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TAC ’14 - Team Coconut (Southeast Asia) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| viedums Hexaglot Senior Member Thailand Joined 4671 days ago 327 posts - 528 votes  Speaks: Latvian, English*, German, Mandarin, Thai, French Studies: Vietnamese | Message 25 of 61 26 December 2013 at 3:28am | IP Logged |
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A few weeks ago I visited Hanoi and Halong Bay in the northern part of Vietnam. I’d like to visit Ho Chi Minh City next, although I’m not sure when that will be. I live in Bangkok, so Vietnam isn’t far away, but it’s not easy to find the time.
My goal in studying Vietnamese is to learn enough ‘survival language’ to be able to deal with everyday situations like greeting people, bargaining in markets, asking for the bill in restaurants, etc. Part of this is assimilating the sounds of Vietnamese and being able to produce them, which will be challenging. Not only in the tones, but also in the vowels, Vietnamese seems to make more distinctions than Mandarin or Thai does. I’m also interested in Vietnamese from a linguistic perspective, although I’m not actually a linguist. Especially what it has in common – vocabulary or grammatical structures – with neighboring languages like Khmer, Thai and Mandarin. Linking what I learn about Vietnamese with what I already know about these other languages should help me retain the material better. We’ll see though… 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4149 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 26 of 61 26 December 2013 at 3:22pm | IP Logged |
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My husband grew up in the Philippines, and his parents and siblings are all Tagalog-speakers. (The whole family
lives in Canada now.) While they all speak perfect English, I'd like to be able to engage in at least simple conversations with them - without them switching to English to include me. My husband can't teach me, but he'll be happy to help me practice what I'm learning on my own (and to veto resources like Pimlseur, because "no one talks like that"). I currently know a dozen Tagalog words that I'll throw into conversation now and then, which always makes his parents laugh. I think they'll be very easily impressed. Haha! I don't expect to be fully fluent, and my goals aren't as lofty as they are in Spanish, but I'd like to be able to hold some simple Tagalog conversations with my in-laws by next Christmas. While I'd love to start Tagalog right away, I have a major goal coming up in March 2014. I'll be walking the 800 km Camino de Santiago in Spain with my father. I started learning Spanish in May 2013 to prepare for this trip, and I'd like to be a solid B2 in all skills before I leave. I also have to do training hikes, organize the logistics of the trip and weigh everything that I own to decide whether or not I want to carry it on my back (my socks weigh about 30 grams each, for those who might be interested). So for the first few months, Spanish will be my main goal. I'm going to save the heavy Tagalog learning for when I get home from Spain in late April. I've been thinking about starting Tagalog with just 15 minutes per day in January. It would be nice to have a bit of a head-start - and to be a real part of this team, rather than just an observer for the first 4 months. But I'm afraid to start SRSing in Tagalog, since I'll have a full six weeks without access to any technology at all. I wonder if it would be more frustrating than helpful to start and then take a long break so close to the beginning of my study. I'm also not sure how I would approach "Tagalog in 15 minutes per day". It's something to think about. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4149 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 27 of 61 26 December 2013 at 8:47pm | IP Logged |
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Aaaand…I've just started a Tagalog Memrise course. While I still plan on focusing mainly on Spanish until May, I'll
also spend a few minutes every day learning some basic Tagalog vocabulary. It will give me a head start on learning, and also let me try out Memrise, which I've been curious about. Is 15 minutes per day enough to qualify one as a full-fledged member? If so, then I guess this means that I can be an active member of Team Coconut as of January. Edited by Stelle on 27 December 2013 at 2:59am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| doubleUelle Bilingual Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 4040 days ago 67 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English*, Russian*, French, Japanese Studies: Spanish, Thai | Message 28 of 61 27 December 2013 at 1:23am | IP Logged |
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Stelle: I've added you to the list of members (with the understanding that you (probably)
won't be active until around May). If you want to post things before then, you can :-) The more, the merrier. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4149 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 29 of 61 27 December 2013 at 1:55am | IP Logged |
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Thanks doubleUelle!
Here's my log: Taga-log 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| js6426 Diglot Senior Member Cambodia Joined 4525 days ago 277 posts - 349 votes Speaks: English*, Khmer Studies: Mandarin | Message 30 of 61 27 December 2013 at 2:55am | IP Logged |
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I've been living in Cambodia for the past 4 years and my wife is Khmer, we speak to each other in Khmer only
(unless I am practicing Mandarin). I translate regularly, both documents and live teaching sessions. My goal for Khmer this year is to finish off a Khmer book I am writing for foreigners to learn Khmer, which will come with recorded native audio. I also want to keep improving my Khmer by getting a better feel for some of the Buddhist Khmer. This is quite difficult because most people don't know the terms I ask them about. I also have a couple of lexicons of new Khmer words which have been released/made in the last couple of years. These are what the Khmer would describe as 'technical words', which are only usually used in the government (because nobody else knows them yet). I want to keep growing my vocabulary in this area, which again is difficult because I have nobody to practice using the words with (I have friends who have graduated university who haven't heard these kind of words before). Finally I would like to improve my reading pace. I can read pretty well, just still too slowly for where I should be. I am still debating continuing my old log or making a new one, so I will link it in when I have decided. Because I am fairly fluent in Khmer I don't do many updates on it (this is also because there was no separate team last year), but I would like that to change this year. I am also studying Mandarin, but again that's not really relevant for this team! Really excited for the coming year with this team! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Indíritheach Senior Member United States Joined 4050 days ago 108 posts - 146 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Irish, French | Message 31 of 61 05 January 2014 at 12:36am | IP Logged |
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If it's not too late I would like to join Team Coconut, I will be learning Khmer this year. A bit of an impulsive choice...well, actually I've wanted to go to Cambodia for some time now and my goal is to be reasonably fluent before I actually do. Let's say within...3 years? So my main resource will be Colloquial Cambodian, but I'll also be taking advantage of a native-speaker friend of mine and trying to absorb as much native media as possible.
As an aside, do any Khmer learners have any links to share? I've found Khmerlive.Tv, but any other radio stations, or newspapers, etc. worth checking out? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| js6426 Diglot Senior Member Cambodia Joined 4525 days ago 277 posts - 349 votes Speaks: English*, Khmer Studies: Mandarin | Message 32 of 61 05 January 2014 at 2:43am | IP Logged |
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http://www.camnews.org/ - this is not a bad newspaper resource.
http://khmer.voanews.com/ - Newspaper which you can read in either English or Khmer, and also a radio link to listen in Khmer. http://www.angkorlink.com/21_Ministry.htm - This link will take you to a page that has a list of all the different Cambodian ministries. Many of their websites have publications and speeches that you can read through. On top of that you can get android apps (not sure about iOS) that stream new Khmer music and also Khmer comedy sketches from TV. You can also find a lot of that on youtube. Search for 'Sunday productions Khmer' on youtube. On Facebook you can look up the pages for Sam Rainsy, Kem Sokha, CNRP, I love Cambodia hot news and Battambang real news. These pages often have videos of current events and speeches, as well as tons of written stuff. If you have a mac there is a great Khmer dictionary in the app store that you can download. http://www.english-khmer.com/ - this is an ok online dictionary. You may also want to look at FSI for native Khmer audio, the only issue is it is a little bit outdated. Also be aware that Colloquial Cambodian is a little outdated in parts, there are bits and pieces that people don't really say anymore. 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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