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Super fun happy log

  Tags: Japanese | German
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
24 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3  Next >>
Rivso
Diglot
Groupie
FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4717 days ago

41 posts - 50 votes
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Dutch, Japanese

 
 Message 1 of 24
18 December 2011 at 11:58pm | IP Logged 
I called this Super fun and happy mainly because that is how I find learning foreign
languages. I've been reading this forum for months but have hardly posted anything
because I don't have much experience with language learning, but thought it would be
nice to make a log detailing any progress I make, and maybe get some advice from more
seasoned languages nerds than myself.

So first of all some basic information : I'm 16 from London, although I live in France
and was therefore brought up with English and French. I started learning German in
school about two years ago, and although I loved it and sort of counted on the grades I
got from it to get high marks (I'm terrible at maths) I never thought of learning alone
until quite recently. I've no idea what my level in it would be, although I did pass
some B1 exam they gave me last year, so probably intermediate level.

I'm also learning Japanese, which I started this September through self study and am
most likely still at a very basic level in. Also, I will be spending a year in japan as
of next august , so Japanese will probably be my main focus until then.


So anyway methods! :   German : school (sucks I know), Assimil :       
Perfectionnement Allemand, Movie5k.to (to watch films/series), German books, lingq,
flash cards etc...

       
                        Japanese: Assimil (I like Assimil), films, some japanese    books
I found, my dictionary (I also love my dictionary)

I also try to talk with people online in these two languages, although japanese is a
slight problem as it's 8 hours ahead of us and I have school till about 6 every day.

I'd also love any advice anyone cares to give me if they have the time to.
I should probably think of some goals too, but it seems kind restricting planing up to
what I'm allowed to learn. Anyway enough typing I'll post something later.
1 person has voted this message useful



WentworthsGal
Senior Member
United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4728 days ago

191 posts - 246 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Swedish, Spanish

 
 Message 2 of 24
19 December 2011 at 12:23am | IP Logged 
Hi, great idea for the title lol :o) it is definitely fun to learn languages :o)

I was just thinking... Instead of thinking of goals as what you're only allowed to learn upto, maybe think of them as the least amount that you'd like to learn. Eg. learn the numbers 1-10 by the end of the week but instead you manage to learn numbers upto 20 instead (very basic example I know lol, but I'm sure you get my meaning). This way you can use the goals as a baseline to where you would like to at least get to by a certain time, and you can always tweak them as you go to include more in a specific goal area, or to make more goals too.

Good luck with your studies :o)
1 person has voted this message useful





Iversen
Super Polyglot
Moderator
Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6543 days ago

9078 posts - 16473 votes 
Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan
Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 3 of 24
19 December 2011 at 12:37am | IP Logged 
I'll be smiling every time I see that title. So keep it active.
1 person has voted this message useful



Rivso
Diglot
Groupie
FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4717 days ago

41 posts - 50 votes
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Dutch, Japanese

 
 Message 4 of 24
19 December 2011 at 1:48am | IP Logged 
WentworthsGal Yes I get what you mean, what I ment was I don't really like the idea of
fixing a definite goal for my studies, for example "I want C1 in German and then will
never look at German again", although I do set myself small baseline goals for what I
want to learn every week (I even write it on paper and pin it on my wall, being kind of excessive).

Otherwise glad you both like the title x)


I'm on holiday at the moment and living in a town that doesn't even have a bakery I
have plenty of time, so anyway this is what I got to do today :   

German : I went through my dally Assimil lesson (1 lesson a day keeps the doctor
away...), and spent about half an hour reviewing flash cards while siting in a car
driving around the french countryside (I usually have to do interpreting for my dad as
his french isn't great). I also spent about an hour reading "Als der Krieg ausbrach" by
Heinrich Böll and watched a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother, (I'm at season 3 at
the moment if anyone knows the series).


Japanese : Like for German an Assimil lesson (I'm halfway through the second book) and
watched a film by Hayao Miyazaki, as Film4 has been airing one a day for the last week.
Also spend about an hour on studying kanji, which I actually find very enjoyable (I was
expecting my brain to fry after the first few due to all the people I hear saying how
crazy they are to learn).

1 person has voted this message useful



Brun Ugle
Diglot
Senior Member
Norway
brunugle.wordpress.c
Joined 6460 days ago

1292 posts - 1766 votes 
Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1
Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish

 
 Message 5 of 24
19 December 2011 at 8:19am | IP Logged 
Welcome! I like your title too.

I also study Japanese. And I love kanji. I think they make Japanese so much easier. Imagine trying to read only hiragana! That's why books for children are often so difficult for foreigners -- no kanji. With kanji, at least you can figure out what a sentence means even if you don't know how to say it. I also like the way authors sometimes choose a slightly unusual kanji for a word to give it a different nuance.

Anyway, have fun, and keep posting.

Almost forgot: Here is a link where you can find some scripts for Miyazaki films. I have a lot of them on DVD, but don't have Japanese subtitles, so I use the scripts to figure out the parts I'm not able to catch.

Edited by Brun Ugle on 19 December 2011 at 9:32am

1 person has voted this message useful



Rivso
Diglot
Groupie
FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4717 days ago

41 posts - 50 votes
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Dutch, Japanese

 
 Message 6 of 24
20 December 2011 at 12:13am | IP Logged 

Brun Ugle thanks a lot for that, although I don't have any of his films myself (yet).

Anyways today I didn't have much time for German as I was out most of the day, so I
just did an Assimil lesson and spent a little time reading articles about Kim Jong Il
dying that I imported into lingq, and then put any words I didn't know on to flash
cards. Although being practically an insomniac I'll most likely spend an hour or two
watching German How I Met Your Mother again.

As for japanese I spend about an hour memorizing some kanji and then any vocabulary
associated to them (I find this to be a very simple way of acquiring extra vocabulary
while reinforcing my knowledge of the characters I just learned). Otherwise did an
assimil lesson and spent some time working out translations of lyrics from japanese
songs I like.

Otherwise does anyone have any particular advice to using the assimil courses? Just
curious about how people go about it.


1 person has voted this message useful



Rivso
Diglot
Groupie
FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4717 days ago

41 posts - 50 votes
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Dutch, Japanese

 
 Message 7 of 24
21 December 2011 at 5:44pm | IP Logged 
Didn't have much time for languages yesterday as I was out buying christmas presents.
Today I got in a couple of hours of reading als der krieg ausbrach by Heirich Böll (as
I've already mentioned; it's a good book). Also did a German Assimil lesson, as well as 2
japanese ones. I also got in an hour of learning Kanji and puting vocabulary I learnt in
the two previous days (both German and japanese) onto flash cards. Now I'm going to see
if I can find any christmas films in German on the internet, living too far away from
germany to get them on tv itself.
1 person has voted this message useful



Rivso
Diglot
Groupie
FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4717 days ago

41 posts - 50 votes
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Dutch, Japanese

 
 Message 8 of 24
24 December 2011 at 1:04am | IP Logged 
I spent about 4 hours watching German series on the internet again today. Also did
another two japanese assimil lessons (I love the time I get from holidays) as well as a
german one. Also got about two hours of reviewing flash cards as I had to go by car to
some town that is veeery far away from where I live.


1 person has voted this message useful



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