Beti88 Diglot Newbie Poland Joined 5957 days ago 21 posts - 21 votes Speaks: Polish*, German Studies: Spanish, Swedish, French, English
| Message 1 of 19 27 July 2008 at 4:49pm | IP Logged |
I always liked languages and wanted to learn some other than German or English but I wasn't motivated at all. Couple weeks ago I decided to change my life and do things I always wanted to do. That means, I decided to learn. I hope this journal will keep me motivated. Right now I'll focus on:
- English - i've been learning English for about 6 years at school but as you can see i'm not good at it. my vocabulary isn't that bad but i have no clue about English grammar. I have no problems with reading, I often read books in English, but because of my bad grammar knowledge i have problems with writting and speaking. Plus, i only can understand Americans. I have an aunt who's Irish and I'm always embarassed that I don't understand her. So i'll try to improve my grammar using the books i used at school and listen as much as possible.
- Swedish - I started self-studying it today. It's a beautiful language, when i first heard it i thought it funny. I'm using Malgorzata Kallin's book 'Jezyk szwedzki czesc 1 dla poczatkujacych', i hope i'll finish it till august 17th. Then i'll start learning with books i already have. I finished today first chapter and can already say basic things like greetings. I made some flashcards too.
Maybe you can give me some tips or have some suggestions?
Edited by Beti88 on 27 July 2008 at 4:51pm
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txag2005 Newbie United States Joined 5957 days ago 20 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 2 of 19 27 July 2008 at 5:09pm | IP Logged |
I look forward to reading your log as you progress in your learning. I just started learning a language as well, and its both scary and exciting!
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J-Learner Senior Member Australia Joined 6022 days ago 556 posts - 636 votes Studies: Yiddish, English* Studies: Dutch
| Message 3 of 19 27 July 2008 at 8:35pm | IP Logged |
Well good luck Beti88. I have no idea of English grammar either. And there is some Irish I don't understand either!
I agree, Swedish does have a bit of a funny sound, I like it. The vowels sounds are even more fragile than most Germanic vowels. Very cute! :)
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ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5986 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German
| Message 4 of 19 28 July 2008 at 10:14am | IP Logged |
Dear Beti88,
I find your English to be at least as good as the majority of the people I know in Australia. There were a few spelling mistakes, but besides that it is comparable with the English of your common Joe in Australia. I know you will find, on this site in particular, a number of people who take great pride in their language and are thus rather impressive, but I think that you are well on your way.
Don't worry about understanding the Irish, noone else does ;). Acquiring the taste for the stereotypical Irish accent is something that just takes time. I have met plenty of people that struggle with the Ocka Australian accent as well.
Good luck,
Thom.
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Beti88 Diglot Newbie Poland Joined 5957 days ago 21 posts - 21 votes Speaks: Polish*, German Studies: Spanish, Swedish, French, English
| Message 5 of 19 28 July 2008 at 2:40pm | IP Logged |
Thank you very much!
I'm not satisfied with my todays study, study time: about 1 hour Swedish, 30min English. It could be better, couldn't it? I mean, i have much free time but i waste it instead of learning. I have to do something with that, especially when i know that i have holidays now and i won't have so much time later.
My todays progress:
English: I couldn't find my grammar books so I watched episode of 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer'. When I'll find books I'll focus more on grammar
Swedish:I finished chapter 2 and did some exercises. I'm surprised that I haven't had any problems with those exercises. Of course I have big problems with pronunciation, but I'm working on it, trying to repeat the reader as precisely as I can at this moment. I tried to listen to some Swedish podcasts but I haven't understand a word.
At this moment I know how to: greet somebody, tell basic things about myself, count from 1 to 30, say very easy sentences for example: 'She doesn't drink milk'
I hope tomorrow will be better.
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Beti88 Diglot Newbie Poland Joined 5957 days ago 21 posts - 21 votes Speaks: Polish*, German Studies: Spanish, Swedish, French, English
| Message 6 of 19 29 July 2008 at 5:23pm | IP Logged |
English: I only listened to some music
Swedish: chapter 3 completed.
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Beti88 Diglot Newbie Poland Joined 5957 days ago 21 posts - 21 votes Speaks: Polish*, German Studies: Spanish, Swedish, French, English
| Message 7 of 19 30 July 2008 at 12:48pm | IP Logged |
I didn't have much free time so i just focused more on Swedish.
Swedish: chapter 4 finished. i translated some easy sentences and read short text too.
English: i just listened to some podcasts in my car.
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Beti88 Diglot Newbie Poland Joined 5957 days ago 21 posts - 21 votes Speaks: Polish*, German Studies: Spanish, Swedish, French, English
| Message 8 of 19 01 August 2008 at 10:11am | IP Logged |
yesterday:
Swedish - i started chapter 5 but didn't finished it.
English - i started reading an English book.
today:
Swedish - chapter 5 & 6 finished.
English - read 60 pages of book
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