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Mick’s Afrikaans study journal | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5922 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 17 of 57 12 November 2008 at 2:02pm | IP Logged |
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It's been a whole week since I last posted something new in this log. An interesting thing happened to me over the weekend; I think I had my first dream in or about Afrikaans on Sunday night. This occurence is noteworthy for a few reasons; I have always listened to music and often experience the slightly annoying, yet simultaneously pleasant sensation of having a song in my head which at times could be considered something of a soundtrack for my thoughts, as might be expected this usually occurs exclusively in English and can happen whether or not I am consciously aware of it or not. One of my goals is to be able to have the same experience occur effortlessly in Afrikaans, and later other languages, but so far any thinking in Afrikaans usually requires sometimes intense mental exertion; that is I must make my brain think in Afrikaans. Sunday night I did something different, which I may start doing intentionally, because I had been unable to study any Afrikaans at all during the day I decided to read some of the Bible chapters I had been copying out as part of the scriptorium exercise before falling asleep. I fell asleep and some time during the night I dreamt I met a woman who introduced herself and added that she spoke German and Dutch and thus could easily understand Afrikaans if I would like to have a conversation. I then spoke to her exclusively in Afrikaans; here I digress slightly to state that in the dream I had not spoken yet so this means that I dreamed I could speak Afrikaans quite well, it seems that when I dream my ego is quite large, perhaps I should be more self-confident when I am awake. More remarkable is that I have not told anyone I know, neither relatives or friends and acquaintances, that I am studying Afrikaans. Why, then did I dream of meeting a complete stranger who would intuitively know that I study Afrikaans?, Or that my intent is to later learn Dutch and German as well? After introducing myself and commenting that I could not speak Dutch or German yet she replied in English that Afrikaans was far closer to German and Dutch than she had assumed and that when we met again if I spoke Afrikaans and she spoke German we should understand each other quite well. I cannot clearly recollect what I said; moreover it's odd that I'd dreamt about German and Dutch as well; even if English, Afrikaans, Dutch and German are all Germanic languages; I can only understand very simple written Dutch and have barely even looked at German at all, although I may start studying both languages soon. I am very excited about having dreamt I was speaking Afrikaans, I had been hoping for just this sort of experience and was wondering when Afrikaans would begin to come alive for me mentally. When I woke up the was dream fresh in my mind and Afrikaans words, mostly lyrics to songs, were swirling around in my mind. This is very encouraging, hopefully next time I dream in Afrikaans I'll recall what I said and thought. Edited by mick33 on 21 November 2008 at 2:35pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5922 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 18 of 57 15 November 2008 at 11:35pm | IP Logged |
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I have run into a little problem with studying Afrikaans, I did not study any Afrikaans at all on Thursday or Friday. I usually study Afrikaans for at least a half-hour every day; and often it's an hour or more; although never longer than an hour at a time, I am a college student after all. Just as an example; I usually do the scriptorium exercise late at night just before going to bed, to avoid most interruptions or distractons or awkward explanations. But these last two nights I couldn't concentrate and spent the time reading other things before going to bed. Today I had time earlier in the evening, and I will definitely study more later on tonight as I feel very motivated, perhaps I wish to attempt to make up for the previous two days. I have thought about studying Afrikaans in the morning and did try to do so a few times; but found that studying Afrikaans in the morning does not work well for me; my first class is in the morning and when I study in the morning I worry that I'll be late to class.
Another thing I want to do is start writing out brief sample dialogues for things like formal and casual introductons, giving and asking for simple directions, ordering food in a restaurant, and basic polite conversations. I remember that when I took Spanish in high school I learned very little conversational Spanish and never learned how to speak it well enough to have a conversation; I want to avoid repeating this frustrating experience with Afrikaans. Language learning seems pointless if I am unable to actually speak the language. Edited by mick33 on 09 December 2008 at 1:18pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5922 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 19 of 57 20 November 2008 at 2:43am | IP Logged |
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Since Saturday I have found time to study Afrikaans for at least a half-hour a day. I have been learning more vocabulary in the past week; the scriptorium exercise is proving even more beneficial than I thought, and I eagerly look up evey new word I encounter. I wonder if I should reconsider my decision to reject making wordlist or flashcards, maybe I will buy large index cards and write related words on the left-hand side and then a corresponding English word on the right-hand side, though I'm still very skeptical of the idea, since wordlists in any form haven't worked for me before. Hopefully, I can buy an Afrikaans-English Dictionary soon, which will definitely be more convenient than using the online dictionaries I've found. I haven't yet finished the sample dialogues I want to write out, but when I do I will post them here as well as writing them in one of the study notebooks I'm keeping. Edited by mick33 on 23 March 2010 at 9:28am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5922 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 20 of 57 21 November 2008 at 2:35pm | IP Logged |
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I still have not finished the sample dialogues I want to write out, but I've been busy, my autumn classes are finishing up. I've also been figuring out what classes to take in winter quarter, and I think I've decided on taking a Spanish class, I'd rather take Afrikaans of course, but I know Afrikaans is a less commonly taught language. I am concerned about taking a language course, especially since I already took Spanish in high school and have very little to show for it; I cannot write, or carry on a conversation in Spanish, I have a very limited vocabulary and when I do say the few words and phrases I do know, my bad accent and pronunciation is noticeable. I will definitely ask the teacher for suggestions on how to supplement the course material and if I do not like the course I can always drop it, but I would rather not do that.
