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Nick’s TAC 2011 Team Å: NO IT GD JP | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Ncruz Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5531 days ago 31 posts - 56 votes  Speaks: Spanish, English*, Dutch, Portuguese, Afrikaans Studies: French, German, Italian, Russian, Norwegian, Japanese, Scottish Gaelic | Message 1 of 11 26 December 2010 at 9:39pm | IP Logged |
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I love languages, but it seems that many of my attempts at learning them are undermined by a lack of organization and a tendency to fall victim to wanderlust. My hope is that by participating in TAC and keeping a log of my activities, I will become more organized in my studies and stay motivated to meet my goals. I've decided to split my studies for this upcoming year into two categories: my "focus languages" and my "minor study languages."
My two "focus languages" for this year are Norwegian and Italian.  NORSK
Norwegian (and all Scandinavian languages for that matter) has fascinated me for some time. I've never really dedicated much time to it, but I think that now that I'm "wrapping up" my Dutch studies this is an ideal time to start. I love the way Norwegian sounds and looks, and I'm really excited to dive into the language. My level of Norwegian is very basic. Earlier this summer I worked my way through a good portion of my book, but I haven't made any effort to retain it since then and I'll definitely need to work through it again in order to get back into the groove of the language. My focus is on Bokmål, but I'm also interested in Nynorsk and would like to get some exposure to it. Even though Norwegian has always been a language of interest for me, I have to admit that part of the reason it took me so long to start studying it is because I was torn between it and its close relative, Swedish. Even though I've always preferred the sound of Norwegian, my grandfather is Swedish and he lives in Sweden, so I felt like in some ways it would be better to focus on that language. But now, after much deliberation, I have definitively decided on Norwegian as the language I'm studying. Materials: I have most of the mainstream Norwegian materials available in the US from my brief Norwegian jaunt earlier this year, but it seems quite hard to find good Norwegian resources, so I'm very open to any suggestions regarding learning materials. - Colloquial Norwegian - TY Norwegian (both the 90s and current versions) - Norwegian Verbs and Essentials of Grammar - Hugo Norwegian in Three Months Goals: My goals for this year are essentially to reach a level of basic fluency, which for me equates to the B2 standard on the CEFR scale. This should not be too difficult considering the supposed simplicity of the language and my experience with other Germanic languages.  ITALIANO
I've also always liked Italian and after spending about a month in Italy two years ago, I decided that it was a language I would one day like to learn. I think that that day has come, and I am very excited to start learning Italian. I have the Assimil course, and I have completed the first 20 or so lessons in it. This is the first time I've ever used the Assimil method and, from what I've seen so far, it's excellent. I also have the living language Italian course. I am a native Spanish speaker and I have studied/study both French and Portuguese, so I feel that I have a good foundation for Italian and hope to make significant progress in the language by the end of the year. Materials: I like both of the books, but as always I would appreciate recommendations. - Assimil: Italian with Ease - Ultimate Italian Beginner-Intermediate (Living Language) - Michel Thomas Italian Foundation Course Goals: My goals for Italian are the same as for Norwegian, meaning basic fluency or B2 level. This should actually be even easier than for Norwegian as I am already quite familiar with three closely-related Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, and French). This is purely a minimum goal; because of my experience with these other Romance languages I could conceivably achieve an even higher level in Italian by the end of 2011.  日本語
This summer I was flirting a bit with Japanese, but I am still very much a beginner. I am very interested in the language and have quickly run through the Michel Thomas Japanese Foundation Course as well as around 50 lessons from Japanesepod101, so I feel that my speaking/listening comprehension skills are more towards the high beginner level. On the other hand, my knowledge of the Japanese writing system is literally nonexistent, so in that regard I'm a total beginner. I suppose I would be considered a "false beginner." Japanese is not a priority language this year, but like Scottish Gaelic, I will be dipping in and out of it over the course of 2011. I don't have concrete goals for Japanese at this point, so this is a very free project and we'll just see where it takes me. Materials: Japanese for Busy People Ultimate Japanese Beginner-Intermediate (Living Language) Michel Thomas Foundation Course  Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic is a really fascinating language, but like Japanese, it is not a priority language this year and I will be dipping in and out of it over the course of 2011. I don't have any concrete goals for Gaelic at this point, but I'm really interested in it and would love to one day have a good command of it. It used to be one of the languages that I studied actively, but I found the grammar so difficult that I've decided to put it off for some time. Edited by Ncruz on 26 December 2010 at 10:27pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| nuriayasmin Senior Member Germany Joined 5236 days ago 155 posts - 210 votes | Message 2 of 11 27 December 2010 at 12:11am | IP Logged |
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We're not on the same team but I also study Norwegian and so I will surely follow your log and perhaps we can motivate and help each other.
