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One Week Challenge - Turkish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| bushwick Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6245 days ago 407 posts - 443 votes  Speaks: German, Croatian*, English, Dutch Studies: French, Japanese | Message 17 of 32 30 January 2008 at 9:22am | IP Logged | ||
that is actually a really good method and i do that also with general study (like for psychology, biology etc.) why? because if you read it once quickly you will get the basics. of course, the point is not to haste literally through a textbook/script but trying to understand as much as possible but not spending too much time on one section. after that, when you go through it the second time, you will get the general idea and will have a basic knowledge to build upon. it's just much less frustrating. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| apparition Octoglot Senior Member United States Joined 6651 days ago 600 posts - 667 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), French, Arabic (Iraqi), Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Pashto | Message 18 of 32 30 January 2008 at 9:45am | IP Logged | ||
Yeah, it's basically what bushwick said. It's not really something I set out to do. The reason I go through so fast is because I'm impatient and want to keep my enthusiasm up. If I stopped for too long, I felt I'd get bored. Reading through again doesn't give me an advantage so much as make up for a flaw. I've always done re-reads of some sort when I study things. As for how I have the time to do this much studying, I've basically given myself time off from my job (self-employment has its advantages!). It's costing me money, but then again, what would I be spending that money on? That's right, learning languages! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| apparition Octoglot Senior Member United States Joined 6651 days ago 600 posts - 667 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), French, Arabic (Iraqi), Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Pashto | Message 19 of 32 30 January 2008 at 9:46am | IP Logged | ||
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I meant to post this last night:
Day 6 __________________________________________________________ Grammar Focus: I’ve looked up all the places where I made mistakes and marked down the areas I need to focus on. In general, it’s simply a matter of discriminating between similar-looking/sounding suffixes. So, luckily, there’s a section in the back of the book that lists a sample of all the verb forms using the verb stem ‘to do’ in the first person. There are 37 different ways to add to a verb stem to make a different meaning. And that’s only in this book. I’m sure there are more advanced constructions, as well, that I have yet to discover. But since they’re all listed out (along with their reference points in the body of the book), I was able to compare them without flipping back through numerous pages. This really helped to solidify their differences. I also wrote out next to each form both the grammatical name (only the translation was given) and the different parts that made each up (the generic suffix names, etc.) It’s a scribbly mess now, but I can and probably will type it up at some point as a good reference. I’ll probably make it a task to write them all out more with different verb stems (to have more kinds of vowel harmony), as well as with different personal endings and such. That will come later, though. __________________________________________________ As for now… I’m going back through the second book to mark up the pages with notes! For the first two times I read through these books, I kept my pencil markings restricted to the exercises, for clarity’s sake. If I hadn’t, every page would have been filled with questions the first time around! This way, I’ll be able to mark down only the things I know to be important. I don’t feel I need to go through the first book again. The dialogues will be helpful, but I’m past the stage where I need all the explication. Along the way, I’m recording myself acting out the dialogues, then using Audacity to compare, phrase by phrase, my pronunciation. I’m not going to do this for every dialogue. I just want to do it for a few right now to catch the recurring errors before they become ingrained. Right now, one of them is missing the stress of sentences that end with the question markers mı, mi, mu, or mü. The rhythms of Turkish are quite different from English, but I’ll catch on, I think. __________________________________________________ Dialogues I decided to listen and repeat all the dialogues in the second book to once again get a feel for the rhythm of the language. The first few were easy, but after that, I felt like I was missing more than I was hearing or reading. __________________________________________________ Hungry for new resources: I’ve been taking it slowly today overall. I guess this week has taken it’s toll on me! I found the Manisa Turkish website (turkishlanguage.co.uk) which seems to be the best website for learners of Turkish grammar ever. I learned a bit about the language reforms back in the 30s, but, alas, didn’t spend much time on the language itself. I spent less time today than I have over the past few days, so my total time is now (7+12+12+12+9+6 = 58 hours with Turkish) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| apparition Octoglot Senior Member United States Joined 6651 days ago 600 posts - 667 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), French, Arabic (Iraqi), Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Pashto | Message 20 of 32 31 January 2008 at 12:59am | IP Logged | ||
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Day 7 – The Last Day!
