|
 |
99% Hindi, 1% Arabic | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Tenebrarum Groupie United States Joined 5412 days ago 84 posts - 115 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi | Message 9 of 43 25 July 2010 at 10:15am | IP Logged |
|
@liddytime: Oh ok I see. Audio would be nice, but yeah 200 is too much for me! But
I'll see what I can get out of the book. I recently requested a few books from my library. Both the Living Language course and Spoken and Written Hindi books that liddytime suggested as well as some grammar book entirely in Hindi. I won't be able to "get through" everything before the semester starts again, but I'll see what I can do. I'm really liking the Living Language book and CDs. So far I've just been reviewing more basic things, but it's nice to have new materials. There's audio with the dialogue spoken straight through, but also audio where there are pauses in the dialogue. Using the latter, I've been repeating after the speaker and I'm really enjoying this. I've also been doing some translating and I look forward to studying more with this book. I've also started talking a bit with someone from sharedtalk. This is nice as I normally don't get much of this kind of output. She's been very helpful and understanding of my poor grammar skills. I just wish her English wasn't so good - then maybe I could help too! The other day I watched the 3 hour and 45 minute Lagaan w/out subs so that alone was a good amount of listening - later I watched Dhoom, but unfortunately w/subs... Maybe it's just due to the recent thread about passive listening, but I'm now trying to do more active listening than I used to. I'm pretty lazy and inconsistent with Anki, but hopefully I'll change this (I won't). A couple days ago I wrote some Arabic words down from the computer. Often just hearing Arabic gives me a burning desire to learn or do something with it, but the urge is nothing 5 minutes of writing can't cure :) I feel a bit guilty that I didn't watch a Hindi film today (though I studied in other ways), but The Shining is on right now and I'm quite tired, so I don't think it's happening! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Tenebrarum Groupie United States Joined 5412 days ago 84 posts - 115 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi | Message 10 of 43 12 August 2010 at 7:00am | IP Logged |
|
हे भगवान... it’s been too long since my last update! A few days ago I took a small trip
to “Little India” in Queens, NY. Music, shops, saris, great food, signs in languages I can’t read… I didn't want to leave! But anyway, I planned on getting movies and some reading material and ended up buying a bunch of movies and a couple of magazines. The store I went to was pretty cool in terms of languages. There were materials for Telugu, Panjabi, Tamil, and several others. I’m looking forward to using the magazines for building vocabulary and whatnot. Oh yeah, I spoke some Hindi to a stranger! The guy, pointing to his friend, said “we prefer to speak English”, but I still said some things and fortunately they came out smoothly. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had conversations with friends, but speaking with strangers is something that makes me very nervous, so I’m happy I did this. The two books I requested from a library don’t seem to be coming in, but I’m still using my Living Language book. I’ve been doing some pseudo-shadowing. I say pseudo because I’ve been reading the text while doing it, but from now on I’ll avoid doing this. But regardless, I’ve been enjoying it so far. Otherwise, I don’t have anything too interesting to report. I deserve a good slap in the face for my lack of attention toward Anki. The longer I put it off the easier it becomes to ignore it. I took a short break from Hindi movies, but I’m getting back to them now. Daily messages with my language partner have been fun and helpful. I’ll report back in a few days and by then I will have done my Anki work :) Edited by Tenebrarum on 12 August 2010 at 7:06am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Tenebrarum Groupie United States Joined 5412 days ago 84 posts - 115 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi | Message 11 of 43 19 August 2010 at 11:41pm | IP Logged |
|
I haven't been doing much studying lately, but I've been busy since I leave for school
very soon. But of course, there's always some time to squeeze studying in that I haven't been taking advantage of. Perhaps I should have studied last night seeing as I stayed up 'till about 6:30 AM for no good reason... I did some more shadowing sometime last week and it's a method I really enjoy, although I won't be doing it much in school... I did my Anki reviews and it was a bit of a nightmare especially because I put them off and they piled up. I don't think I've found a good method for learning vocabulary and this really needs to change! I've learned a bit from Anki, reading, and native speakers, but I'm not learning enough words. I listened to a little bit of an interview I have on my ipod. Previously I was able to get the gist of things and understand parts, but it was easier due to the English words. But now it seems I'm able to understand more, picking up on details I had originally missed. So that's nice. Usually my language partner and I just send messages to each other, but the other day we did a chat for maybe 20 minutes. I