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JaynieTAC 2011: Team Å | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Jaynie Senior Member Denmark Joined 5911 days ago 51 posts - 62 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Danish, Latin | Message 1 of 17 26 December 2010 at 11:50pm | IP Logged |
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Now that Christmas is over, I am ready to spend time learning Danish. I am starting with zero knowledge, but I come to Danish with an eager Beginner's Mind. I certainly have plenty of motivation: I will be moving to Denmark in June! And I've never even been there for a visit!
At the moment, I don't own any study materials. I spent a few hours today looking around to see what is available. I am going to order the Langenscheidt dictionary for sure. I have a couple of Langenscheidt dictionaries already and I like them. Pimsleur has a Danish course, but as I understand it, Pimsleur is strictly oral learning. I don’t learn well that way; I need a transcript. I am looking into: Colloquial Danish Teach Yourself Danish Hippocrene Beginner’s Danish Meanwhile, I have begun the podcasts at Copenhagencast.com and I really like them. There are pdf transcripts to go along with the audio – yeah! And speakdanish.dk has some material to get me going. I tried Radio Lingua Network’s One Minute Danish podcasts, but they are SO short. I guess that I just don’t quite get the one minute idea. I’ve been studying Spanish on-and-off for as long as I can remember. Honestly, I should be much further along than I am. Learning materials are so easy to come by, and I own plenty. I also have several friends who are native speakers. Oh well. I usually read some Spanish every day and I listen to the Spanish radio station in the car. Today, I am committing myself to working through two books: “Spanish for Reading” and “Spanish Verb Tenses.” I also will put together a plan for listening comprehension. Except for time, I don’t think that I will have any trouble studying the two languages at once. They are completely different, and I am at different study levels. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Ncruz Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5539 days ago 31 posts - 56 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Dutch, Portuguese, Afrikaans Studies: French, German, Italian, Russian, Norwegian, Japanese, Scottish Gaelic | Message 2 of 17 27 December 2010 at 12:01am | IP Logged |
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Hi Jayne,
Held og lykke! I'm also in team Å, but I'm studying Norwegian. Also, I'd more than happy to help you with Spanish. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jaynie Senior Member Denmark Joined 5911 days ago 51 posts - 62 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Danish, Latin | Message 3 of 17 01 January 2011 at 3:39pm | IP Logged |
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Godt Nytår! Or is is godt nytår? Or is it Godt nytår? I don't know, because I don't yet know the capitalization conventions of Danish. I am really beginning from zero knowledge! Since I posted last, I have mentally organized my language studies for 2011 and I have ordered some Danish study materials. On order: Langenscheidt dictionary (on backorder - boo) Hippocrene Beginner’s Danish Berlitz Danish phrasebook Danish: An Elementary Grammar and Reader by Elias Bredsdorff (found a used copy for a good price - yay) I have been listening to podcasts: Copenhagencast and One Minute Danish. And I set up an Anki deck. And I figured out how to make Å, å, Ø, ø, Æ, and æ with my keyboard. Yay! As I mentioned, I expect to be living in Denmark in six months. Because "all Danes speak English," I am concentrating on reading and listening. Other Languages: Now that I am moving to Scandinavia, my language plans are really in flux. I have been studying Spanish and have flirted with Dutch, Polish and French. Once Danish became so crucial, I figured I would concentrate on Danish while continuing on in Spanish. But I am rethinking things! Over the next few years, I hope to have travel opportunities to Germany, the Netherlands and Poland. I know a little (very little) Dutch and Polish already and I own some study materials. Wouldn't it be nice to know a little more Dutch and Polish and to be a bit familiar with German?! Of course it would. My biggest concern with this line of thinking is that I don't want to lose any Spanish capability. I think that I will (1) study Danish daily (2) figure out a rotation for Dutch, Polish and German (3) refine my plan for Spanish. By my next post I will have a detailed plan! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 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 17 01 January 2011 at 9:53pm | IP Logged |
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Held og lykke, Jaynie! If your "Danish: An Elementary Grammar and Reader" book is from the same series as the Swedish one, I can assure you that it will probably be an excellent course. Although it's short, it really teaches you the language well. The only thing is that the language is noticeably outdated (in the Swedish course it had me learning "en grammofon" in one of the first lessons) and also teaches some extremely obscure words, most of which I had never heard of in English, so I'd supplement it with some more modern materials. The other thing is that as it has no listening component, I would highly recommend using something else in addition to it that does. This impacted my Swedish because although I can understand most of what I read now, I can't understand much of what I hear--and Danish would be even more difficult in this respect.
