in real life will/can practice with me right now. People keep on telling me to go on Skype etc and find some random Arabic-speaking strangers but I really don't want to. I love strangers and meeting new people but ONLY IN REAL LIFE and ONLY UNDER MY TERMS. I hate speaking to people on Skype period, even when I do know and like them. I am really embarrassed about my Arabic speaking skills already, I'm definitely only a beginner there and I can't really hold any interesting conversations yet, I can't imagine why anyone would want to listen to my crappy broken halting speech without being paid/bribed/my friend. Plus I just have a really hard with the phone/Skype/etc because it is very hard for me to understand anything in any language, including my native English, without a visual cue and without the ability to reach out and make body contact (which I do a lot of naturally). I think maybe I have some social anxiety or something because I can't even explain how scared and unhappy I am that I will have to do this if I want to practice my Arabic at all. I actually started crying at one point because I am such a huge loser and now I feel really sick. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| annette Senior Member United States Joined 5513 days ago 164 posts - 192 votes Speaks: English* | Message 66 of 95 21 July 2010 at 9:58pm | IP Logged |
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Ok, I'm done freaking out. Helps that I just found a diary entry I recorded last year
when I first began learning this damn language... say what you will about my Arabic, it's DEFINITELY improved! (My voice also is not as annoying as I thought it was!) I think I may still have some form of social anxiety or something though, which is strange for me to consider. I've always been hellsa socially awkward but I've also traditionally been more extroverted than introverted. I enjoy being the center of attention and I love talking. So it's surprising that the prospect of talking on Skype for a few minutes with a total stranger I could never see again managed to trigger such an intense emotional response. Go figure... Things I could do to improve/practice: - continue trying to convince my friends to practice with me once they're back - language exchange online... but how to locate partner? where? what will we do together? - go to int'l student center, ask for language partner offline? will they have one? offer to help with chinese? - start recording audio/video diaries again in target languages - start recording audio/video letters for friends - talk to myself like a MADWOMAN. oh wait, i already do this. - shadowing... shadowing actually is very hard for me, but i find that it helps me a lot. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| annette Senior Member United States Joined 5513 days ago 164 posts - 192 votes Speaks: English* | Message 67 of 95 23 July 2010 at 5:27am | IP Logged |
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Ok, totally fell off the bus here with all the drama going on. You know you're a bit
melodramatic when you can stage a full-fledged bitch fit over the prospect of a language exchange! Although I don't think I'm going to take that advice - I'd prefer a flesh and blood partner to an online one, so I'm probably going to contact my university's international student center instead. Maybe I'll get a partner for Chinese too? Anyway, I'm now behind in my schedule; I finally finished making my flashcards today, but I haven't memorized new terms yet. Here's what I need to do tomorrow: - read/review one chapter's worth of grammar stuff - memorize vocabulary for chapter 2 // 6,7,8 - contact int'l center - record video or audio diaries for Chinese and (gulp) Arabic - flashcards for chapter 3//9, memorize chapter 3 - review all old flashcards If I finish all that, I should be on schedule again, yay! Or well... a day behind schedule. Whatever. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| annette Senior Member United States Joined 5513 days ago 164 posts - 192 votes Speaks: English* | Message 68 of 95 23 July 2010 at 5:39am | IP Logged |
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Ok, trying to work out the details of my language exchange right now. Even though I
might be MIA for a week soon. Er. One of my options is technically "One on One English Conversation," so basically I would be acting as English tutor. Do you think it would be totally rude and inappropriate to hijack this for language exchange? I know that it is possible to request that your student be from such and such a linguistic background (eg you know Chinese, you request a Chinese person so you can clarify your answers in Chinese if necessary), so it doesn't seem like such a huge step to request a 50/50 exchange instead, right? The thing is this option involves other people matching y'all up for you... Another option is to sign up for a tutor, but I don't really want a tutor at this point in time. Also, this would require money. Another option is to sign up explicitly for conversational exchange via my school's language study center. Unfortunately I just searched listings and nobody has posted any requests for English/Arabic or Chinese/Arabic exchange. I guess I could post one just in case any kindly Arab randomly decides to search the listings, but that's another problem - only people who are actively searching for conversational partners and are from my college are going to use this route. Another option for me is to make some sort of a flyer requesting a language exchange and post it in the int'l center and the language study center. alfdsk 9:10 PM - I am finally done with what would have been the bare minimum, were it not for me being so drastically behind in my schedule. Today I studied two chapters total. I may have input some flashcards at some point. And it took me until now! Almost 9 hours including scant breaks and meals! That's all I did! I don't know whether I am working slower than expected or if my estimated time stamps were just off-base to begin with, but this is quite disappointing. I was under the assumption that flashcards + study for one chapter would take two hours at the most including breaks (and keep in mind, I made most of my flashcards yesterday). I think I forgot to account for how much harder it is for me to retain new information when I've already crammed 100 words just an hour earlier. Edited by annette on 24 July 2010 at 3:12am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| annette Senior Member United States Joined 5513 days ago 164 posts - 192 votes Speaks: English* | Message 69 of 95 25 July 2010 at 6:52am | IP Logged |
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The problem with my current schedule is that any minor deviation from my daily plans
