Iawia’s TAC 2013 Asian 鶴 (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

Iawia’s TAC 2013 Asian 鶴
Tags: Thai \| Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) \| Japanese \| Spanish
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Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log

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iawia Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Taiwan Joined 4587 days ago 35 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English^C2, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Spanish Studies: Thai, Japanese	Message 17 of 26 27 January 2013 at 4:22pm \| IP Logged
	2013 1/14-1/20 last week of exams Spanish 1.Listening to podcasts 6 hr 40 min 2.Watching telenovelas 4 hr Japanese 1.Assimil With Ease 1 unit Thai 1.標準泰國語12 units(6hr) 2.Language exchange 1hr Cantonese 200 minutes of 香港老花鏡(podcast) 2013 1/21-1/27 The first week of my vacations has passed, and with the exception of a 2-day trip with some classmates, I spent most of the time on my language studies. Spanish18 hours & 15minutes 1.Podcasts 4hr 50min 2.Telenovelas 9hr 20min 3.Movie 95min 4.Talking with hispanohablantes Time? 5.Spanish class 2hr 30min Japanese13 hours & 50 minutes 1.Podcasts 40min 2.Pimsleur II 1-9 4.5hr 3.Assimil 5 units 1hr 40min 4.Japanese class 6hr 5.Language exchange 1hr Thai 11 hours & 10 minutes 1.標準泰國語 9 units 4.5 hr 2.Thai for Beginners 3 units 3 hr 3.Movie 2hr 10min 4.Language exchange 1.5 hr 5.Some reading Cantonese4 hours 1.Podcasts 4 hr 1 person has voted this message useful
druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4866 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, English^C2, Korean Studies: Persian	Message 18 of 26 27 January 2013 at 4:26pm \| IP Logged
	Wow, is hat a list of the time you spent on your languages in one week or since the beginning of 2012? Those are a lot of hours! Which language(s) are you going to do your introduction in for the January challenge? 1 person has voted this message useful
iawia Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Taiwan Joined 4587 days ago 35 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English^C2, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Spanish Studies: Thai, Japanese	Message 19 of 26 27 January 2013 at 4:55pm \| IP Logged
	Spanish Taiwan is really not a suitable environment for learners of European languages. While there are quite many resources, learners and speakers of Japanese and Korean, I had to get most of my Spanish input through the Internet. However, there are still native speakers of your target language if you know where to go. For example, the Shi-Da Mandarin Training Center. I first went there to do a language exchange in Thai, but I was also astounded by the numbers of foreign students learning Chinese there. Last week, I went to Shi-Da 3 times, and every time I was rewarded by the opportunities to talk with native speakers of Spanish and Thai.(My Japanese is not really at a conversational fluent level, and most Cantonese speakers do not learn Mandarin as a foreign language.) Thai Two weeks ago, I met my Thai language exchange partner, a student studying Mandarin in Shi-Da. He spoke fairly fluent Mandarin, but he still wishes to learn Mandarin to a intelligent-sounding level. I guess that's about C1 or C2. Anyways, I discovered that although I could conduct conversations in some basic topics, I soon ran out of words. I think that this is currently my obstacle in learning Thai, finding a good way to expand my vocabulary. Here are some methods that I tried: 1.Textbooks: These are useful if you choose one that fits your level, and they have accompanying mp3s and transcripts. However, the textbooks I'm now using, 標準泰國語&Thai for Beginners are both too easy, but I still hope to complete them before using other resources. 2.Thai TV shows: I simply do not have enough time to watch Spanish & Thai TV programs everyday. Priority now is Spanish before Thai. Also, I do not like Thai lakorns, just not my taste. 3.Thairecordings.com: This website is indeed incredible. But for now, I discover that in order to listen, read and study just one article, I spend more than 1 hour! So I guess that this website will be more useful for me after I reach a higher level. 4.Reading children books: There are quite a few Thai-language books in the libraries, mostly targeting Thai migrant brides in Taiwanese society. Most are these are novels, books on leisure and so on, but there are some children books. I borrowed 4 books last week and I intend to read at least 1 before the end of the winter vacation. BTW, the librarian said that this was the first time she saw anyone borrowing Thai books. Japanese Right now I have enough classes for me to concentrate on. However, these classes mostly deal with grammar (we have just reached the part of the various forms of the 3 classes of Japanese verbs), so I decided to find a Japanese language exchange, and fortunately I found this guy in no time. We got together 2 times already, but I have to admit that my conversational Japanese abilities are indeed in a bad shape.