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TAC2011 / Team X - Gerwin’s Log

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23 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3  Next >>
Gerwin
Diglot
Newbie
Netherlands
Joined 5107 days ago

15 posts - 17 votes
Speaks: Dutch*, English
Studies: German, Japanese, French

 
 Message 1 of 23
30 December 2010 at 9:53am | IP Logged 
Hello everyone, and welcome to this mumble-jumble of language learning. This year I'll be doing the Team
TAC for Team X, together with Kuikentje and rob4languages, so good luck to both of you, having to deal
with an eternally curious person like myself is hard even for myself sometimes! *grins* I'll just get right
to my goals now, I've never been good at writing introductions.

English

Goal: C1 - Right now I'd say my level would be between B2 and C1, with my active knowledge being
on the lower end of the scale and my passive knowledge at the top. I can read pretty much everything I
can get my hands on and can understand quite a lot of spoken English, but there are still times where I
have to force myself to listen carefully to understand what's being said. My spoken English is my weakest
link, I have a very thick Dutch accent which has proven to be a **** to get rid off, and my written English
is only partially better. I can convey my thoughts, but don't expect a lot of elegance with that .. What I'd
like to do this year is improve my passive and more importantly my active vocabulary. I also want to start
having some conversational practice, which I haven't done in at least two years. Last but not least I want
to fix the many holes left in my grammar knowledge, including than/then and other related things.

Materials: Books, lots of books.
Television/youtube/other media
Skype
This forum
Whatever else comes along this year

Plan: Speaking - Sometime this year I'd like to start having conversations, most likely over Skype or
something similar. Writing - I've been thinking about keeping a journal for a month or two now, so I might
as well start keeping one in English! Starting from the first of January I'll be making daily entries of one or
two pages, combined with my other internet activities that should be plenty of writing practice. Reading -
I'll be reading quite a lot of books in English this year, including several pieces of literature, science
books, language related books and a list of sci-fi novels I've been making. Listening - Dutch television is
usually in the original language with Dutch subtitles so I just have to focus more on the listening than on
the subtitles, which should give me plenty of listening this year. I'll also be going through several The
Teaching Company courses, which are courses on varying subjects taught at college level, I presume. All
of this should combine to getting me to at least C1!

German

Goal: B1 - At the moment my German is most likely atrocious, I can understand a bit of written and
spoken German due to two years of German in high school and the shared vocabulary, but don't except
me to speak any kind of German you can understand. I'd like to be able to read several of the greater
books in German literature, including Faust and the like, though I'm quite sure it'll take a while before I'm
at that level.

Materials: Teach Yourself German
Linguaphone German
Assimil German with Ease
Deutsche Welle
Television/youtube/other media

Plan: My plan for German is to rush myself through TY German to get a basic grasp of the grammar
again and then start working through my Linguaphone course thoroughly. After I'm done with that I'll be
making my way through the Assimil course. This should give me a sizable vocabulary and a firm grasp on
the grammar, I hope. Last but not least I'll be trying to read at least a single article in from Deutsche
Welle once a day, but it's not as important as the rest of the plan.

Japanese

Goal: B1 - I'll be starting pretty much from scratch on Japanese, so I don't want to set my goals too
high. I have a basic understanding of the Hiragana and the Katakana, so I'll be improving those as I go
along. I'd like to be able to finish the Jouyou Kanji at the end of the year, so that's 2042 if I remember
correctly and I'm also aiming for a firm grasp on basic grammar and a reasonable vocabulary.

Materials: Japanese for Everyone, including audio
Remembering the Kanji, volume 1 and 3.
Assimil Japanese with Ease, volume 1 and 2
A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
Smart.fm
Reading the Kanji.com
Pimsleur Japanese, though I'm not a fan of this.

Plan: My plan for Japanese is to start with the hiragana and katakana and get those up to “normal”
reading speed. After that I'll start working through Japanese for Everyone, and trying to do 20 kanji a day
from Remembering the Kanji, volume 1. This should be around 4 months, including a few days without
learning any Kanji for good measure. Once I'm done with both I'll start doing Assimil and doing the Core
2000 and Core 6000 series on smart.fm for a good vocabulary. This should keep me going to at least
next year, and possibly beyond.