didn't think this would go well because I needed to respond more quickly, but it was good! I was able to type out my responses without much hesitation or thinking. Sooo... Cantonese! This may just be the next language I study in the distant future. It's got such an incredible sound; fun and kinda witty. It was already on my "languages to learn/study" list, but still... I didn't know what these were until recently, but I love the sound the particles at the end of sentences give the language. I couldn't help but repeat after a Teach Yourself dialogue on youtube - loads of fun even though I've never studied it! Thinking of Chinese characters, I feel like my biggest problem would be telling the difference between many of them - some look so similar to my (untrained) eyes. But yeah, I'd love to start studying Cantonese, but for now I guess I'll just have to keep watching Hard Boiled/Lat sau san taam and all the other great Hong Kong films out there. I'll be going to six flags tomorrow and last time I went, there were tons of Indians and Pakistanis. But this time I have to have a conversation with one of them! So hopefully I will come back to this log with some kind of story to tell. मुझे लगता है कि यह लाग बहुत दिलचस्प नहीं है, तो मैं थोड़ी हिंदी लिखना चाहता हूँ। भी, मालूम होता है कि लोगों (मेरी तरह) लिपियाँ से प्यार करते हैं! तो शायद यह मदद करूँगा। :D Edited by Tenebrarum on 20 August 2010 at 7:38am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Tenebrarum Groupie United States Joined 5412 days ago 84 posts - 115 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi | Message 12 of 43 01 September 2010 at 9:49pm | IP Logged |
|
Well it's been a little over a week since coming back to school and I finally have
internet! So let's see if I've done anything with languages... On one of the first nights here I must've read Hindi magazines for four hours straight! Nothing intensive, but I was having fun. The fact that I'm interested in certain stories really helps simply because I want to understand. I've done some Anki here and there, but not enough. I also haven't really been studying from my Teach Yourself book... I haven't been listening to much Hindi in my own time, but I'm looking to change this. I've been quite busy and stressed because of something at home and in fact listening to some Bollywood music today has really cheered me up! My friend and I are speaking a lot of English and only random pieces of Hindi... ugh I need to stop doing this! My friend's roommate is new here and from India, but she speaks English pretty much all the time. I love speaking too, but I guess I'm worried about different things. And actually I think if having a good accent were to help me in any way it would be boosting confidence when speaking; but nonetheless accent isn't my top priority right now. So what are my impressions of the Arabic class I'm taking? Well, the teacher is gorgeous and easy to approach and all that good stuff. She kinda reminds me of Maha from youtube; probably because she too has an awesome accent. It's funny seeing my classmates' reactions to certain things as so many people treat Arabic as if it can't possibly be learned. It seems we're learning stuff with the vowels written in and the book takes them away over time. If I had any doubts, this class proves to me that I am not a classroom learner! Going up to the board to write something and having a decent amount of students in the class (though several have dropped it) isn't for me, but I knew this beforehand so no complaints! Basically I'm gonna come away from this class with knowledge of the alphabet and some vocabulary. I would love to dive right into Arabic and take everything I can from class, but I care much more about Hindi. So, as with any class I take in school, I'll try to do well without putting too much effort in (efficiency!) On a sidenote only relevant on a forum like this, my Mass Media/Culture teacher is from Armenia and is trilingual, speaking Armenian, Russian, and English! I kept thinking "wow, you speak Russian and Armenian? That's so cool!", but unfortunately cannot speak them nor would I have anything interesting to say to her regarding them. This situation happens way too often! On an even smaller note, I was talking to someone from Scotland the other day and he mentioned that, when in Germany, he'd try to practice his German, but everyone would reply in English. "That's what everyone on the forum says!" I thought... Well I think that's everything. I'll try to speak and listen more... 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Tenebrarum Groupie United States Joined 5412 days ago 84 posts - 115 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi | Message 13 of 43 21 September 2010 at 8:52am | IP Logged |
|
Night after night I've been telling myself I need to update this log, but only now am I