Well today I’m going to push hard and really buckle down with Turkish. After perusing some of the exercises in the books this morning, I’ve found a meaningful way for me to increase my retention of important words and phrases. The mini-tests at the end of each unit in the beginner book were ‘situational’ tests (as opposed to pure translation or some other exercise). In other words, the questions were “Say hello to your boss” or “How do you introduce yourself?” These questions affect me viscerally, as opposed to abstract grammatical questions or exercises. I guess this makes sense, since it is these situations where all the anxieties of producing language comes from. I don’t feel any anxiety when asked to “alter the following verbs to reflect the future tense”, because it’s such a ridiculous thing to be asked. All that’s at work in my brain is some small part of my frontal lobe that does mathematical calculations. But the situational questions get my whole brain involved. I see the people involved, I see the expectant looks on their faces when I’m asked a question and it really gets me into ‘survival’ mode. In English, conversations rarely have this effect on me, because I’m well versed in the rituals of creating language and they come by nature. But in a new culture with a new language, each new question posed to me or comment made to me is a challenge and this makes me work harder to generate an acceptable response. So, I’m going through the unit dialogues once again to make up questions and answers to these situations. I’m putting them into my SRS so that I can continue testing myself after this week is up. It’s not to get grammar or vast amounts of vocabulary into my head. It’s a way to get certain important social conventions internalized. What I think this does is it takes the words out of the specific context of the dialogues and puts them into more general terms, so that I’m not thinking ‘okay, this was in that dialogue with the Swedish businessman and the salesman who wouldn’t go away…’. Instead, my link to the words I want is based on a general ‘salesman’ image that I have in my head, which, being more basic, is more easily recalled than any specific salesman. Basically, what I’m trying to do is simulate a native following me around and quizzing me all the time about what I’m supposed to do in a certain situation. It’s not as helpful for getting a vast vocabulary and correct grammar as reading is, but it’s an effective way to understand the ritual nature of the language. ___________________________________________________ The End of the 7 Days! Well, this week has gone by fast! Today, as well. I must admit that I didn’t spend as much time today as I’d hoped, but having basically gone without my other interests for the past week, today I was ready to get back to them, so I cheated a bit and only spent 6 hours today. That brings my Grand Total to 64 hours these past seven days. (7+12+12+12+9+6+6 = 64 hours with Turkish) I feel I’ve accomplished a lot in these seven days. I’m at the stage now that I can pull back on the time I give the language every day and still advance at a comfortable clip. All I need now is some good authentic material and I can go from there. I’ll be using the Internet and my online dictionary until I can swing some short novels from overseas. I’m 64 hours in to this language and I feel I’m about at the level I’ve achieved in Icelandic after 115 hours. I’m much farther along than I am in Gujarati (on which I’ve spent 55 hours) I think that speaks much more to the difficulty of Icelandic and Gujarati for me than any real advancement in technique this time around! When it’s all said and done, it seems apparent that ‘time engaged’, as simple as it is, is the most crucial aspect of language learning. That’s all I have for this journal! Later! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| NichtGut Groupie United States the-daily-treasure.bRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6333 days ago 65 posts - 74 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 21 of 32 31 January 2008 at 2:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks a lot apparition for the detailed log. That seemed pretty brutal! All those hours I mean :) As long as you had a good time doing it thats all that matters. You seemed really enthusiastic which made the log a good read!
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| rob Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 6166 days ago 287 posts - 288 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Norwegian, Mandarin | Message 22 of 32 31 January 2008 at 2:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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I must admit, I have been reading this journal with much interest. Though, in my mind, I have been deleting the word "Turkish" and deliberately leaving it blank in order that this serves as motivational material for if you want to start learning any new language and you have a week free!
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| apparition Octoglot Senior Member United States Joined 6651 days ago 600 posts - 667 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), French, Arabic (Iraqi), Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Pashto | Message 23 of 32 31 January 2008 at 3:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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Haha, thanks NichtGut and rob for reading!
It was a crazy week, that's for sure. If I ever have the means to make the free time, I'm going to try another new language using that Listening-Reading method so often discussed. Don't know when that'll be, though... In the meantime, I have websites and books to read in my other languages that have been languishing! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TraineePolyglot Newbie Australia Joined 6549 days ago 13 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian | Message 24 of 32 31 January 2008 at 4:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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Great log, apparition! I loved the detail about your difficulties and how you overcame them.
And: WOW! Nine hours per day on average for seven days straight! You must have an amazing ability to concentrate. Was it just that you knew it was only for a week, or do you have some specific techniques that helped? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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