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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| The Blaz Senior Member Canada theblazblog.blogspotRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5603 days ago 120 posts - 176 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Swahili, French, Sign Language, Esperanto | Message 1 of 5 28 January 2010 at 8:51am | IP Logged |
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Hola Tod@s,
So I'm not setting any 'annihilation' challenges for myself... I'd rather see sustained upkeep and steady improvement in my current languages in 2010. I have mid-level French and Spanish conversational ability and low-level Swahili conversational skills. But I've come to realize two things - (a) they get rusty, and (b) my pronunciation is pretty bad. My Swahili accent is actually probably the best of the three, since I learnt it in-country, and it's mostly a matter of 'singing' the language :) Anyway, I want to start filling in the gaps of my skills so that I sound good and so I can actually follow native materials, which is still a big weak point. To do this I have: French Phonology FSI Course L/R and shadowing for French and Spanish Spanish speaking friends Skype SRS Various books Every now and then I start trying to learn German but it's really just a diversion since I have no reason to learn it, just an interest and a huge will to procrastinate. So I should definitely channel that urge into my current target languages which I can actually use! For my first entry, today I did: Lesson Two Part One of French Phonology Word list from first few pages of FR Harry Potter for SRS, plus some time listening to the audio Also, I am interested in how effective the phonology program will be for me. I've always been put off by the appearance and format of FSI courses but having done most of two units, I'm finding this one enjoyable. Perhaps I should record myself reading a passage of something before and after the course to see the difference. À bientôt! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| The Blaz Senior Member Canada theblazblog.blogspotRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5603 days ago 120 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Swahili, French, Sign Language, Esperanto | Message 2 of 5 15 February 2010 at 1:41am | IP Logged |
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I've been pretty scattered the last month, which helps explain why I've added two new
languages to my 'learning' profile! I decided to begin learning Esperanto after reading some of the defenses of the language ably made on this forum, then exploring some of the international Esperanto associations with a web presence. I've started a few courses, it's good fun learning the language, but it's really just a (albeit productive) form of procrastination from more important goals of improving my other languages and doing things 'in the real world'. I've also added ASL to my learning list because it's been an ongoing desire which every now and then I return to. I have a deaf cousin I'd really like to be able to interact more with, so really I should be putting time into it regularly. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| The Blaz Senior Member Canada theblazblog.blogspotRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5603 days ago 120 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Swahili, French, Sign Language, Esperanto | Message 3 of 5 11 March 2010 at 6:10am | IP Logged |
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French
I've sustained the most interest in French over the last month. I tested out Iversen's word lists and found them quite effective for me. I did this by choose a short piece of modern French literature, picking out all the words I did not know (118 in 4 pages) but without trying to understand their context or the content of the story. Over three days I learnt them using word lists, then sat down and read the story. It was a very enjoyable experience to read a piece of literature with very lush vocabulary without having to stop or skip over words! I may continue using this method but I think I will turn to some other sources for the word lists. I am developing an interest in French argot, Quebecois Joual, and informal speech, so I am pursuing some sources on these topics. I've increased my reading over the last month but I haven't increased my listening. My goal is to be able to listen semi-fluently to a variety of media, so I know I just need to expose myself to a lot more spoken material. Of course I also need to increase my French conversational and writing ability... I would say those are grossly underdeveloped compared to my reading ability. Swahili I am hoping to take an internship in Uganda this summer, and thus while I will be able to get by in English, I should have lots of opportunities to speak Swahili. I've also run into a number of Swahili speakers in Toronto lately, which serves as a reminder to keep it up. I have a digital copy of Intermediate Swahili Newspaper Reader, which begins with a list of 750 Swahili words it assumes knowledge of. I went through and checked off every word which I unequivocally knew. There were many which I knew to a somewhat lesser degree but I left them unchecked so i would relearn them. In total I checked off 182 known words. I've known for a while that my vocabulary is small but my grasp of that vocabulary is strong so I'm able to use what I know in many situations and conversations. Anyway, my goal is to use word lists to learn the rest of the 750 words, then move onto the newspaper articles, which include audio recordings. Esperanto I'm not really sure why, but I guess thanks to the enthusiasm of some forum members I decided I wanted to learn some Esperanto. I enrolled in a 10 unit online corrected-by- email course and completed the first 5 units over the course of a couple weeks. I like the language and I can see learning it over time, but it's just not a priority considering the other demands on my time. Spanish I haven't been working on Spanish at all, but I encounter Spanish speakers the most often in my life, so my conversational ability gets a work-out now and then. Sign Language Also haven't worked on ASL at all. I came up with the idea of how to study vocab using the word list method (discussed on a thread elsewhere, I'll link to it once I've tried out the method more), and I think it will work well, but I haven't taken the time to prepare the necessary materials. I think from here on in I'll try writing my logs in these languages respectively, to try and get some more writing experience... Edited by The Blaz on 11 March 2010 at 6:59am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| The Blaz Senior Member Canada theblazblog.blogspotRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5603 days ago 120 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Swahili, French, Sign Language, Esperanto | Message 4 of 5 16 March 2010 at 7:13am | IP Logged |
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FRENCH
Je trouve toujours que le Français est le plus agréable de mes langues d'apprendre. Ce que j'avais fait pour le dernière mois a commencé de montrer des résultats. Je comprends plus de télévision, de radio, des cinés, et des livres. Je n'avais pas parlé avec beaucoup de monde en Français mais quand même je pense que je pourrais mieux maintenant. Je sais que mon Français écrit est tellement atroce donc je voudrais le faire plus souvent. J'écris des listes de mots Français mais j'écris pas plus que ça. La dernière semaine j'ai appris peut être 200 mots français a travers de les listes de mots. Aujourd`hui j'ai eu un petit conversation en Skomeet.fr avec un homme de quebec (texte seulement). SWAHILI Ninasoma maneno kwa Kiswahili zaidi pia. Natumia orodha ya maneno kwa Iversen. Nina orodha de 750 maneno ambayo yanatoka kitabu ambacho kinaitwa "Intermediate Swahili Newspaper Reader". Kweli, najua mia mbili maneno ya orodha zile, na nilijifunza hamsini zaidi wiki hii. (Nitaendelea) kujifunza orodha, halafu nitaweza kusoma - na kusoma ni muhimu sana! SPANISH No he hecho nada! ESPERANTO Nenio ASL (gesticulates wildly) ... no progress 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| The Blaz Senior Member Canada theblazblog.blogspotRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5603 days ago 120 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Swahili, French, Sign Language, Esperanto | Message 5 of 5 05 April 2010 at 3:38am | IP Logged |
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SIGN LANGUAGE
Completed Lesson 1 on lifeprint.com, my chosen ASL resource. I've got the ~20 sign vocabulary down solidly and I know the alphabet though I need to practice recalling it instantaneously and recognizing fingerspelling in process. I did the example dialogue and I find it easy to recognize most of the signs. Will move on to Lesson 2 this week. FRENCH Obtained some French books for adolescents. Read 30 pages in a book about an alien boy taking a human form and coming to live on earth. LR'ing Harry Potter 1 (up to chapter 5). Trying to switch a portion of my media intake over to french. TV5.org is my homepage, I am watching Les Simpson in French, and trying to listen to RFI journal en francais facile semi-regularly. Reading comprehension: Very pleased Aural comprehension: Improving Conversational ability: Stagnant Writing ability: Stagnant 1 person has voted this message useful |
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