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A Linguistic Odyssey | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 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 137 of 265 26 December 2009 at 5:24am | IP Logged |
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Oh, and I got a Japanese calendar (but it's from a couple years ago).
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| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 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 138 of 265 31 December 2009 at 3:32am | IP Logged |
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Wow. I fail at doing anything lately, but that's because people are here. Ha! An excuse.
During the night I have been listening to that pure Greek thing and it's really cool to "watch" throughout the night as the comprehension of the track grows and grows. Last night's track was about two and a half minutes long and was about the plight of married women who work. With every repetition, I would understand more and more words. It's amazing what our brains can do! I have also reviewed a tiny bit of vocabulary from my Italian vocabulary book. But not much. I have been reviewing a lot on Livemocha because the submissions were piling up because lots of tutors were away for the holidays, so I made like $50 off of that the other day. But now this one Brazilian woman is sending me hate-mail about how when I correct her grammatical errors in English, I am taking away her personal freedom of expression and how it's stalking her and all this nonsense. And she doesn't "feel comfortable" with the changes I made just because I'm fifteen, even though I am the native speaker. And she definitely overestimates her ability in English, saying that she likes to write short grammatical texts when she still is very beginner-ish and makes basic grammatical errors. And she says that she's not afraid of making mistakes on her submissions, but she then she goes and freaks out on me (saying she wants to call a lawyer and the police and stuff) when I simply tell her that the woman is running on the beach and not in. She is driving me nuts. I was also tutoring my cousin in French a little bit, and she was very excited about it. She is just this year beginning French at school. She liked my Ultimate French book a lot, so I bought her a used copy of an older edition of it for her as a gift, which arrived today. She also bought a French book at a bookstore while we were walking on the mall. At the same bookstore I bought myself the Langenscheidt Universal Dictionary of Swedish, which I needed. It is surprisingly tiny! That's all I can think of for now. --Philip 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 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 139 of 265 03 January 2010 at 12:12am | IP Logged |
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Happy new year! I can't believe that it is now 2010. It's going to take me forever to get used to having to write a 1 in place of that second 0 when I write out the date. I was only five when it changed from 1999 to 2000 so this is the first big year change where I will have to get used to this. (And yes, when I write the date, I write all the numbers. For today, I would write 01/02/2010.)
Well, all the relatives are gone now, which is saddening but also a blessing. It was extremely taxing having them around 24/7. For Christmas I received a Barnes and Noble gift card, so I went online to their website and did a bib spending frenzy... I spent $60 (I can't even believe that I spent this much!) on four books: - Ultimate Japanese Beginner-Intermediate (HERE) - Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication: A Self-Study Course and Reference (HERE) - Ultimate Italian Beginner-Intermediate (HERE) - 101 French Idioms (HERE) And then everyone else got a B&N gift card too so on New Year's Eve morning we went to the local bookstore and I bought another book. I just went through my weekly schedule and the only book that stood out to me was this one: Conversational Brazilian Portuguese In 20 Lessons from the Cortina Method. Earlier this summer I got a copy of the Greek course, which is very good, so I thought I would give the Portuguese course a try. It is very easy to go through and I like the method. Although not as good as the Greek course, it is still alright and I just comb through the lessons for new vocabulary and expressions. As it turns out, the name is deceiving and there are only fifteen lessons, plus the grammar index. I have finished going through the first eleven lessons already and have learned the (new) vocabulary for the first five in BYKI. However, the course is a bit outdated and I noticed some words and structures that are no longer or rarely used. Did I mention that my Yookoso! book arrived last week? Well, I only got a few pages into it because it was pretty boring. But what I did notice was that it seems to be set up for more of classroom usage. Also, a lot of the kanji are printed so incredibly small that it just looks like a black smudge on the page. I'll try to make do, but if I can't, it only cost me $5, so it's not a big deal. I have also again started to use Livemocha for Japanese. I had been going through the 101 course in May and June of 2009, but stopped after a couple of lessons. I reviewed the first lesson today and resubmitted the exercises. I also learned the following new kanji: 年 背 低 貧 乏 持 (I knew all the other used in the lesson already) On the topic of Japanese, I have just calculated that if I just stick with my kanji and learn at least ten new characters a day, I will know all of them by mid-May. This fact is inspiring and if I just remind myself of it everyday, it might just happen. Now, I am off to review the 80+ kanji that have piled up in the review box on kanji.koohii.com and then to do my ten new ones for the day. I'll try to post the ones I learn each day. Once again, happy new year! -- Philip P.S. School starts up again on the sixth... Nooo!! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 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 140 of 265 03 January 2010 at 12:23am | IP Logged |
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I forgot to mention a couple things. First of all, I have been tutor-reviewing like crazy on Livemocha lately. I make $1 for every exercise I review so the fact that I've reviewed probably 80 or more in the past week or so is not insignificant!
