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日本語 and me the next round TAC 2012 Team い | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Takato Tetraglot Senior Member HungaryRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5046 days ago 249 posts - 276 votes  Speaks: Hungarian*, EnglishB2, GermanB2, Japanese | Message 153 of 333 14 July 2012 at 11:32pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
It doesn't really need to be related to your own language. It solely needs to be related to a language you know well (but not necessarily perfectly at all). I'd think that Chinese after Japanese - in comparison with German after English - is easier.
I thought of something similar about 400 days ago. That's why I started to learn Spanish.
Haha! How many exp are needed for each level?
I used KODi English-German (an application made for stupid phones, can be used in both directions), although I consider their Spanish dictionary better. Edited by Takato on 15 July 2012 at 12:35am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5980 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 154 of 333 15 July 2012 at 11:52pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Brun Ugle, I like this idea that exercise helps you get smarter. I hardly left the house when I was studying for my MSc, and I did ok with that. Now I'm out on my bicycle nearly every day, I should get clever enough to deal with all these languages in no time. Actually I thought about borrowing a Barclays bike and cycling to the test centre for N3, but I took one look at the dual carriageway outside my hotel and decided I wasn't feeling brave enough and took the bus instead!
I have stopped using Pimsleur and switched to using Assimil instead. It's nice having some native speakers to copy rather than just Michel Thomas's heavy accent, and it's also nice have some written text to follow as well. I think the two different courses, with such a very different approach, seem to complement each other quite nicely for now. This weekend I have discovered the on demand TV shows available from Deutsche Welle. If I needed an antidote to my blasé "German is so easy compared to Japanese" attitude, I think I've found it in the form of native materials. I also had a quick flick through the Der Spiegel website, for further confirmation of what I am up against. OK, I don't have to worry about Chinese characters or anything, but to understand practically nothing of a language which is supposedly so close to English is still humbling, in the best possible way. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5980 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 155 of 333 22 July 2012 at 1:44am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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This week has not been the most productive weeks as far as my studies are concerned. I was ill at the start of the week and tried and failed on two occasions to go through the 6th CD of Michel Thomas. I guess my brain wasn't in the mood to deal with much else apart from sleeping. And then I had a social event with family one night, followed by a social event with colleagues another night. Normally I might fit in a bit of study after one of these events (neither finished particularly late) but for some reason I felt that a couple of nights off studying would do me some kind of good.
I've just finished lesson 6 of Assimil German, so far so good I think, although my break in studies this week probably hasn't helped. It is interesting to see how they have built in some repetition into the course. That's one thing I'm really enjoying about both Assimil and Michel Thomas. They both make an effort to remind you about things they introduced earlier on, so I'm not even worrying about using any SRS system for now. Last night I sat down and watched the German film The Baader Meinhof Complex. I didn't really enjoy the film, it was a bit depressing for a Friday night movie. We watched it with English subtitles and the only words I picked up in the whole thing were "jetzt" and "morgen". I can't wait for my listening to get good enough that native materials become worthwhile for real learning, rather than just a nice bit of cultural background. I found some German dubs of South Park, which really cheered me up. I watched the Facebook episode today, with no subs. I've seen it in English a couple of times anyway so it was a lot easier to relax and drift along and enjoy picking up what I could, which was mainly loanwords. Today I also watched an episode of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (Japanese of course) without any subs and apart from the odd gap in vocabulary, had no real trouble following it. Comparing that to my feelings towards listening to German at present, I feel much more confident about my level in Japanese. I also did an online class today with JOI. I do find that if I avoid Japanese for a few days, it really starts to show in my speaking ability and it takes me a little while to warm back up again. I don't know how I can get over this, without making Japanese a much bigger part of my life than is probably possible. Maybe it is enough for me to know that, given the opportunity, I can warm up my speaking skills, but I will probably never be satisfied with that. Oh well, at least my Japanese listening skills are now the best I've ever had in any language apart from my native English, and that is pretty cool. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5182 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 156 of 333 22 July 2012 at 6:18am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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You can tell people in Germany how their language is harder than Japanese ;). I'm sure they'll get a good laugh. Obviously I say German is easier than Japanese in large part because I already know a lot of German and I learned it several years ago. So it seems so easy now lol. I don't know the numbers but I think it takes Westerners roughly twice as long to learn Japanese as it would a European language so it's easier but both are a pain in the butt. BTW I loved the Deutsche Welle when I was studying German. I haven't been to the website in years but I would listen to it all the time while doing all sorts of things. They had programming for people learning German too it was excellent.
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| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5980 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 157 of 333 22 July 2012 at 10:48am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Yeah the Deutsche Welle stuff is amazing. I had a play around with Deutsch Interaktiv (spelling?) the other day. I see they also have some podcast series for learners as well, neatly graded by CEFR levels. It all sounds like it could be really useful and I think I will pay more attention to it once I've got Michel Thomas out the way. I love the fact that they give free access to their TV shows as well, something which is sadly lacking from our own BBC.
I wouldn't be surprised if it takes an average westerner four times as long to learn Japanese compared to a European language. It will be interesting to see if I can get my German up to the same level as my Japanese is now by this time next year. I think if I'm showing off I can understand most of South Park on here by that time, it will be mission accomplished :) I think my main point is, it's been so long since I've been a complete beginner in a language that I'd forgotten how much it sucks. I often feel quite down about my Japanese level, simply because I've been stuck at some kind of "intermediate" for what feels like forever. However it's only by comparing what I can do in Japanese, to what I can do in a language I am just starting out with, that I can studdenly see how much progress I've really made. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5182 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 158 of 333 22 July 2012 at 7:09pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Yeah I hate being a beginner. It's why I vowed to never start another language again lol. I kept that promise
for a while but somehow got into Japanese anyway. I still remember sitting in an Internet cafe in Berlin thinking that I would collect languages now that I'd gotten the hang of learning them (or so I thought lol). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5980 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 159 of 333 22 July 2012 at 7:43pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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But you're not exactly a beginner in Japanese any more either. Beginner is definitely the worst stage though. I have lots of choice now about what I can do to work on my Japanese (probably too much choice) but for German it's textbooks or nothing for now.
How long ago were you in Berlin? Is there anything you would recommend I should see when I visit the city in a couple of weeks? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5980 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 160 of 333 28 July 2012 at 8:04pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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This week I think I am experiencing the hottest summer weather in years. I'm really not used to it, which means I am spending too long outside and not drinking enough water, so by the evening I'm not really in the mood to study. It is making me happy though, it's a shame I think the weather is going to go back to default Welsh mode (rain, rain, rain) tomorrow.
In Japanese, I have taken three JOI lessons this week and practiced some writing but haven't done much else. I finally got through CD 6 and 7 of Michel Thomas German. I'll finish the basic course with CD 8 sometime in the next week but I don't know if I want to continue on to the advanced course or not. I find it quite easy to find 30 minute stretches in the day to do different language activities, but it's harder to find a whole hour to sit down and do something without being interrupted. I finished lesson 10 of Assimil and I am loving it's simplicity. I'm kind of taking it easy in German at the moment, I think I'm trying to save myself so I am ready for some hardcore study for the 6WC. Hopefully I've found myself a German tutor as well, who I will be meeting for the first time next week. I wonder how I will manage with picking up spoken German. It took me a long time to activate spoken Japanese, in large part because I found the idea of using a foreign language with native speakers very intimidating. With practice however, it no longer really bothers me, so I am hoping that the only thing that will hold me back with German is a lack of knowledge, which I can develop over the coming weeks. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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