(but what can you expect just 4 months studying Japanese) Time and perseverance. That's all I need right now. Cantonese I'm just maintaining Cantonese, but I would greatly love to improve my skills, especially Cantonese slang or 潮語. My passive abilities are good enough to understand more than 90% of TV and radio, but I still make some mistakes while speaking. And I can not understand 潮語 well enough, in fact not even well enough to understand most of what's said in HK forums. 1 person has voted this message useful
iawia Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Taiwan Joined 4587 days ago 35 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English^C2, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Spanish Studies: Thai, Japanese	Message 20 of 26 27 January 2013 at 5:03pm \| IP Logged
	druckfehler: That was the time I spent in one week. Very intensive indeed, but I have some ambitious goals, and I wish to bring my language abilities to a more advanced level that is easy to retain. I have already posted my self introductions on the team thread, at last! Edited by iawia on 28 January 2013 at 7:11am 1 person has voted this message useful
iawia Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Taiwan Joined 4587 days ago 35 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English^C2, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Spanish Studies: Thai, Japanese	Message 21 of 26 29 January 2013 at 7:20am \| IP Logged
	I'm going to redefine my goals for this winter vacation after the progress I've made last week. From 1/21 to 2/17, a total of 28 days. Spanish 1. Finish watching 4th temporada de Águila Roja(52 episodios) -currently:34 2. Finish the novel Vida de Pi(400 pages) & another novel -currently: p.154 3. Finish Podcast Notes in Spanish Intermediate(46 podcasts) & some of the Advanced ones(96 podcasts in total) -currently: Intermediate 23 Japanese 1. Finish Assimil passive phase(Lesson 45) -currently: Lesson 28 2. Finish Pimsleur II (30 units) -currently: Unit 12 3. Attend 4 more classes(6 hours) 4. At least 4 more hours of language exchange 5. Review the study materials I used, and create a complete ANKI deck Thai 1. Finish 標準泰國語(88 units) -currently: unit 68 2. Finish Thai for Beginners (10 units) -currently: unit 8 3. At least 3 more hours of language exchange 4. Thorough review, ANKI deck 5. Finish one children's book Cantonese 1. 30 podcasts of 香港老花鏡 twice(20 hours) -currently: 12 hours 1 person has voted this message useful
iawia Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Taiwan Joined 4587 days ago 35 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English^C2, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Spanish Studies: Thai, Japanese	Message 22 of 26 12 February 2013 at 12:27pm \| IP Logged
	2-week update 1/28-2/10 Spanish 1. 13 episodes of the telenovela Aguila Roja (17 hr 20 min) 2. 5 hr 50 min of podcasts 3. Reading up to page 234 of Vida de Pi Japanese 1. 13 units of Assimil (up to 46) (4 hr 20 min) 2. Pimsleur units 10-25 (8 hr) 3. 2 hours of language exchange Assimil: I would say that perhaps Assimil works wonders for learners of European languages, but the passive stage for Japanese Assimil with Ease is a mess. It did not explain the grammar clearly, and the difficulty of grammar increases significantly after Lesson 21 or so. Pimsleur: still too easy, but useful still Language exchange: I practiced using い、な adjectives and expressing wishes with the たい form, besides chatting. Still a long way to go. Thai 1. Thai for Beginners Units 8-10 (4 hours) 2. 標準泰國語 16 units (8 hours) 3. Language exchange 1.5 hours I borrowed some Thai books from the library (2 travel guidebooks, 2 comic books, Harry Potter) and we chatted about Thai food and tourist destinations in Thailand. Still far from basic fluency. Cantonese 1. 28 podcasts of 香港老花鏡 (9 hours & 20 minutes) I still haven't worked on understanding more colloquial Cantonese and slang, 潮語. Anyway, these two weeks were quite successful, with many hours of language study. And somehow I still managed to take a 2 day trip to Nantou. (The hours on the bus were of course hours spent listening to language-related things!) BTW, happy Chinese New Year! 新年快樂恭喜發財! 1 person has voted this message useful
