|
 |
Hidden’s TAC 2013 Log Team Asian 鶴 | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Hidden Linguist Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4357 days ago 64 posts - 87 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Mandarin, Sign Language, French | Message 1 of 68 18 December 2012 at 5:57pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
Hi, I'm the Hidden Linguist (formerly known as Hidden).
I thought I'd post a new log instead of continuing with my old one as; 1. I've had to create a new account (warning; don't change your email unless you really have to). Although I have to say I prefer the name 'Hidden Linguist' to 'Hidden'. 2. I'd prefer a fresh start to the new year, as I wasn't as active during my 2012 log as I'd hoped I would be, and it's a little depressing looking back over it. :( The Asian Team has kindly accepted me into their group for TAC 2013, and I can't wait to get started and see where the new year takes us all. :) Mandarin will be my main language focus during 2013. I started learning Mandarin at the end of June 2012, and I've completely fallen in love with the language. I will probably be focusing as much on the characters (both reading and writing them) as on the speaking/listening aspects. At the moment I try to stop using the pinyin for the characters that I learn as soon as possible as I don't want to become dependant on them, which seems to be working OK for me so far. Mandarin Goals 1. To complete the beginner's Mandarin course that I'm enrolled on. 2. To order a meal in Mandarin at a restaurant. The tutor from my course is considering arranging for us all to go out as a group, so this may happen a little sooner than I'd planned. Scary. O.O 3. Figure out how to type characters on my computer. 4. Start writing some of my posts in Mandarin. 5. Be able to have a basic conversation in Mandarin 6. Be able to read simple texts in Mandarin I'm looking forward to more language learning in 2013. Bring on the New Year! :) Edited by Hidden Linguist on 02 March 2013 at 12:52pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Takato Tetraglot Senior Member HungaryRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5046 days ago 249 posts - 276 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, EnglishB2, GermanB2, Japanese | Message 2 of 68 18 December 2012 at 6:59pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
For typing characters: Windows 7 IME I think I'll steal your 4. objective. :P 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Hidden Linguist Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4357 days ago 64 posts - 87 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Mandarin, Sign Language, French | Message 3 of 68 19 December 2012 at 5:28pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
谢谢你 Takato. I guess I have no excuses for not typing in Chinese now. O.o Have fun with no.4, I know I will...eventually. ;) Edited by Hidden Linguist on 19 December 2012 at 5:29pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Hidden Linguist Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4357 days ago 64 posts - 87 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Mandarin, Sign Language, French | Message 4 of 68 31 December 2012 at 1:54am | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
So, the New Year is almost upon us.
I've had a good year of language learning in 2012, though I haven’t done as much as I'd originally hoped. It was my first complete year of studying languages, so I guess it’s to be expected that I wasn't as organised as I could have been, and there was a lot of trial and error, not to mention a few months of things trailing off here and there. I did get a shiny new Chinese/English dictionary from 圣诞老人, so I guess I must have been good at some point in 2012. ;) Hopefully 2013 will be better, if for no other reason than that I can start to learn from some of my previous mistakes, (as well as making a whole load of new ones I'm sure). The main frustration I think I'm going to have is finding people to talk with in Mandarin. I don’t know any Mandarin speakers in my area, and I can’t afford to travel. :( Obviously I do get to speak during my Mandarin course which is ok, but most of the talking is done in English. I know that's mostly because we're all beginners, but I still feel that there should be more of an effort to use Mandarin instead of English when we can. I find that, even if I know how to say something in Mandarin, I’ll still use English, because I’m afraid of making mistakes and looking ‘silly’. I intend to change this in 2013 by speaking more Mandarin in my Mandarin class. From now on, if I want to say something in class, and I can say it Mandarin, I will at least attempt to do that first. In other words; I'm going to (try) and stop worrying so much about making mistakes, because; 1. I can always fall back on English if I get it wrong and 2. The world ended on the 21st, so it can’t end if I make a mistake now. :P I know this probably seems like an obvious thing to do, but it’s easier said than done, I think. o.O I'm not usually one for making New Year’s resolutions, but this year I've made myself a little 'Language Resolution List' which I hope I can stick to. Language Resolutions 1: Speak more in my target language. This one is going to be difficult, because at the moment I have no one to speak to in Mandarin outside of my beginner's course, but I guess, even if I just start talking out loud to myself, it’ll be better than not talking at all. :) 2: Do something in Mandarin every day. This could be anything from vocab work, grammar, reviewing what I already know or listening to a TV show. I just have to do something in Mandarin every day, even if it's only for a few minutes. 3: Keep up with my language log on this forum. Nice and simple; I just need to post here regularly about my progress (or lack thereof). Let’s see if I can manage it. :) I think that’s about it for now. Good luck to everyone taking part in TAC 2013, and to everyone not taking part in TAC but still learning a language/languages. I look forward to seeing how everyone progresses over the next 12 months. 新年快乐 Happy New Year! :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| yuhakko Tetraglot Senior Member FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4630 days ago 414 posts - 582 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishB2, EnglishC2, Spanish, Japanese Studies: Korean, Norwegian, Mandarin | Message 5 of 68 31 December 2012 at 2:03am | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
I don't know exactly where you are in the UK but here in Paris, the Polyglot Club (which
is around the world if I'm not mistaken) holds evenings to talk different languages evey evening, one of which (monday) is just for Chinese. Maybe if you look around you could find natives there. I myself found some Chinese friends there! Anyway, Good luck for 2013 and 新年快乐！ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Bakunin Diglot Senior Member Switzerland outerkhmer.blogspot. Joined 5128 days ago 531 posts - 1126 votes Speaks: German*, Thai Studies: Khmer | Message 6 of 68 31 December 2012 at 6:40am | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
Hi Hidden Linguist,
good luck with your language learning in 2013. I'm looking forward to being on a team with you. In terms of more speaking practice, have you checked out Verbling yet (free)? They offer Mandarin (and Japanese) and have a system similar to chat roulette (without the nasty stuff, as far as I know). Such a service seems ideal to practice the basics (introduction, family and hobbies, small talk). Another idea would be to use services like italki or sharedtalk; I personally take paid conversation lessons on italki at very affordable rates. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4866 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 7 of 68 31 December 2012 at 11:57am | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
Good luck, Hidden Linguist!
Have you thought about asking your teacher if he/she knows some native speakers who would be interested in language exchange? That's how I met most of my tandem partners. Maybe your teacher can give you some tips on how you can meet native speakers to practice with. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Hidden Linguist Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4357 days ago 64 posts - 87 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Mandarin, Sign Language, French | Message 8 of 68 01 January 2013 at 8:43pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I have been looking for a group in my area, but without much success so far. I was able to find a group for German, which was supposed to be starting up this year, but even that is looking doubtful at the moment (and even if it does run, I may not be able to afford it now), but no such luck for Mandarin. I guess it's just a case of 'keep looking and hope’. I was considering trying lessons via Skype or an exchange website, but I have no experience with using these methods. I also don't have a video camera, so that might prove problematic as well, although I assume lessons could be conducted this way using audio only? I’ll be seeing my teacher again next week, so I’ll ask them if they know of any groups/people who’d be willing to help me. I took a look at italki, and it seems like a good site, but whether or not I'll get up the courage to actually talk to anyone on it is another matter entirely. I’d be interested in hearing about people’s experiences with this site, or similar ones. I have to admit I'm a little wary of social networking sites in general. It's a little unsettling being 'tagged' or 'followed' by people you don't know less than 10mins after signing up (often before you've even filled out your profile). Weird. o.O 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
