viedums Hexaglot Senior Member Thailand Joined 4667 days ago 327 posts - 528 votes Speaks: Latvian, English*, German, Mandarin, Thai, French Studies: Vietnamese
| Message 337 of 457 21 April 2013 at 3:35am | IP Logged |
Here’s a song for the Burmese New Year celebration. In Burmese it’s called ‘thin-gyan’, which just like Thai ‘songkhran’ comes from Pali.
Thingyan song
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yuhakko Tetraglot Senior Member FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4633 days ago 414 posts - 582 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishB2, EnglishC2, Spanish, Japanese Studies: Korean, Norwegian, Mandarin
| Message 338 of 457 21 April 2013 at 10:46pm | IP Logged |
Yes Druckfelher, It was quite difficult from time to time, but he made allusions to
certain kanjis when I did not understand directly and then I could guess a bit (I have a
good knowledge of how teas are made and what not in French so I could relate the kanjis
with some words in french). Without previous knowledge regarding tea, I'd have been lost
for sure.
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Hidden Linguist Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4360 days ago 64 posts - 87 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Mandarin, Sign Language, French
| Message 339 of 457 27 April 2013 at 3:16pm | IP Logged |
April Challenge
Oh dear, this challenge was my worst nightmare!
One of the biggest benefits that I have found from learning languages is that it has given me the incentive that I need to try and overcome my nerves and start talking to people. I really want to be able to communicate in the languages that I’m learning and, as a result, I am making progress (although it doesn’t feel like it sometimes). Unfortunately the thought of having a conversation in a language that I barely know still terrifies me but I decided to give this challenge my best shot.
italki
I finally worked up the courage to try a lesson on italki (Cantonese). I started getting really nervous as the time of my lesson approached and I had to practically force myself to accept the incoming Skype call (first time I’ve ever used Skype O.O ), but I did it! And I’m glad that I did as (nerves aside) I enjoyed the lesson.
I definitely wasn’t very relaxed but that was down to me, not the tutor. They were very clear and easy to understand, and explained everything very well. Now I’m just hoping that I can continue with the momentum that I’ve started here. Onwards and upwards!
Ordering a Meal in Mandarin
This was one of my language goals at the start of my log and now I’ve finally managed to complete it, although I’m sure my pronunciation was terrible.
Mandarin Conversation Practice
I’ve found a small group of Mandarin learners that meet near me. I won’t be able to afford to attend every week, but I should be able to go occasionally.
April Challenge Result
I definitely consider this month’s challenge to be a success. I achieved far more than I thought I would and stepped WAY out of my ‘comfort zone’.
Thanks for the challenge druckfehler. :)
PS: As of today I’m officially upgrading Cantonese to a ‘Main language’. I’m enjoying it far too much to limit it as ‘Wanderlust’. :)
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druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4869 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian
| Message 340 of 457 28 April 2013 at 11:45am | IP Logged |
Congratulations, Hidden Linguist! You really did a lot for the April challenge! Stepping out of your comfort zone in a foreign language, which most people are more shy about than usual is really a great success. I'm glad the challenge worked so well for you!
I've added Cantonese to your study languages. It's nice to see so many of our members try out new Asian languages :)
Edited by druckfehler on 28 April 2013 at 11:45am
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js6426 Diglot Senior Member Cambodia Joined 4521 days ago 277 posts - 349 votes Speaks: English*, Khmer Studies: Mandarin
| Message 341 of 457 28 April 2013 at 2:24pm | IP Logged |
April challenge completed! Before taking my driving test here in Cambodia this month, I had a lesson all in Khmer,
and also translated between the instructor and another foreigner having a lesson. It was straight forward, but fun
and different nonetheless! For Mandarin I made the effort to sit down with my wife a couple of times and have
some 'Mandarin only' chats. I also tried some text chatting in a Chinese chat room, this was cool and quite
challenging. I was able to write ok with the input on my computer, and I could make some educated guesses at
characters when I was leading the topic of conversation.
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druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4869 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian
| Message 342 of 457 28 April 2013 at 11:17pm | IP Logged |
I'll say that I have also completed the April Challenge. Unfortunately I got sick, so the Korean-only evening I had originally planned with a couple of friends didn't take place. But I met my tandem partner once this month and we talked for about an hour in Korean, as always. I also attempted to speak Korean at the TOPIK test site and made an effort to talk more in Korean at this months' Korean-German meeting. Although I'm still struggling and forgetting words I should actually know, I think it went pretty well overall. I talked to a variety of people using different politeness levels, which always makes me nervous, but was a good experience.
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Haksaeng Senior Member Korea, South Joined 6199 days ago 166 posts - 250 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Korean, Arabic (Levantine)
| Message 343 of 457 30 April 2013 at 4:05am | IP Logged |
Hi everyone. I'm posting here about the April challenge...
Since I live in Korea, I already have plenty of opportunities to use the language. I don't have any friends with whom I speak in Korean...all my Korean friends and acquaintances are fluent in English and I find it very awkward and unnatural, not to mention embarrassing to talk baby-Korean with them.
But I have to speak Korean in my daily life, like when I'm at the supermarket, taking my clothes to the cleaners, communicating with my cleaning ladies, ordering pizza on the phone, ordering in restaurants, talking with my classmates who don't know English, etc.
This month my husband and I went out for dinner with one of his colleagues and the colleague's wife doesn't speak English well, so I mostly spoke with her in Korean. That was probably the most extended conversation I had in Korean lately. I didn't specifically do that for this month's challenge, though, because it was something I just had to do in my normal routine. Oh, and I went out one afternoon with my teacher and a classmate and that was a good four hours of Korean conversation. Actually, that was pretty exhausting.
But with the April Challenge in mind, what I did this month was download the app for KakaoTalk onto my phone. Everyone here in Korea uses this app for their messaging and I'm really not into messaging a lot. But one evening I was having dinner with my husband's former secretary and she convinced me I should use it. Even though I don't know a lot of Koreans to message with them, it's good to have this as an option for communication. So far this month, I've only used it with 2 Korean-speakers: one of my classmates and my husb's secretary. The secretary is fluent in English of course, and I wouldn't be comfortable speaking with her in Korean, but I do enjoy messaging her in Korean. I have a few other bilingual friends I might use it with in the future, too, so I think it's a good option and might give me opportunities in the future for more natural exchanges.
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Evita Tetraglot Senior Member Latvia learnlatvian.info Joined 6553 days ago 734 posts - 1036 votes Speaks: Latvian*, English, German, Russian Studies: Korean, Finnish
| Message 344 of 457 30 April 2013 at 2:07pm | IP Logged |
And again, this challenge was too difficult for me. My Korean active skills are very basic, it's not possible to have any kind of conversation with them. Not to mention that there are no Koreans around here. I tried text-chatting with druckfehler but I had to resort to English most of the time.
This doesn't mean anything for my long-term study plans though. I've been concentrating on my passive skills and I'm going to keep doing that.
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