iawia Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Taiwan Joined 4587 days ago 35 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English^C2, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Spanish Studies: Thai, Japanese	Message 23 of 26 05 March 2013 at 8:54am \| IP Logged
	February Spanish 1. Finished watching the 51 episodes of Aguila Roja after about 1.5 months. After the first 13 episodes, I couldn't find any subtitled version, so I watched the rest without subtitles. My listening comprehension has greatly improved. 2. Finished my first novel in Spanish, la Vida de Pi. I used the dicitonary when I felt like looking up the vocabulary. 3. Completed about 1/5 of my grammar book for the DELE B2 exam. 4. Some podcasts, various articles... 5. I've picked up a book on Lationamerica, and I plan to finish it in March. Japanese 1.Finished Assimil passive phase, Pimsleur II & III. 2.I had 7 tandem language exchanges(7 hours in total), and I consider myself to have some basic speaking abilities. 3.I have to owe most of my progress to the classes I'm taking. After 5 months and about 60 hours of lesson time, and tons of effort after class, I have some foundation in Japanese grammar. A few days ago I did a N5 mock test, and it was quite easy for me. 4.I still am short on vocabulary, and although knowing the kanji helps the process, I really need to put more effort in this. Thai 1.I've completed my Thai textbook in Chinese"Standard Thai標準泰國語" and the accompanying 88 audio lessons. Took me about three months to complete this. I can say that I went completely from transliteration to using the Thai script actively after this. 2.Also complete Thai for Beginners early in the winter vacation. I will continue to use the sequel in the series, Thai for Intermediate Learners some time later. 3.I've begun watching a Thai lakorn, and so far did not dislike it. I learned something about Thai history during the 19th century, and the different colloquial usage of the time. 4.I've started using Thai Reader Project, a reading course developed by Wisconsin University, but it proved to be a daunting task. Currently on Lesson 14. Cantonese Listened to 50 episodes of 香港老花鏡 twice, a podcast about the history of Hong Kong. Understood about 95% or more, I think. 1 person has voted this message useful
Bakunin Diglot Senior Member Switzerland outerkhmer.blogspot. Joined 5128 days ago 531 posts - 1126 votes Speaks: German*, Thai Studies: Khmer	Message 24 of 26 05 March 2013 at 6:23pm \| IP Logged
	Good to see you're making progress with Thai :) 1 person has voted this message useful

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iawia Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Taiwan Joined 4587 days ago 35 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English^C2, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Spanish Studies: Thai, Japanese	Message 17 of 26 27 January 2013 at 4:22pm \| IP Logged
	2013 1/14-1/20 last week of exams Spanish 1.Listening to podcasts 6 hr 40 min 2.Watching telenovelas 4 hr Japanese 1.Assimil With Ease 1 unit Thai 1.標準泰國語12 units(6hr) 2.Language exchange 1hr Cantonese 200 minutes of 香港老花鏡(podcast) 2013 1/21-1/27 The first week of my vacations has passed, and with the exception of a 2-day trip with some classmates, I spent most of the time on my language studies. Spanish18 hours & 15minutes 1.Podcasts 4hr 50min 2.Telenovelas 9hr 20min 3.Movie 95min 4.Talking with hispanohablantes Time? 5.Spanish class 2hr 30min Japanese13 hours & 50 minutes 1.Podcasts 40min 2.Pimsleur II 1-9 4.5hr 3.Assimil 5 units 1hr 40min 4.Japanese class 6hr 5.Language exchange 1hr Thai 11 hours & 10 minutes 1.標準泰國語 9 units 4.5 hr 2.Thai for Beginners 3 units 3 hr 3.Movie 2hr 10min 4.Language exchange 1.5 hr 5.Some reading Cantonese4 hours 1.Podcasts 4 hr 1 person has voted this message useful
druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4866 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, English^C2, Korean Studies: Persian	Message 18 of 26 27 January 2013 at 4:26pm \| IP Logged
	Wow, is hat a list of the time you spent on your languages in one week or since the beginning of 2012? Those are a lot of hours! Which language(s) are you going to do your introduction in for the January challenge? 1 person has voted this message useful
iawia Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Taiwan Joined 4587 days ago 35 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English^C2, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Spanish Studies: Thai, Japanese	Message 19 of 26 27 January 2013 at 4:55pm \| IP Logged