Godt nytår! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jaynie Senior Member Denmark Joined 5911 days ago 51 posts - 62 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Danish, Latin | Message 5 of 17 09 January 2011 at 12:11am | IP Logged |
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I have had a productive week.
DANISH: Hippocrene Beginner's Danish arrived as did the Berlitz Danish phrasebook. The Hippocrene book came with 2 CDs and I started listening to lesson 1. I now have plenty on my ipod to listen to when the opportunity arises. I've been exploring Danish websites, but I am too quick to move to the English version. I really feel hindered by the fact that I don't have a Danish dictionary. The one I ordered is still on backorder. I've happily discovered that I actually LIKE Danish! How can you not like a language that keeps the same verb form for all persons, singular and plural?! After years of Spanish, these verbs seem easy by comparison. The challenge is the pronunciation. I still don't know how to read most words and I want the right pronunciation in my mind, even if I am not yet opening my mouth much. CULTURE: I finished reading Out of Africa and I watched the movie. I also watched my first Danish movie, "Pusher." I learned the word for money (penge) and friend (ven) and I got really excited noticing that the characters actually said one of the phrases I learned (Hvad så?) over and over. I have been studying the Viking period of Scandinavian and English history. Can't wait to get to those Viking museums! SPANISH & WANDERLUST: I am worried that I will lose the Spanish that I already know, so I am at least committed to maintenance. But knowing that I will be spending time in the Netherlands and Germany this summer, I sure feel pulled toward Dutch and German. Polish can wait until 2012, but Polish is a heritage language for me so I am very interested in it. I am also find the subject of linguistics really fascinating, so the idea of studying Romance, Germanic and Slavic languages -- even if not to fluency-- holds great appeal. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jaynie Senior Member Denmark Joined 5911 days ago 51 posts - 62 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Danish, Latin | Message 6 of 17 05 February 2011 at 10:32pm | IP Logged |
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I haven't posted on my log since Jan 09? Eek! How did that happen?
Danish: I just love my 1950s "Danish Grammar and Reader" by Elias Bredsdorff, although I am certainly glad that I got it used for a good price. The book explains Danish grammar simply and clearly. My only complaint is that about a third of the book is exercises, and there aren't any exercise answers. I've been memorizing basic lists: numbers, days of the week, months, etc. It's a fun language to learn. I get such a kick out of the lengthy compound words! I really wish that I had a good dictionary. I bought the Berlitz pocket dictionary. Oh my, it certainly is a pocket dictionary. It's so tiny! The Langenscheidt dictionary has been on backorder for a month. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll really be able to get it. Moving to Denmark in 4 months! Spanish: I got this great book on my Kindle: "Listen and Learn Spanish with your Favorite Movies" by Scott and Gaby Thomas. It has a core vocabulary list that supposedly covers 80% of what you would expect to hear in Spanish movies. I already know most of that list, which is a confidence booster. The book also gives the key vocabulary for several movies, scene by scene. I started watching March of the Penguins in Spanish along with this book and those vocabulary lists really enhance the experience. It's such a great concept. Going forward, I'll try to post once a week. My next goals in Spanish are to build vocabulary, really conquer those pronouns, and to improve my listening skills. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Élan Senior Member United States Joined 5445 days ago 165 posts - 211 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Persian | Message 7 of 17 05 February 2011 at 11:18pm | IP Logged |
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ُُWelcome back to posting! :) That Spanish book sounds amazing! What are some other movies they have included? I really I had something like that for my target language.
Are you staying in Denmark for a certain amount of time or indefinitely? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jaynie Senior Member Denmark Joined 5911 days ago 51 posts - 62 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Danish, Latin | Message 8 of 17 06 February 2011 at 3:15pm | IP Logged |
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@ Élan: The Spanish movies book is amazing. It makes watching a movie in Spanish feel SO much more productive. The only complaint that I could have is that all of the movies are kid-friendly type movies. For me, this isn't too big of a deal -- I am a parent so I am really used to watching the same kid movie over and over and over! It kind of comes with the territory :) I started with March of the Penguins because I already owned it. Next, I will probably do "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" or "Eragon."
Our family is moving to Denmark for (probably) a few years. I am hoping that we will be able to make a visit before the move. If so, I plan to hit the bookstores. I really need something to read! I'm using the Hippocrene Beginner's Danish but I am longing for a book of Danish poetry or the fairy tales in Danish. Edited by Jaynie on 06 February 2011 at 3:15pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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