And related to that, my war with the Brazilian woman is over. I did a REALLY insanely in-depth review (it took me like 40 minutes to compose) of this one exercise that she was mad about and she said it helped a lot. She sent me an email saying that she wasn't mad anymore and that she had totally overreacted. She did still seem rather annoyed, so I sent an extremely long message to her that was really nice, complimentary, explanatory, and apologetic. She received it well and today she sent another message saying that she would permit me to continue helping her to learn English and she accepted a friend request. A good thing that has come out of this is that I have had an insane amount of active Portuguese practice. The long message I wrote to her was literally like a persuasive essay of sorts in Portuguese and I felt pretty good about the writing. It was over a page and a half long on Word in size 12. I think that's it... --Philip 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 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 141 of 265 03 January 2010 at 1:08am | IP Logged |
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I just posted my goals for 2010 in a different thread, but thought they might be relevant to post here too. Here they are:
ENGLISH - Eliminate those horrible grammatical mistakes that have begun to creep into my daily speech ESPAÑOL: Native or Very-Near Native Fluency - Get a 5 on the AP Spanish Language test in May - Increase vocabulary by at least 1000 words PORTUGUÊS: Advanced Fluency - Continue practicing Portuguese through tutoring Brazilians in English and Spanish on Livemocha - Continue listening to BrazilianPodClass - Finish Livemocha Portuguese (Brazil) 202 - Finish Ultimate Portuguese Beginner-Intermediate - Finish Cortina Method Brazilian Portuguese in 20 Lessons - Finish going through Frequency Dictionary of Portuguese - Comb through Teach Yourself Brazilian Portuguese for new vocabulary - Begin reading a Harry Potter book in Portuguese FRANÇAIS: Advanced Fluency - Finish Ultimate French Beginner-Intermediate - Finish school vocabulary from Imaginez - Start and finish Teach Yourself: Improve Your French - Get through as much as possible of French Vocabulary - Get through as much as possible of 101 French Idioms - Decide whether or not I will take AP French 5 at school next year - Begin reading a Harry Potter book in French ITALIANO: Basic Fluency (at least) - Finish STG: Italian - Finish Complete Italian Grammar - Finish Easy Italian Reader - Complete Livemocha Italian 102, 201, and 202 - Start and finish Ultimate Italian Beginner-Intermediate - Finish Michel Thomas Italian Advanced Course - Complete Pimsleur Italian I - Continue listening to LearnItalianPod - Do Livemocha Italian 201 and 202 courses - Get through as much as possible of Italian Vocabulary - Start and finish Teach Yourself: Improve Your Italian DEUTSCH: Basic Fluency - Finish Ultimate German Beginner-Intermediate - Finish Deutsch Aktuelles 1 and 2 (vocabulary) - Complete Livemocha German 201 and 202 - Start and finish Teach Yourself: Improve Your German - Start Teach Yourself German - Get through as much as possible of German Vocabulary - Get through as much as possible of German Grammar Drills - Complete Pimsleur German I - Complete Livemocha German 201 and 202 courses - Complete Michel Thomas German Foundation and Advanced Courses - Sign up for at least level 3 German at school ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ: Basic Fluency - Finish Learn Greek Without a Teacher - Finish Νέα Ελληνικά - Finish Cortina Method Modern Greek in 20 Lessons - Complete Livemocha 102, 201, and 202 courses - Complete both Odysseas courses - Continue listening to Ακούστε Ελληνικά (and be able to understand at least 85% of every episode) - Learn all BYKI-provided vocabulary lists for Greek 日本語: High Intermediate Level - Complete Pimsleur Japanese I - Finish Remembering the Kanji (Volume I) and continue to review on kanji.koohii.com - Finish Teach Yourself Japanese - Start Ultimate Japanese Beginner-Intermediate and go through as much of it as possible - Start and go through as much as possible of Ultimate Japanese Beginner-Intermediate, Japanese Demystified , Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication, and Yookoso! - Sign up for at least level 2 Japanese at school - Complete Livemocha Japanese 101 and 102 courses SVENSKA: Basic Fluency - Finish Swedish: An Elementary Grammar-Reader - Complete livemocha Swedish 102, 201, and 202 - Complete Teach Yourself Swedish and Teach Yourself Swedish Conversation - Start either Assimil: Le Suédois Sans Peine or Colloquial Swedish Edited by ellasevia on 06 January 2010 at 4:40am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 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 142 of 265 03 January 2010 at 5:02am | IP Logged |
