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Élan’s Team Alef Farsi/Arabic/Somali Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Élan Senior Member United States Joined 5443 days ago 165 posts - 211 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Persian | Message 1 of 17 18 December 2012 at 11:53pm | IP Logged |
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Hello everyone! Welcome to my TAC2013 log! This year, I'm studying Persian, Arabic, and Somali. Wish me
luck--I'll need it! I'm lucky to have great resources in the form of friends, clients, and colleagues for each of my target languages. I practice immigration law at a refugee resettlement agency and get to meet new people each day. I also have colleagues who speak Somali and Arabic. In this log, you'll find a lot of cultural tidbits mixed in with the language-related posts. I particularly enjoy pop music from my target languages. Iranian cinema is another passion of mine, so expect some movie reviews and recommendations. Languages  Farsi/Persian
It's been a year since I actively studied Persian. I still speak it at home with my husband, but I have not made any effort to expand my vocabulary. On top of that, I've gotten lazy and I often make mistakes because I know my husband knows what I'm trying to say. I've told him to crack down on my lazy Persian, so now I'm constantly being corrected! This TAC will be about correcting my mistakes and expanding my vocabularly so I can talk to strangers.  Arabic
I've taken one beginner-level Arabic course, designed for adults who want to have a fun two-hour long class after work once per week. The class was very relaxed, but it actually ended up being a great introduction to a language that I've always found both interesting and intimidating. I'm hoping to continue the class in January and add in more self study. I'm most interested in Iraqi and Sudanese Arabic, but my teacher is Lebanese.  Somali
Somali is totally new to me. I hear it daily, but have never attempted to study it because there are so few resources. I don't picture myself ever reaching an advanced level in Somali--I would just like to learn enough to have a basic conversation and help clients with immigration. I will focus on family relationship terms and dates in Somali since they are very important in immigration. Links Team Team Alef Persian logs: druckfehler ellasevia Arabic logs: JohannaNYC deadscreen Luso strinkingstar Takato Hebrew logs: zecchino1991 TheGreaterFool Fun Weekly Tasks Small Challenges Any troubleshooting help is appreciated! I am currently unable to post direct links to many of my resources and all of my fellow team members' logs. **Will add more information about my goals & background to this post later. Edited by Élan on 17 January 2013 at 8:53pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Élan Senior Member United States Joined 5443 days ago 165 posts - 211 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Persian | Message 2 of 17 18 December 2012 at 11:53pm | IP Logged |
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Resource Lists
I will link the resources to my reviews as I write them. If you'd like my thoughts on a particular resource, please don't hesitate to ask. Items with a star* after the name are the resources I cannot live without. Persian
Courses/For Purchase Colloquial Persian Living Language Spoken World Farsi Persian Grammar by John Mace* Pimsleur Farsi Pimsleur Dari Rosetta Stone Farsi Teach Yourself Modern Persian Other Chai and Conversation Podcast (here) DLI GLOSS Dari (here) EasyPersian.com* (here) LiveMocha Farsi (here) Persian verb conjugator (here) Watch Iran TV Online (US & Iran-based channels) Arabic
Courses/For Purchase Pimsleur Eastern Arabic Pimsleur Egyptian Arabic Rosetta Stone Arabic Other Arabic Accents Library (here) Arabic Grammar Resources (here) Arabic Phone Conversations (here) DLI GLOSS Arabic, Iraqi (here) Somali
Courses/For Purchase Colloquial Somali* Dunwoody Press books (Search "Somali" here) Other DLI GLOSS Somali (here) La Soco Af Soomaaliga (here Somali Proverbs (here) St. Cloud Somali (here) Edited by Élan on 17 January 2013 at 8:56pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4867 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 3 of 17 19 December 2012 at 12:50am | IP Logged |
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I'm so excited to be on the Middle-Eastern team with you!