French

Goal: B1 - I've had some French in high school as well, but that was a disaster. I can still understand
a few simple sentences now and then, but my active knowledge is limited to “Hello, thank you, yes
please”. I'd like to be get a firm grasp on the basic grammar and a reasonable vocabulary. Aside from my
wanderlusts, this will most likely be my least active language.

Materials: Assimil New French with Ease
French in Action

Plan: I'll most likely be doing a single FIA lesson every day, or every other day, depending on my free
time. After that I'll start working through Assimil daily. Once both are done I'll be ordering some French
readers to keep the language alive in my brain until I can find some native materials I like.

Wanderlust Ah yes, the eternal wants-to-know-everything part of my brain has also turned its
attention to my languages now, it seems. I'll be trying not the get too distracted by other languages, but I
can pretty much guarantee I'll be doing some work on a few other languages, including: Arabic, Icelandic,
Sami, Finnish and Russian, but I've also got three older Teach Yourself's for Norwegian, Swedish and
Danish, so those might be dealt with as well. Let's just hope I don't get overexcited!

Good luck to everyone else in this year's TTAC, I hope we'll all still be there at the end of 2011!
1 person has voted this message useful



ReneeMona
Diglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 5335 days ago

864 posts - 1274 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2
Studies: French

 
 Message 3 of 23
30 December 2010 at 2:24pm | IP Logged 
Hoi Gerwin, succes met je studies en je log dit jaar! We studeren drie dezelfde talen dus ik zal zeker af en toe langs komen om te zien hoe het je vergaat.
Ik vind je Engels heel goed hoor, mooi vloeiend en het leest goed weg. Ik denk dat het je maar weinig moeite zal kosten om een C1 niveau te halen, als je er niet al bent.

Ik ben net als Kuikentje nieuwsgierig naar waar in Nederland je zit. En waar in Frankrijk ben jij, Kuikentje? Ik woon zelf in Amsterdam.

1 person has voted this message useful



Gerwin
Diglot
Newbie
Netherlands
Joined 5107 days ago

15 posts - 17 votes
Speaks: Dutch*, English
Studies: German, Japanese, French

 
 Message 4 of 23
30 December 2010 at 3:30pm | IP Logged 
Hoi ReneeMona, en bedankt!

Ik woon in een stadje in de buurt van Rotterdam, Ridderkerk, ik ben er vrij zeker van dat je er nog nooit van
gehoord hebt. :D
1 person has voted this message useful



ReneeMona
Diglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 5335 days ago

864 posts - 1274 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2
Studies: French

 
 Message 5 of 23
30 December 2010 at 4:00pm | IP Logged 
Natuurlijk ken ik Ridderkerk! Het ligt dichtbij Dordrecht, waar ik zelf vandaan kom, en vlak naast Alblasserdam, waar mijn familie woont.
1 person has voted this message useful



Gerwin
Diglot
Newbie
Netherlands
Joined 5107 days ago

15 posts - 17 votes
Speaks: Dutch*, English
Studies: German, Japanese, French

 
 Message 6 of 23
30 December 2010 at 4:13pm | IP Logged 
Haha, dat zag ik dus niet aankomen. Ik heb ook familie in Alblasserdam wonen, maar in Dordrecht kom ik
eigenlijk bijna nooit, tenzij ik er doorheen reis.
1 person has voted this message useful



ReneeMona
Diglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 5335 days ago

864 posts - 1274 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2
Studies: French

 
 Message 7 of 23
30 December 2010 at 4:22pm | IP Logged 
Ik kom ook nooit in Ridderkerk. Is het een beetje mooi daar? Ik moet toegeven dat ik Dordt nog steeds de mooiste stad van Nederland vind, maar dat is niets meer dan een schaamteloos blinde liefde voor m'n geboortestad. ;-) Ridderkerk ligt aan het water, toch? Stopt de waterbus tussen Dordrecht en Rotterdam daar ook?

Edited by ReneeMona on 30 December 2010 at 4:31pm

1 person has voted this message useful



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