actually doing it! Surely something interesting has happened within these 21 days? Well... no, but I'll be sure to ramble about whatever I can for a few paragraphs. As of late I've been trying to improve (or fix...) my pronunciation. I've realized how easy it can be to develop bad habits in pronunciation. I may think I'm saying certain sounds fairly correctly, but "close enough" doesn't work here! So I decided to check out the IPA and at least focus on the sounds in Hindi. I found the IPA quite interesting and enjoyed listening to sounds which I've never even heard before. I now find myself paying closer attention to how I produce certain sounds. While I've never had anyone not understand me due to poor pronunciation, I think it's important to do this. Better late than never! The little studying I've been squeezing in has mainly come from my Teach Yourself book. Besides reading over some earlier dialogues, I've been focusing on certain grammatical features and their respective dialogues. I was doing some Anki every now and then, but in the past few days I've forgotten about it... I haven't watched a Hindi movie since coming back to college... but this will definitely change when I go home for the short break we have next week. I may do some serious Indian soap opera watching sometime, but we'll see. If you like Bollywood but feel it's just not melodramatic enough, I suggest checking out some Indian soaps... Really the only thing some seem to have going for them are cute actresses and unintentional humor. Fortunately these really add to the overall entertainment value. I've been listening to some interviews before going to bed, but this hasn't been too successful as I end up falling asleep quickly. While I'll still practice all four skills of the language, listening is definitely my top priority right now. I so badly want to reach that stage of natural listening, where-in (if I understand it correctly) I don't need to think about what I hear. Of course it will be long before I reach that, but it's still something to work to. I might try to listen to audio and write down what I hear. I've done this before with less than stellar results, but it'd probably be beneficial. Because I've listened to it so many times, I now know most of the lyrics to the song Do Ghoont Mujhe Bhi Pila De Sharabi (the remix). So if I ever go to India and find myself needing to seduce a drunkard in a bar, I'll be well-prepared. Now onto Arabic! I enjoyed one of the recent classes quite a bit and actually participated...! We were given opportunites to pronounce some vocabulary. Any time a word had a ر in it I raised my hand just so I could roll my tongue a bit! But I still hate when she has some students come up to the board to write stuff. With everyone writing and (understandably) making mistakes, it ends up looking messy and very hard to read. Not to mention my mind goes blank when I get up there! For grammar we've only really done pronouns, but I guess we'll be getting into conjugations sometime soon. I'm curious about Arabic grammar simply because of the things I hear about its complexity (even if it's regular). Also learned (and have probably forgotten) a phrase in Cantonese from a friend, but otherwise I think that covers it all. Next update won't be as far away. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Tenebrarum Groupie United States Joined 5412 days ago 84 posts - 115 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi | Message 14 of 43 05 October 2010 at 8:39am | IP Logged |
|
Well I can't say I have much good news, but I wanted to update this anyway. My
motivation level has been dangerously low and studying hasn't really been happening... I still love languages and I know I'll get back to studying Hindi, but for maybe a week or so it's been bad. Sometimes I wonder if I've "hit the wall", but then I feel like I'm not even at that level yet. I'm wondering if my India obsession is dying down just a bit (though that's not saying much!)... I think this is the result of a few factors, but it's kinda strange. Perhaps the biggest reasons are my previously pent-up frustration with not going to India, as well as my changing opinion of some of the (relatively small number of) Indians at my school. Also, while there were about a million reasons as to why I started learning Hindi, honestly girls were among the most significant motivators... and if this reason were to change in "importance", I might be in trouble! But enough about these personal problems! Shadowing is something I found myself really enjoying over the summer. So over break at home I did a little only to stop out of some serious frustration! Though I normally don't use the Teach Yourself book for shadowing anyway because of the slight pauses here and there in speech (Living Language is better in this regard). I watched one Hindi movie over the break - how impressive. Also watched some Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse stuff with a friend (who's not learning Hindi) which was entertaining. I've read and listened a little bit here and there, but nothing worth mentioning at all (even though I just did). Vocabulary is definitely what I need when it comes to my reading and listening so I'm not sure why I'm not doing anything about it. I guess I just haven't found a technique I'm truly happy with yet. Come to think of it... there's that Michel Thomas Hindi course coming out sometime next year I believe. I've never used one of his courses so this would be nice. I won't be able to afford it, but I'll see what happens. One source of motivation I've used in the past is Khatzumoto's AJATT site. There was a point last semester when I was doing quite well as far as listening to a ton of audio (in the form of music and interviews), but eventually I cut down. I think listening to audio whenever possible would be effective as long as you're studying in other ways, but I guess it's not the quickest, most obvious way to fluency (no, wait! I mean... that point at which you're really good with your target language). And in any case his site can be very motivating and I agree with his stress on having fun while learning. Arabic is going fine... I did well on the last test so I'm happy about that. I haven't been studying any of it other than whatever vocabulary is required. What I should be doing is listening. There's a part on the exams where we need to listen to the words she says and write them down with the correct vowel markings and letters. But yeah I don't spend much time with Arabic. Today we learned ج, ح, خ, and ه. We had to spend some time on the pronunciation of ح. One day we had a couple of women from Russia come into our mass media/culture class. This is another language that's pretty interesting to me and I love the alphabet. I'm curious about what the grammar entails, but the thought of irregularity and several cases definitely scares me! Though perhaps the whole mobile stress thing is harder... but anyway, I'd love to at least dabble with Russian someday when I'm ready. I'm sure the next time I open a Hindi book (which should be soon) I will enjoy working with it as I usually do. So once I get back on track my next post should be good and less repetitive. And actually I feel like writing in Hindi so maybe there will be some of that next time :) Edited by Tenebrarum on 05 October 2010 at 8:43am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| loveroflanguage Groupie United States Joined 5372 days ago 57 posts - 83 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Arabic (Egyptian) | Message 15 of 43 10 October 2010 at 4:49pm | IP Logged |
|
You are learning both languages I am trying to learn! lol! I am on Arabic first, though and doing it on my own; no classes. I think that for not knowing Hindi, you have over time, done really, really well. Although, like you say, if your main motivation was girls, well, then your passion for Hindi will probably die out. One thing you have to know about learning any language, is that if you don't have passion for it, you will not continue. If you really like the language, don't worry about these little lapses, breaks, and frustrations. Everybody learning a new language will tell you it is par for the course. I have been learning Arabic off and on for about 15 yrs and have decided to finally stop monkeying around and be serious because I really want to achieve my goal to become a polyglot and religious and personal reasons. Did I study every single day without fail? No. Did I have frustrations about the language (and sometimes the native speakers!)? Yes! Plenty! Don't let it get to you. When you decide you want to buck down and do it, then you will create a way to do it.
I do think that, however, you should really sit down and decide if you really want to learn it or was it primarily a "girl" thing. If you don't have any other motivation, your kinda on a torpedo mission. If you decide that you want to learn it because you find you like and enjoy it, then you can overcome these little problems. The best way is to establish a routine, like brushing your teeth (which you can actually add your Hindi practice to while you do it!). You know those pauses, like waiting for the bus? Getting food in the court and waiting for the professor to show up to the class? Perfect time for tiny minutes of study. You don't have to study in blocks or large chunks for your study to be successful and to learn something. Good luck with the Hindi and the Arabic, too! It really is a cool language to learn as well! There are some cool Arabic soap operas on Youtube as well. I am watching one about an Egyptian Godfather that everyone is afraid of and it is pretty cool. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Tenebrarum Groupie United States Joined 5412 days ago 84 posts - 115 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi | Message 16 of 43 11 October 2010 at 9:03am | IP Logged |
|
loveroflanguage, you're completely right! I agree about the importance of motivation
and have even noticed it in my studying. I know my last post was a bit pessimistic, but actually I know that Hindi is the perfect first language for me to be learning! There are so many reasons why I'm learning it that it'd probably be hard to find an excuse to stop! I've had points of frustration with it in the past and have overcome them simply because I have such a strong desire to learn it. Last week's no-studying slump was just a bit worse than usual. But I think things will be back to normal! And besides, I could never give up at this point. And your advice about establishing a routine and studying in your free time is great. If I make a point of studying everyday, it will become easier to do (and as I found out, the opposite is true as well!) Thank you very much for your advice and motivation! Also good to hear you're dedicated to Arabic - have fun and best of luck! I resumed my studies today by working on an article of interest. There were a few unfamiliar words so I just looked them up online as I read. I did this for however long I needed to and I'm now able to understand the (small) article in its entirety. This kind of intensive (though it can always be more intensive) reading is what I need to be doing! It would expand my vocabulary and make extensive reading a lot more valuable. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