	Spanish Taiwan is really not a suitable environment for learners of European languages. While there are quite many resources, learners and speakers of Japanese and Korean, I had to get most of my Spanish input through the Internet. However, there are still native speakers of your target language if you know where to go. For example, the Shi-Da Mandarin Training Center. I first went there to do a language exchange in Thai, but I was also astounded by the numbers of foreign students learning Chinese there. Last week, I went to Shi-Da 3 times, and every time I was rewarded by the opportunities to talk with native speakers of Spanish and Thai.(My Japanese is not really at a conversational fluent level, and most Cantonese speakers do not learn Mandarin as a foreign language.) Thai Two weeks ago, I met my Thai language exchange partner, a student studying Mandarin in Shi-Da. He spoke fairly fluent Mandarin, but he still wishes to learn Mandarin to a intelligent-sounding level. I guess that's about C1 or C2. Anyways, I discovered that although I could conduct conversations in some basic topics, I soon ran out of words. I think that this is currently my obstacle in learning Thai, finding a good way to expand my vocabulary. Here are some methods that I tried: 1.Textbooks: These are useful if you choose one that fits your level, and they have accompanying mp3s and transcripts. However, the textbooks I'm now using, 標準泰國語&Thai for Beginners are both too easy, but I still hope to complete them before using other resources. 2.Thai TV shows: I simply do not have enough time to watch Spanish & Thai TV programs everyday. Priority now is Spanish before Thai. Also, I do not like Thai lakorns, just not my taste. 3.Thairecordings.com: This website is indeed incredible. But for now, I discover that in order to listen, read and study just one article, I spend more than 1 hour! So I guess that this website will be more useful for me after I reach a higher level. 4.Reading children books: There are quite a few Thai-language books in the libraries, mostly targeting Thai migrant brides in Taiwanese society. Most are these are novels, books on leisure and so on, but there are some children books. I borrowed 4 books last week and I intend to read at least 1 before the end of the winter vacation. BTW, the librarian said that this was the first time she saw anyone borrowing Thai books. Japanese Right now I have enough classes for me to concentrate on. However, these classes mostly deal with grammar (we have just reached the part of the various forms of the 3 classes of Japanese verbs), so I decided to find a Japanese language exchange, and fortunately I found this guy in no time. We got together 2 times already, but I have to admit that my conversational Japanese abilities are indeed in a bad shape.(but what can you expect just 4 months studying Japanese) Time and perseverance. That's all I need right now. Cantonese I'm just maintaining Cantonese, but I would greatly love to improve my skills, especially Cantonese slang or 潮語. My passive abilities are good enough to understand more than 90% of TV and radio, but I still make some mistakes while speaking. And I can not understand 潮語 well enough, in fact not even well enough to understand most of what's said in HK forums. 1 person has voted this message useful
iawia Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Taiwan Joined 4587 days ago 35 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English^C2, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Spanish Studies: Thai, Japanese	Message 20 of 26 27 January 2013 at 5:03pm \| IP Logged
	druckfehler: That was the time I spent in one week. Very intensive indeed, but I have some ambitious goals, and I wish to bring my language abilities to a more advanced level that is easy to retain. I have already posted my self introductions on the team thread, at last! Edited by iawia on 28 January 2013 at 7:11am 1 person has voted this message useful
iawia Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Taiwan Joined 4587 days ago 35 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English^C2, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Spanish Studies: Thai, Japanese	Message 21 of 26 29 January 2013 at 7:20am \| IP Logged
	I'm going to redefine my goals for this winter vacation after the progress I've made last week. From 1/21 to 2/17, a total of 28 days. Spanish 1. Finish watching 4th temporada de Águila Roja(52 episodios) -currently:34 2. Finish the novel Vida de Pi(400 pages) & another novel -currently: p.154 3. Finish Podcast Notes in Spanish Intermediate(46 podcasts) & some of the Advanced ones(96 podcasts in total) -currently: Intermediate 23 Japanese 1. Finish Assimil passive phase(Lesson 45) -currently: Lesson 28 2. Finish Pimsleur II (30 units) -currently: Unit 12 3. Attend 4 more classes(6 hours) 4. At least 4 more hours of language exchange 5. Review the study materials I used, and create a complete ANKI deck Thai 1. Finish 標準泰國語(88 units) -currently: unit 68 2. Finish Thai for Beginners (10 units) -currently: unit 8 3. At least 3 more hours of language exchange 4. Thorough review, ANKI deck 5. Finish one children's book Cantonese 1. 30 podcasts of 香港老花鏡 twice(20 hours) -currently: 12 hours 1 person has voted this message useful
