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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| pitwo Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6158 days ago 103 posts - 121 votes  Speaks: French*, English | Message 145 of 407 31 May 2011 at 11:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Another reason might be that Japanese has an extremely poor sound inventory (indeed, any
major language with a smaller one?) whereas the one of English is quite big. I'd guess it would take us quite a while to get used to abkhaz' 58 consonants, if ever at all ! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5380 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 146 of 407 02 June 2011 at 5:43pm | IP Logged | ||
That is most likely one of the factors indeed, but not the only one. A friend of mine often says "I'm dumb" instead of "I'm done". To her, a final n defaults to m. She works in a restaurant and she's probably asked a few customer "Are you dumb?". She can say n, no doubt about it, but she applies the phonological rules of Japanese. Most of the time, she doesn't realize she's doing it either, and I'm sure she couldn't explain why she does it. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5380 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 148 of 407 09 June 2011 at 4:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yesterday, I spotted a Japanese tourist on the street! (*Note* This is not very common in my city) I was walking to meet a friend at a restaurant and I caught up with him at the following intersection. We struck up a conversation in Japanese for a few blocks. Other than not understanding the odd word here and there -- which he aptly rephrased for me --, the entire conversation was in Japanese and I felt pretty good about myself! I would have exchanged particulars, but he was leaving the next day.
Later in the day, I also had a long exchange in Japanese with a friend as we went for a walk. All in all, an encouraging day after I'd been having the feeling that my Japanese had regressed. I don't think so anymore; I came out encouraged, actually. ---- Lately, I've been trying to read more with the use of the Wakaru iPad app. It's an ok app, but I don't like how you need to highlight words to get the meaning. I wish you could just click on the first kanji and be done with it. It's even worse with website because the page moves around and you can get a reading when the text is in a link. There should be a quick button to freeze the page and cancel links temporarily. I've also been doing a bit of SRS -- I pretty much hate it, but I had made the resolution to know all jyouyou kanji before the end of the year and since I'm probably only half way there, I had to do something. I'm meeting my language partner tomorrow; although we used to meet every week, for the past month or two, we've only been meeting once every second week. I hope she isn't too busy to meet me because she's a great partner. I have to plan that meeting tonight. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5380 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 149 of 407 29 June 2011 at 6:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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It felt like I hadn't written an entry in ages, but I see it's only been 2 weeks since the last. In any case, I believe that 2-week hiatus was caused by somewhat of a burn-out.
A burn-out in part because of the 6-week challenge I participated in, but also a bit because learning 3 languages at the same time can be quite draining if you intend to make any reasonable progress in all of them AND continue to enjoy life. I haven't done any Norwegian or Spanish in these last 2 weeks (Spanish teacher has been ill) but slowly, my appetite for Japanese is coming back. My tutor came over Friday and I met with my language partner Monday. Both opportunities turned out to be very encouraging, so I'm feeling a lot better. I was getting the impression I was actually regressing, but they have both proven me otherwise. My tutor even said that she has been realizing that she now speaks to me the same way she talks to other Japanese people -- I know for a fact that isn't entirely true, but I'll take it. I also asked both of them if they could help me identify and fix my bad habits when speaking Japanese, but they haven't been able to find any. While this isn't an indication that I don't have any (I most certainly do), it's comforting to think that none are really obvious. I'd been worried that I had acquired bad habits over time that had become engrained and which no one bothered to correct anymore, such as the traditionally embarrassing "you sound like a girl". But they insisted that wasn't the case. So. All is good. Progress is still underway. Edited by Arekkusu on 29 June 2011 at 6:12pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5981 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 150 of 407 01 July 2011 at 9:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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How exactly do you juggle three languages, a family, a job and a life anyway? It often feels like I barely find enough time to fit in Japanese.
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| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5380 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 151 of 407 01 July 2011 at 10:22pm | IP Logged | ||
It's too much for me too, actually. And I also just started teaching English pronunciation to a Korean student. I think I'll have to put Spanish and Norwegian on hold, unless I find language partners I could meet once every second week. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5380 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 152 of 407 02 August 2011 at 6:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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I haven't updated the log in a month, but that shouldn't be interpreted as a month away from studying. However, I have (temporarily?) put my Spanish and Norwegian activities on hold. I currently have an English pronunciation student and a French student and I will concentrate on helping them instead. They are both motivated and deserve my full attention.
I also want to concentrate on Japanese only; I'm already 3 years into my 5-year goal and this is no time to soften up. My Japanese abilities are progressing steadily and I feel more confident/comfortable than ever. A few impromptu conversations with Japanese tourists met on the street over the last few weeks have proven that I'm definitely an independent and able speaker. My studies lately have consisted in watching dramas, studying some SRS, reading mangas and meeting language partners weekly. Nothing new, really, other than the fact that I'm trying to read more and I'm exposing myself to new words through SRS. New language exchange activity: interpretation. I let my partner talk about whatever she wants (English practice for her), and I interpret it into Japanese. She corrects as needed. Other than the fact that I'm relying on my partner to come up with interesting stories, this exercice requires no preparation and is rather handy. It's great to get confirmation that my production is accurate and any new words can be reused right away. Edited by Arekkusu on 02 August 2011 at 6:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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