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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| glossa.passion Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6312 days ago 267 posts - 349 votes  1 sounds Speaks: German*, EnglishC1, Danish Studies: Spanish, Dutch | Message 1 of 85 12 August 2007 at 6:52am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Added in 2010: At first this log was intended for Danish only, but over the years other languages were added and I change the title of this log when appropriate.
Why do I want to learn Danish in the first place? Foreign languages and the methods to study them are my hobby. The hobby of my husband is preparing an old VW-van, so that it drives with vegetable oil. And next year we will travel to Denmark with this old van. Enough reason :-) My main intention is to feel real comfortable in Danish-everyday-talk. Everything additional is welcome, especially reading Danish books. I'm not in a hurry and will take my time. A lot of threads in this forum are really encouraging and inspiring! I choose a weekly format for my log, because I'm not that fast in studying to report daily. Two weeks ago I started and here is the review of the first week: Week 1 For German natives there is no shortage of Danish language materials. It increased especially in the last two years. I started with Assimil "Dänisch ohne Mühe" (Danish without toil) and the software Rosetta Stone Danish. Although it's time consuming, I use the interlinear translation. Therefore I type the Danish texts into MS Word and translate them in the next line as literal as possible. With the help of another forum I created a macro which puts with one click the Danish and German words exactly one upon the other, for example: Men &nb sp;det er &n bsp; svært Aber es &n bsp; ist schwer I did that for the first three lessons. They are rather short so it was not much of an effort and the Assimil translations (colloquial and in parts literal) from this edition support that approach. Then I converted the audio to mp3 for my player (iRiver). So the initial work was done. I listened to the audio while reading the German literal translation. I do that as long as I have internalized what is meant with the text. Then the inactive part followed: I slowed down the volume from the player so that the voices were barely audible and in no case disturbing. With plugs in the ears and the player in the pocket I did some other activities like cooking, gardening, reading a book, talking with people… while the near silent endless repetition of the new Danish text should slink in my brain and built up new lines especially for Danish. I did the first three lessons of Unit 1 Rosetta Stone Danish. This picture-text style allows me to "see" the grammar of Danish. But I also downloaded the audio to my mp3 and put it in the cycle of passive listening. I tried to speak out loud some words or expressions. But I didn't tried hard, I only wanted to get my tongue ready for new challenges. One expression stuck and became the earworm of the week: min pengepung er slunken (my purse is empty). At the end of the week I handwrote the texts a few times in order to get used to the new letters. While writing I recall automatically the voices and the prosody. Short summary: For German natives Danish is not too difficult. The melody of the senctences is beautiful! The pronounciation of the soft "d" and the glottal stops will need some special attention in the future. I am looking forward to the next lessons. Edited by glossa.passion on 03 July 2011 at 8:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| glossa.passion Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6312 days ago 267 posts - 349 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, EnglishC1, Danish Studies: Spanish, Dutch | Message 2 of 85 12 August 2007 at 10:32am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Week 2
I continued the interlinear translation for the Assimil lessons 4 to 8, worked through Rosetta Stone Unit 1/ lessons 4 to 7 and put on the earplugs for massive passive listening. I still handwrite all new Danish texts several times. I know it's not that interesting, but I like the repeated writing. I started carefully with shadowing the texts from last week. I ignore the glottal stops but work on the pronounciation of the soft "d" – still have to try out how to move my tongue to get this sound halfway right. It's really funny and I have to laugh about myself :-) My earworm sentence this week: Sæt dig i sofaen. (Sit on the couch) Once again a very appealing melody! In the local bookstore I found "Av min arm – Dänisch für Deutschsprachige" (Danish for German natives) and I couldn't resist to buy it. The dialogs are longer and spoken faster than Assimils. I only skimmed through the text- and working book while listening to the cd. But I set it aside for later use. This thread really intrigued me! I ponderd for days how I could carry it out. I definitly wanted to have a piece of real Danish speech, not orchestrated for lanuage learning – although I love that, too. I also didn't want a Danish audiobook with literature - this is for later. For this experiment I needed direct speech. And that's what I did: I looked up Danish internet radio and recorded a five minute passage from an interview on channel DR Kultur-Live. I don't know what they (a woman and a man) were talking about, but could recognize to my delight some single words like lille pige, allerede, kvinde. I downloaded it to my mp3-player. But now I'm double-minded. Should I use a transcription of this interview or should I only listen again and again and wait until I understand more and then try to repeat orally? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| burntgorilla Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6435 days ago 202 posts - 206 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Danish | Message 3 of 85 12 August 2007 at 11:11am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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How do you find listening at a low volume? Do you find that parts of it get into your head, or do you just start to ignore it?