iawia Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Taiwan Joined 4587 days ago 35 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English^C2, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Spanish Studies: Thai, Japanese	Message 22 of 26 12 February 2013 at 12:27pm \| IP Logged
	2-week update 1/28-2/10 Spanish 1. 13 episodes of the telenovela Aguila Roja (17 hr 20 min) 2. 5 hr 50 min of podcasts 3. Reading up to page 234 of Vida de Pi Japanese 1. 13 units of Assimil (up to 46) (4 hr 20 min) 2. Pimsleur units 10-25 (8 hr) 3. 2 hours of language exchange Assimil: I would say that perhaps Assimil works wonders for learners of European languages, but the passive stage for Japanese Assimil with Ease is a mess. It did not explain the grammar clearly, and the difficulty of grammar increases significantly after Lesson 21 or so. Pimsleur: still too easy, but useful still Language exchange: I practiced using い、な adjectives and expressing wishes with the たい form, besides chatting. Still a long way to go. Thai 1. Thai for Beginners Units 8-10 (4 hours) 2. 標準泰國語 16 units (8 hours) 3. Language exchange 1.5 hours I borrowed some Thai books from the library (2 travel guidebooks, 2 comic books, Harry Potter) and we chatted about Thai food and tourist destinations in Thailand. Still far from basic fluency. Cantonese 1. 28 podcasts of 香港老花鏡 (9 hours & 20 minutes) I still haven't worked on understanding more colloquial Cantonese and slang, 潮語. Anyway, these two weeks were quite successful, with many hours of language study. And somehow I still managed to take a 2 day trip to Nantou. (The hours on the bus were of course hours spent listening to language-related things!) BTW, happy Chinese New Year! 新年快樂恭喜發財! 1 person has voted this message useful
iawia Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Taiwan Joined 4587 days ago 35 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English^C2, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Spanish Studies: Thai, Japanese	Message 23 of 26 05 March 2013 at 8:54am \| IP Logged
	February Spanish 1. Finished watching the 51 episodes of Aguila Roja after about 1.5 months. After the first 13 episodes, I couldn't find any subtitled version, so I watched the rest without subtitles. My listening comprehension has greatly improved. 2. Finished my first novel in Spanish, la Vida de Pi. I used the dicitonary when I felt like looking up the vocabulary. 3. Completed about 1/5 of my grammar book for the DELE B2 exam. 4. Some podcasts, various articles... 5. I've picked up a book on Lationamerica, and I plan to finish it in March. Japanese 1.Finished Assimil passive phase, Pimsleur II & III. 2.I had 7 tandem language exchanges(7 hours in total), and I consider myself to have some basic speaking abilities. 3.I have to owe most of my progress to the classes I'm taking. After 5 months and about 60 hours of lesson time, and tons of effort after class, I have some foundation in Japanese grammar. A few days ago I did a N5 mock test, and it was quite easy for me. 4.I still am short on vocabulary, and although knowing the kanji helps the process, I really need to put more effort in this. Thai 1.I've completed my Thai textbook in Chinese"Standard Thai標準泰國語" and the accompanying 88 audio lessons. Took me about three months to complete this. I can say that I went completely from transliteration to using the Thai script actively after this. 2.Also complete Thai for Beginners early in the winter vacation. I will continue to use the sequel in the series, Thai for Intermediate Learners some time later. 3.I've begun watching a Thai lakorn, and so far did not dislike it. I learned something about Thai history during the 19th century, and the different colloquial usage of the time. 4.I've started using Thai Reader Project, a reading course developed by Wisconsin University, but it proved to be a daunting task. Currently on Lesson 14. Cantonese Listened to 50 episodes of 香港老花鏡 twice, a podcast about the history of Hong Kong. Understood about 95% or more, I think. 1 person has voted this message useful
Bakunin Diglot Senior Member Switzerland outerkhmer.blogspot. Joined 5128 days ago 531 posts - 1126 votes Speaks: German*, Thai Studies: Khmer	Message 24 of 26 05 March 2013 at 6:23pm \| IP Logged
	Good to see you're making progress with Thai :) 1 person has voted this message useful