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So, I decided that since I had to review almost 100 kanji today anyways, I just decided to get to #310 instead of #317 (too tired). Plus, between #300 and #310, I only remembered two, so I had to re-learn the rest anyways. The ten I "learned" are the following:
冗 - superfluous 軍 - army 輝 - radiance 運 - carry 冠 - crown 夢 - dream 坑 - pit 高 - tall 享 - receive 塾 - cram school 熟 - mellow 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 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 143 of 265 03 January 2010 at 7:39pm | IP Logged |
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Today I have already been very successful with my new kanji goal of ten per day. In fact, I did no less than 42, bring me up to #352 and finishing off lesson fifteen in Remembering the Kanji. I owe this success to the fact that I am feeling extremely sick (very swollen throat...it hurts to breathe; stomach/head/eye aches) and doing kanji doesn't really require much energy. So yes, I've done a lot of that today already. If possible, I might even try to do about another fifty so that I will be up through #400!
Anyways, here are the characters I've learned so far today: 亭 (pavilion), 京 (capital), 涼 (refreshing), 景 (scenery), 鯨 (whale), 舎 (cottage), 周 (circumference), 週 (week), 士 (gentleman), 吉 (good luck), 壮 (robust), 荘 (villa), 売 (sell), 学 (study), 覚 (memorize), 栄 (flourish), 書 (write), 津 (haven), 牧 (breed), 攻 (aggressive), 敗 (fail), 枚 (a sheet of), 故 (happenstance), 敬 (awe), 言 (say), 警 (admonish), 計 (plot), 獄 (prison), 訂 (revise), 討 (chastise), 訓 (instruction), 詔 (imperial edict), 詰 (packed), 話 (tale), 詠 (recitation), 詩 (poem), 語 (word), 読 (read), 調 (tune), 談 (discuss), 諾 (consent), 諭 (rebuke) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 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 144 of 265 05 January 2010 at 6:24am | IP Logged |
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Everything after my exciting kanji victory of 42 characters turned out to be a fail yesterday. I felt progressively worse and worse and ended up asleep shivering on the couch in a down coat and under four blankets for six hours. AKA, nothing got done. I slept poorly last night and when I woke up this morning, I was still feeling very sick. I feel mostly better now except that my throat is still excruciatingly sore and my nose is still runny/stuffed up (it alternates).
Anyways, today was so-so productive. I don't frankly know what I was doing all morning because I remember doing stuff related to language (I think I was just surfing this page and others) but not getting anything done. Later this afternoon I started doing some Swedish on Livemocha after a long break. There is this one lesson in the 101 course that always makes me stop doing the course for a while because it has a lot of weird vocabulary that doesn't agree with me. (If you're familiar with Livemocha, it's the 3.2 lesson: "By/What.") Anyways, I finished that lesson and three others, which completed the 101 Swedish course. I immediately enrolled in the 102 course and am already 20% done after doing three more lessons (but this one doesn't yet have speaking/writing exercises, so that's why it counts for so much). I think the 201 and 202 courses are also going to come out soon. Anyways, this brings me to my words of the day, which I haven't done for a while. WORDS of the DAY en snö = snow snöa = to snow solglasögon = sunglasses I chose these words because 1) I like how they sound, 2) because they all have the letter 'ö' in them, and 3) (for the first two only) because we're supposed to get a monster snowstorm on Wednesday. Hopefully school will be canceled! Wishful thinking, I know, but I really am not ready to go back yet. Anyways, god natt. --Philip 1 person has voted this message useful |
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