About the radio, I'm listening to Danish radio right now, and can only pick out isolated words. I have no idea what they're talking about. I don't see the point in listening to it again and again, since I don't know what most of the words mean. If I were you I would wait until you can understand most of it, and then go over and over it again. Get the transcription and read through it so that you understand everything, then do the listening. You simply won't know lots of the words. How hard is Danish pronunciation for Germans? I also have problems with the glottal stop, but I am lucky in that the "soft d" sound in Danish is also in English so I can do it ok. I find it a bit hard to do smoothly in the middle of a phrase though. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| glossa.passion Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6312 days ago 267 posts - 349 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, EnglishC1, Danish Studies: Spanish, Dutch | Message 4 of 85 12 August 2007 at 12:51pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I find the texts go into my head. For me, it's like distant background music. I only feel the rhythm so I need not to ignore this. If I repeat the lessons actively, they sound very familiar.
Thanks for your opinion! Your explanation is reasonable to me. I'll try to get a transcription.
In general the pronounciation is not so hard for Germans. I think, that in a few weeks I will have made real progress. While I have no problem with the English "th", the Danish "soft d" is different to me. Do you think your "th" and the "soft d" are the same? We share the challenge of the glottal stops :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| burntgorilla Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6435 days ago 202 posts - 206 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Danish | Message 5 of 85 12 August 2007 at 1:34pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I am quite good at blanking out background noise, so I don't think listening at low volumes would work for me. But each to their own. If you do find transcriptions, could you share a link? I would find it helpful. According to everything I've read, the English "th" and Danish soft "d" are exactly the same. The sound is similar when I try it, but I think there is a slight difference. I think the Danish one is a bit softer still.
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| glossa.passion Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6312 days ago 267 posts - 349 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, EnglishC1, Danish Studies: Spanish, Dutch | Message 6 of 85 12 August 2007 at 3:48pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I do underline this sentence. Thank God, you are not part of the narrow-minded! A learning log describes what one does, not what others should do. And sharing experiences (whatever they may be) with others enrich our language learning. I look out for transcriptions and in case of success, I'll give you with pleasure a notice. Perhaps it takes a little time but I stay on the ball.
Assimils pronounciation guide for soft d says: similar to the English th, only that the tongue is located more backwards. My "th" with Danish words sounds awful :-( Next week I will try it a bit more. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| burntgorilla Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6435 days ago 202 posts - 206 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Danish | Message 7 of 85 12 August 2007 at 4:12pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Actually, when I try to imitate the Danish soft "d" closely, I put my tongue further back, so hopefully I'm doing it correctly. I put the body of my tongue closer to the roof of my mouth.
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| glossa.passion Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6312 days ago 267 posts - 349 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, EnglishC1, Danish Studies: Spanish, Dutch | Message 8 of 85 18 August 2007 at 9:58am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Week 3
I'm really glad that I joined this forum and started writing a learning log. So far it had prevented me from straying into other languages – and I was tempted! Another side-effect is the weekly reflecting about learning style/input and actual output. And not to forget the exchange with other learners. I've done some more Assimil lessons and now at lesson 15 I don't need the interlinear translation anymore. It's enough to read the parallel translation in the book while working through the text. I feel partly familiar with the structure of the senctences. I finished Rosetta Stones Unit 1. As usual I listened passively to every new texts/expressions in very slow volume for hours. I've done some pronounciation exercises, but not that much. Weekly earworm: Mors madder mætter mest (Mother's food makes most full) I'm still excited about the recorded live-interview in Danish. The transcripiton is probably available next week. I tried several ways without success. Then a collegue told me, that he has a Danish acquaintance who will get me a reliable transcription :-) While listening the recorded interview I had a very sensational feeling - this is exactly the situation I am longing for: casual talking in Danish, not highly spirited, only smooth chat. That's why these 5 Danish minutes are from now on the core of my further studies. I do actually know what the aim is. I feel like a blurred vision has changed into an identifiable picture. It may sound strange, but I do feel this way. Nevertheless I will continue with the language courses. I still find them useful and also entertaining, and I get to know a lot about the language and the country. Besides I love doing exercises :-) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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