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TAC Team あ: Luai’s Climb to Trilingualism | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Luai_lashire Diglot Senior Member United States luai-lashire.deviant Joined 5829 days ago 384 posts - 560 votes  Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: Japanese, French | Message 1 of 68 27 December 2010 at 2:54am | IP Logged |
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Having just brought last year's log to a close, it's now time to begin my log for the new year! This year I'm on
Team あ, the Japanese team, and it looks like we have a good mix of different skill levels. I'm right in the middle. I put myself at B1 or JLPT N3-ish (if I'm misunderstanding the way these two measures are related, please inform me). My speaking, reading, and writing skills, however, are not all they could be. My ability to read is compromised by a severe lack of kanji, and there is a huge gap between my passive and active ability. However, even if I can't speak much, I can understand nearly everything I hear in the course of a normal conversation with my Sensei. She taught the classes I took in highschool, and now tutors me and a few friends in exchange for babysitting her kids. She's also basically the most awesome person ever. Our most recent tutoring sessions have consisted mostly of her talking to me in Japanese about anything and everything and encouraging me to respond; so far I have understood 99% of her side of the conversation, but not been able to say much myself. Anyway, this year is really going to be almost all about Japanese for me, but I will post some information about my other languages in this first post just to give some context to the comments I will occasionally make about them. I won't really list my materials, but for those who haven't read my previous log, allow me to explain: I have used a website called Smart.FM to study vocabulary, and in particular, I used their Core 2000 series to learn the 2000 most common words in the language (well, what they SAY are the most common... the list is imperfect). They also have a Core 6000 series that contains the next 4000 words. My method is to study vocab using Smart.FM, study grammar from textbooks, and study kanji with Heisig's RTK, while getting lots of audio input mostly from TV shows. [EDIT] Due to Smart.FM going pay, I am modifying my method. I will update this section with more information when I settle on new materials. Onwards to my actual plan! Japanese In 2010, I managed to take my Japanese up to about B1 level. In 2011 I’m going to be really daring and aim for high B2-low C1 level. I’m partway through RTK, having done about 520 kanji so far, and I expect to finish all 2100 –ish kanji by late fall. I already have great listening skills and a fair bit of vocabulary under my belt, but my reading and speaking skills are lousy, so this year that’s what I’ll focus on. I’ll be taking Japanese classes in college starting in the summer and continuing into the fall, and if possible I may concurrently take a class in Mandarin or ASL in the fall, at which time (and no sooner) I will add it to this log. My actual goals for Japanese are listed below. Overall fluency level: upper B2/lower C1 - Finish RTK - Read (or L/R) a novel or series of short stories - Become capable of spontaneous conversation on many subjects - Expand my vocabulary Esperanto In 2010, I became fluent in Esperanto. My knowledge isn’t complete and I still screw up with the accusative and with prepositions a lot, and I’d like to expand my vocabulary, but if I could just get in some speaking practice I’d be set, I think. So for 2012 my only goals for this language are to hunt out speaking opportunities wherever possible. In the summer when I start school I’ll be trying to set up an eo club, but what will come of that, I have no idea. In the meantime, I will be setting up a meeting with my friend Kati who introduced me to Esperanto and will try to speak with her, and I’m exploring the possibility of doing some videos of myself speaking and putting them on YouTube. As such, this isn't a language I'm really actively studying, but anytime I make progress of some kind in it I will mention it here. Goals: - Speak as much as possible! - Keep using the language every day French French was my big failure of 2010. In 2011 I plan to change tacks. I don’t know how much time I will have for this language, but if I can, I hope to begin L/Ring in French on a regular basis, and using this as pretty much my sole study method. It’s very strange for me to try to study this language because I’m already so very familiar with it and yet cannot speak it at all or understand it when it’s spoken; but I can read it with very little trouble! So it’s been impossible to find lessons that are at “my level” since my level is all over the place. Thus I decided just jumping straight into native materials may be best. My only concern is that this method seems to make people burn out pretty quickly, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep it up long enough to derive much benefit. Given the experimental nature of the approach I plan to take, I’m not really going to state any goals for this language yet, not until I see whether or not the L/R works for me and what kind of growth in understanding I see. At that point I may modify both my method and my goals. Right now, my goal is just “do something”. So, that's it for now. I will begin my usual one-post-every-week-or-two routine after the new year. This post will be updated any time I may change my goals during the year, so if you want to see my goals this post will always be up-to-date. This includes noting which goals I have already completed. Onwards to 2011! :) Edited by Luai_lashire on 12 March 2011 at 12:55am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 budonoseito Pro Member United States budobeyondtechnRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5806 days ago 261 posts - 344 votes Studies: French, Japanese Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 68 27 December 2010 at 3:52am | IP Logged |
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Sounds like we have a good team. I am looking forward to everyones progress.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5983 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 3 of 68 27 December 2010 at 2:18pm | IP Logged |
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Yes, I think 2011 is going to be interesting!