throws the whole thing into a loop. I went on a little trip today with my mother and now I am once more behind... Today I reviewed chapters 6 and 2 (doing great! yeah!! gives me hope that my plan could succeed if I could only stick to it). I made flashcards for chapter 3 and checked flashcards for chapter 7. Unfortunately I managed to memorize neither, putting me once more behind schedule. Tomorrow I will attempt to memorize chapters 3, 7, and 8 and then make flashcards/memorize chapter 4. That's a best case scenario. More likely I will just manage to play catch up work with today's alloted vocab lists. I just hope I'll get even that much done, seeing as I am not back home yet and am taking the train probably tomorrow afternoon at best. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| annette Senior Member United States Joined 5513 days ago 164 posts - 192 votes Speaks: English* | Message 70 of 95 26 July 2010 at 3:37am | IP Logged |
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So so full! I love well-made Chinese food... had some delicious northern cuisine today
with handmade knife-sliced noodles (sorry, not sure what they're known as in English? 刀削麵 for you Chinese speakers out there). I way overate but it was so yummy that I don't even care! It was the kind of place where I would happily take my family but not my white friends unless I knew they were okay with what a very racist acquaintance of mine once described as "the sheen of Chinese filth." The food was delicious but, as many authentic Chinese eating-places are, indeed as many of the eating-places of my non-white brethren are, it was a little dirty and the wonderful smell of Authentic Food (in this case stinky tofu) was inescapable and there were no bathrooms and very little light and only a few chairs. It was also one of those places where you probably want to know Mandarin before going in. I, as someone who knows Mandarin and also is very used to this kind of fine dining establishment, had no problem with the ambience (it's not even anywhere near the least hygienic place I've eaten Chinese food at, for the record; I thought it was rather clean as far as these things go), but I can see where some of my more sheltered, sanitized All-American friends might be a little upset if I brought them there without warning. Moving on. I also bought a bunch of dragon fruits and some crab shell yellow buns - sorry, that's another crappy direct translation, but you know what I mean, those little stuffed savory balls with the sesame seeds on the outside. The crab shell yellow buns were just okay, but I also got some stuffed with shredded turnips that were delicious. Too bad there were no lotus fog fruits, which are my favorites but which I've sadly never seen in the US despite the rumors, and I didn't remember about it being dragon eye fruit season (is it?) until I was already back on the train, but I think this should last me a while. Or until tomorrow, anyway. I am a total glutton when it comes to food I like. In the middle of all that excitement, I managed to find time to drop into a Starbucks for a little studying. Despite my neighbor in coffee-guzzling, who was happily chowing on what looked like pickled duck tongues in a very loud and distracting manner, and despite my other neighbor, who saw me listening to my iPod and decided that was a signal to hit on me and, failing that, stare lustily at my ears*, I somehow managed to do my initial memorization for my chapter 3 vocabulary and about half of my chapter 7 vocabulary. This means that I am once more pretty much only one day behind! There is still hope! *Seriously, do I have a huge blinking sign on my forehead that says "Creeps of the world, please seduce me in coffee shops?" Because I very rarely enjoy a coffee and study session without SOMEONE trying to at least involve me in a conversation that would be benign were not my conversational partner thrice my age and staring down my shirt. I don't understand. I sit in a corner to myself, I'm clearly engaged in my studying, I usually have my headphones on, most importantly I AM NOT TALKING TO YOU... for the love of fck, leave me alone!! What do I have to do to drive these grizzled courtiers away, draw a mustache on myself? Knowing my luck, they'd think it was cute and volunteer to help get it off... At this point I would just settle for creepy Arabs hitting on me more often so I could practice my Arabic, as clearly my true prayer (that creeps would stop hitting on me point blank) is not gonna be answered. Edited by annette on 26 July 2010 at 7:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| annette Senior Member United States Joined 5513 days ago 164 posts - 192 votes Speaks: English* | Message 71 of 95 26 July 2010 at 4:02am | IP Logged |
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Here are some pictures to accompany my last post. You're welcome.
Knife-sliced noodles 刀削麵 Can't find any good pictures, go google it yourself! Dragon fruit 火龙果 (photo source: tropicalfruitnursery.com) 
Crab shell yellow buns 蟹壳黄 (photo source: TTNews) 
Lotus fog fruit 莲雾 (photo source: onfruit.com / fruitgo.cn) 
Dragon eye fruit 龙眼 (photo source: XinHua / food) 
Duck tongues 鸭舌头 (photo source: www.travel-web.com.tw)  Edited by annette on 26 July 2010 at 4:09am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| annette Senior Member United States Joined 5513 days ago 164 posts - 192 votes Speaks: English* | Message 72 of 95 27 July 2010 at 8:36pm | IP Logged |
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I've basically settled into a pattern of doing one day on, one day off. Annoying
because the off day really is off! Yesterday I didn't even do review. I think I slept a lot. That's all. Here's an example sentence from the textbook I'm attempting to speed through right now. I'm only on chapter four though and have not that much time left... 7 more chapters in Part One, 11 in Part Two... 他练工夫练得走火入魔，连觉都不睡了。 Here's another one: 不幸地，堕胎是他们最后所作的选择。 And another: 跟那种深藏不落的人打交道，我总是紧张。 One more: 他在政策官僚里待久了，做事特别慢。 I think all this study is starting to make me soft in the head because I totally laughed. I really need to EITHER work out my study schedule so that it is less stressful but I still get work done (meaning, spread out the work so that I no longer have off days from being too burnt out), or I need to step up my pace and stop being lazy and stop checking email constantly when I could be learning another ten characters instead. Ok, back to making flashcards now. Edited by annette on 27 July 2010 at 9:31pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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