Now I will get back to writing about Afrikaans. As I have already mentioned the sriptorium exercise is proving quite beneficial; though I really need to use other texts, until yesterday I had been exclusively using the Bible for this, and I am anxious to study Afrikaans as it's actually spoken and written; so I'll just start using online editions of Afrikaans newspapers. Edited by mick33 on 29 April 2009 at 12:37am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5922 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 21 of 57 25 November 2008 at 2:57pm | IP Logged |
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I don't have much to write about right now, but I want to document my progress. Monday night, around 11:30 pm on the West Coast of Norht America I used an article from Beeld for the scriptorium exercise while at the same time listened to Radio Sonder Grense since in South Africa it would be Tuesday morning. Why it hadn't occurred to me to listen to more Afrikaans radio broadcasts online late at night before this I don't know, since noon Pacific Time is late night in SA. I did not have an epiphany where I suddenly; and perhaps almost subconsciously understood the news in Afrikaans, rather I was very pleased to realize that I understood more of what I heard, although I still did not perfectly follow everything said this was encouraging. I've also found a fairly simple Afrikaans song that I translated into English, which I will post in my next journal entry a little later today. Edited by mick33 on 29 April 2009 at 12:37am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5922 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 22 of 57 26 November 2008 at 2:36am | IP Logged |
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So now I will post the lyrics to the song that I translated though my translation was done to help me learn vocabulary, it is an attempt at a literal teranslation and the English words probably cannot be sung to the song's original tune.
NOTE: The English words are in italics "Op Blouberg se strand" gesing deur Laurika Rauch On Blue Mountain's shore sung by Laurika Rauch Die golwe weet waar breek die branders The waves know where the breakers crash Hulle dink hulle's vry They think they're free Die wolke wentel in die hemel maar The clouds roll in the heaven but Op die winde moet hul ry they must ride on the wind Dis vroeg in die dag, Op Blouberg se strand It's early in the day, on Blue Mountain's shore Die wind gaan nog waai, Die son gaan nog brand The wind will still blow, The sun will still burn Maar dis koel na die lang nag But it's cool after the long night En ons groet die dag And we greet the day KOOR: Chorus: Goeie môre my sonskyn Good morning my sunshine Goeie môre my kind Good morning my child Kom ons draf langs die strand Let's jog by the shore Kom ons ry op die wind Let's ride on the wind Die sand sal ons skroei The sand will parch us En die strale sal brand And the rays will burn Maar dis vroeg in die dag But it's early in the day Op Blouberg se strand On Blue Mountain's shore Daar is witgekalkte huise There are whitewashed houses En ou Tafelberg And old Table Mountain Daar is hengelaars met stok en hoed There are fishermen with poles and hats Wat vroeg visse terg That early fish taunt My pa, sê my kind, ons moet swart mossels vind My pa says my child, we must find black mussels Ons is lief vir die see, Ek is lief vir my kind We're in love with the sea, I'm in love with my child Ja dis koel na die lang nag Yes it's cool after the long night En ons groet die dag And we greet the day Then repeat the chorus I know I had previously written that I was uncertain about whether translation was an effective way to learn a language, but I have since decided that as long as translation is sparingly used as way to learn vocabulary it is worthwhile. I do not think that translation is something to be relied on totally; but when I heard "Op Blouberg se Strand" I automatically began to translate it in my mind, so I decided to translate it intentionally. Edited by mick33 on 29 April 2009 at 12:38am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5922 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 23 of 57 01 December 2008 at 3:07am | IP Logged |
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I can't wait for school to be over as it is now beginning to interfere with my Afrikaans studies, I never went to bed on Friday night because my anthropology homework took so much time that I stayed up until 5 am Saturday morning and I was so tired Saturday and Sunday that I didn't study Afrikaans very much at all. I do not think I can wait much longer to buy either the Teach Yourself Afrikaans course or the Colloquial Afrikaans course, or perhaps I'll buy both. The reviews I've read both on this forum and Amazon.com are mixed; which is not surprising,since everyone has different learning styles, and I expect these courses will merely be supplements to what I'm already doing. It is obvious I need more physical materials to use; my studying currently consists of a lot of time sitting and looking at a computer screen which is becoming, at times, quite monotonous. I'm still working on my sample dialogues and I hope to get them finished some time this week but I make no guarantees,this is my last week of classes before final exams next week and I have much to do, though thankfully I have only three exams and only expect one to be difficult. Edited by mick33 on 29 April 2009 at 12:36am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5922 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 24 of 57 05 December 2008 at 3:02am | IP Logged |
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I have a few thing to post today. First, I think I have found a way to use index cards to help me increase my Afrikaans vocabulary. The basic idea is to write down new words that I encounter in Bible chapters, newspaper articles or song lyrics; soon I will explain my system, if I can even call it that, in detail. I still have not completed the sample dialogues, but one will definitely be ready by Saturday. I've also been reading about reineke's Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) and I am seriously considering taking part in it; indeed one reason I am so anxious to learn more Afrikaans vocabulary is so that I can begin typing messages in this log in Afrikaans (at least partially) to improve my ability to write and think and as a way of measuring my progress.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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