I'm quite envious that you have the benefit of a good tutor - I think you really need to make the most of this! I have tried to find one in my local area but the only option is through a language school with a very high hourly rate and they insist on block- booking which could prove a huge waste of money if the tutor is no good. I look forward to hearing about your progress in French too. I studied French to A level at school and at my peak I was probably borderline B1/B2. I find it strange that I can read reasonably fluently still but my writing, speaking and listening are now very poor. I wonder if the best approach might be to stick to native materials for reading but use learner materials for listening and grammar study? I think that with reading we benefit from the huge amount of vocabulary that was stolen from French a few hundred years ago, so things still look familiar on the page even though the pronunciation is quite different. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 4 of 68 23 January 2011 at 7:44am | IP Logged |
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Luai_lashireさん，今年の日本語の勉強はどうで すか。未だ今月何も書いたことがありません よ。 今年の日本語のチームは沢山を書きませんで したけど。
I hope the Japanese Team hasn't fizzled out already! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5983 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 5 of 68 23 January 2011 at 5:20pm | IP Logged |
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チームあの皆さんは一生懸命日本語を勉強し ているから、ロッグで書くの時間がないかも しれません！
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Luai_lashire Diglot Senior Member United States luai-lashire.deviant Joined 5829 days ago 384 posts - 560 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: Japanese, French | Message 6 of 68 23 January 2011 at 6:11pm | IP Logged |
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Hi Ellasevia and G-bod, thanks for your concern. ^_^; ごめんね！最近、勉強時間がありません。:(
I've been having a really rough month. I just started some new medication that's been totally screwing with my emotions and generally wreaking havoc on my life. I actually have had a few days when, after work, I just fell asleep until dinner and went right back to bed after that, because my energy was so low. Besides this I've been trying to finish some sewing projects that need to be done by next weekend, so when I do actually have energy and feel up to doing anything, I've been doing that. I'm giving the medication one more week.... if it doesn't stop screwing me up by that point, I'm going to discuss other options with my doctor. I'm really feeling pretty terrible about the amount of time I've wasted not being able to do anything, but I'm trying not to let myself fall into a vicious circle of feeling incapable-> not trying to do anything -> nothing gets done so I feel worse, etc. Also basically because of this situation, I'm not going to be taking the placement test I mentioned earlier and I'm not going to try to skip Japanese 3. I'm just going to take it during the summer session and treat it as a condensed review. I feel a little sad about that but in the long run it's better to make sure I know everything I need to know than it is to rush my studies just to give myself a feeling of superiority over other students. :/ 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5983 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 7 of 68 23 January 2011 at 6:40pm | IP Logged |
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It's always frustrating when life gets in the way of your language aims but, as you have stated, don't feel that you are wasting time. If you are not well enough to study right now it's a shame but it is not your fault. Anyway, a year is a long time so a few bad weeks at the beginning is nothing to worry about. Last year from March through to September I was barely able to maintain my Japanese for various reasons, as life dumped on me one disaster followed by another, but I still managed to finish the year slightly better at Japanese than I had started it.
I will look forward to your updates when you are feeling better again. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Luai_lashire Diglot Senior Member United States luai-lashire.deviant Joined 5829 days ago 384 posts - 560 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: Japanese, French | Message 8 of 68 20 February 2011 at 5:50pm | IP Logged |
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I am pleased to report that the issues with my meds seem to be under control now (although if I miss a dose and
have to take it late, I go all wonky for about two days) and what with the weather turning nice here I've started to regain my motivation. I also quit my job, so I have more time and energy and less stress. I'm working my way slowly back into my studies, trying not to pressure myself so as to reduce any risk of burnout. I have however hit a few snags that require me to rewrite my plans. - I've slightly modified my goalposts for how many kanji I should know by x point in time, to reflect my late start. - Smart.fm, for some reason that is beyond me, has switched over to a paysite and discontinued some of their services, and for this reason (and the reason that the developers are kind of jerks who ignore the desires of their community) I am not going to be using it anymore. This requires me to find some other method for vocabulary; right now, I'm just planning to try picking it up by context. - I've downloaded a couple of things to help me practice reading. Firstly, I got a graded reader that might be slightly below my level, but given that I've had so little reading practice I think it's still good for me. Secondly, I got Pokemon Ruby working on my computer in Japanese (after almost four hours trying to find an emulator and a rom that worked. T_T; ) which has turned out to be a great exercise in reading katakana. So much katakana. >.<; This is a native japanese material so it's way above my level, very challenging, but it also has no kanji (I guess so kids can play it?) which makes it a little easier for me. Anyway I understand enough of it to follow the plot mostly, but I'm going to have to start looking up words because I still miss quite a lot of the dialog. I can only play it for maybe 20-30 min. at a time before my brain starts to hurt, I'm hoping that will get better as I get used to reading the wonky font. I hope to finish working through the ~300 overdue kanji flashcards I have stacked up by next weekend and even if I haven't, I will start learning new kanji again by then. I hope to spend about half an hour a day playing pokemon in japanese, and I'm still watching anime often. I'm not sure when and how I'm going to work in the graded reader but hopefully sometime this week I will sit down and try it out. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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