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| Jaynie Senior Member Denmark Joined 5903 days ago 51 posts - 62 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Danish, Latin | Message 3 of 11 27 December 2010 at 12:30am | IP Logged |
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Nick,
I'm so excited to be on Team Å and I will look forward to following your Norwegian progress. You noted that it is hard to find Norwegian resources and I am discovering that the same is true for Danish. Spanish spoiled me in that way :) I gather that written Danish and Norwegian are somewhat similar. I hope so. I would LOVE to someday be able to read Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter in the original Norwegian. There are two English translations, and they are like reading two different books. Edited by Jaynie on 27 December 2010 at 12:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6135 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 4 of 11 27 December 2010 at 12:43am | IP Logged |
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Hej Nick,
Hur står det till? Jag är mycket glad att se den här loggboken, och jag kommer att läsa den det hela året för den ser intressant ut. Lycka till med norska och italienska, och också med japanska och skotsk gäliska. Jag lär mig svenska, som liknar norska, och om du kan läsa norska du kan troligtvis förstå svenska och danska också. Det vore bra om jag kunde skriva till dig på svenska för att vi kan öva våra språk. Får jag göra det? Lycka till och ha det roligt! Ellasevia 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5327 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 5 of 11 30 December 2010 at 8:01pm | IP Logged |
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Hi Ncruz, I supported the idea of native speakers being an extra asset and support to those studying their language, and I'll keep an eye on your log, and contribute with corrections or whatever else you need, as will, I am sure, the other Norwegians on the forum.
Feel free to ask any question, no matter how basic. I used to teach Norwegian to foreigners in my previous life, so you cannot shock me :) Do you know the Norwegian saying: "Det finnes ingen dumme spørsmål, bare dumme svar" (There are no such thing as stupid questions, just stupid answers)? I think it is cool that there is a Scandinavian team. Good luck!! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5840 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 11 30 December 2010 at 8:19pm | IP Logged |
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DK: Held og lykke med din TAC 2011 norsk, Italiansk og japansk!
Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 30 December 2010 at 8:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Ncruz Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5531 days ago 31 posts - 56 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Dutch, Portuguese, Afrikaans Studies: French, German, Italian, Russian, Norwegian, Japanese, Scottish Gaelic | Message 7 of 11 18 January 2011 at 4:32am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for all of the encouragement and advice.
Sorry for the long gap between posts. Since opening my log, school has started again and between homework and being sick I just haven't been able to find the time to update my log. NORSK
I'v continued to work my way through the books mentioned in my first post, and I think I'm really developing a feel for the language. I've also added a few hundred words to BYKI and have been working on memorizing those. In general, I like using a variety of books because it allows me to go review things without suffering through the boredom of repeating the exact same lessons and dialogues. However, I'm finding this approach to be a little more difficult with Norwegian because some books use the common gender whereas some others make a distinction between masculine and feminine. To make things easier on myself, I decided to ignore the feminine gender. now that I'm seeing it in some of my books, though, I'm beginning to wonder if it would be easier to learn the rules for feminine nouns as well. Do native speakers or anyone who has already studied Norwegian have any advice on the matter? Is it more common to use all three genders or just common and neuter? ITALIANO
I don't know why, but for some reason my approach to Italian has been a little more organic than my approach to Norwegian. My two main resources have been Italian with Ease and Michel Thomas Italian. In the past weeks, I've done about 16 Assimil lessons and listened to 40 minutes of Michel Thomas. Perhaps because I already know Spanish, I'm finding Italian to be a very intuitive and fairly easy to learn language. 日本語
I, sadly, have not studied any Japanese since my last post. Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic)
I've been spending a lot of time on Gaelic in the past few weeks, but I have very little to show for it. Unlike Norwegian and Italian, I find the grammar and spelling of Gaelic to be extremely difficult, and as a result I seem to move forward at a frustratingly slow pace. I'm hoping that as I advance in my studies this will begin to change, but I'm beginning to think that Gaelic is one of the hardest languages I've ever attempted. Edited by Ncruz on 18 January 2011 at 4:32am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Syntax Bilingual Hexaglot Newbie South Africa Joined 5088 days ago 28 posts - 40 votes Speaks: English*, Afrikaans*, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Studies: Mandarin | Message 8 of 11 19 January 2011 at 8:40pm | IP Logged |
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Hey Ncruz
Dit lyk vir my asof my pm nie wil deurgaan nie. Ek dink dit het iets te doen met ek wat 'n nuwe lid van die forum is :-(. Kan jy moontlik jou besonderhede vir my stuur, as jy nog belangstel...? Syntax 1 person has voted this message useful |
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