I'm looking forward to your movie and music recommendations. For now finding Persian music I like has depended on random luck. I've found far too much music with a mean techno beat, that I'm not very fond of. The singers I really like so far are Mehrnoosh and Hamed Fooladghalam & Ra'z. As for cinema, I had the luck to watch some really great short films at a festival, but apart form that I hardly know any Iranian movies. I think it would also be very interesting to hear a bit about your job, if you'd like to share that. I'm on an organisation that is campaigning for resettlement in Germany. So far there have only been an insignificant number of exceptions (looking at the bigger picture, welcome 900 resettlement refugees over the next 3 years is almost nothing). We're also doing a project that brings volunteers and asylum seekers together for cultural exchange and support with language learning, etc. It's such a rewarding activity. I wish you lots of luck and am looking forward to your journey with those three languages - Somali seems very interesting as well! Edited by druckfehler on 19 December 2012 at 12:50am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Élan Senior Member United States Joined 5443 days ago 165 posts - 211 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Persian | Message 4 of 17 20 December 2012 at 7:16pm | IP Logged |
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Thank you for visiting my log! I think I will need all the luck you've wished me, especially for Somali! I have just
started to flesh out my resource list and realized I only have one Somali resource. But some good news: There's a 6-week "Somali Language & Culture" class being offered near me in Feb-Mar. I think I will give it a go. It sounds like your org is great! I work for a resettlement agency in my home state (1 of 5). We resettle about 370 refugees per year at my agency. I focus on immigration: permanent residency, citizenship, and family sponsorship. Of course, we all share in the resettlement responsibilities. Where are most of the refugees being resettled in Germany originally from? A lot of Persian music is cheesy. Iranians are wayyy behind Arabs when it comes to pop music! I will do my best to help you find some good songs. Do you prefer fast/upbeat songs or slow songs? Or are you open to both? I prefer happy songs but of course Persians make a lot of really sad slow songs. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4368 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 5 of 17 20 December 2012 at 11:40pm | IP Logged |
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I'm not on the middle eastern team, but I will be following your log, especially Somali. So I hope I can at least provide some encouragement!
Actually, it's nice to meet another person involved in immigration. I really just started branching out into it (but with artist visas, so nothing nearly as complex as what you do!). I wish you much luck in the coming year! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Élan Senior Member United States Joined 5443 days ago 165 posts - 211 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Persian | Message 6 of 17 20 December 2012 at 11:43pm | IP Logged |
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Farsi/Persian
امشب شب یلدا Tonight is Yalda night. You can read about Yalda here. 
Iranians celebrate the winter solstice, known as "Yalda night", by eating pomegranate seeds, watermelon, and nuts while reading Hafez. I celebrate by making a Yalda playlist. Élan's Yalda 2012 Playlist: Ahmed Jafarian - Shabe Yalda Duet Band - Shabe Yalda Afshin Siahpoosh - Akharin Yalda Masoud Emami - Yaldaye In Khoonde Nooshin Tafi - Shabe Yalda (video) Reza Sadeghi - Shabe Yalda Kourosh Yaghmaei - Shabe Yalda (classic) @Fuenf_Katzen - Thank you for stopping by my log! I will take all the encouragement I can get. Are you sure you don't want to join me with Somali? ;) Edited by Élan on 17 January 2013 at 8:57pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4867 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 7 of 17 21 December 2012 at 1:56pm | IP Logged |
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Thank you for sharing about Yalda! Sounds like a very nice holiday. The music is great! Generally I like both upbeat/happy and slow/sad songs - as long as it isn't techno-style like this, for example :) Although I suppose it would be okay for dancing...
The first resettlement refugees in Germany were all from Iraq, this time about half are from Iraq and half are from Choucha camp (so I suppose they are originally from several African countries). Where are most of your clients from? As for refugees in general, in my city most are from Afghanistan, Iran, Armenia and Somalia (therefore I'm very interested in your Somali journey). There are also some from Syria, Iraq and Azerbaijan. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6141 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 8 of 17 21 December 2012 at 3:14pm | IP Logged |
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Hey Élan! I'm so glad to be a team with you and studying Persian again! I'm really looking forward to seeing your recommendations for Iranian music and culture over the course of the year. Best of luck, you've got some challenging languages on your plate!
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