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Tags: Tagalog | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Spiky Newbie United States Joined 5250 days ago 19 posts - 19 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 1 of 4 15 April 2012 at 9:11am | IP Logged |
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I'm currently studying Tagalog, and I believe that I'm currently at an intermediate
level. I've grown up with the language so it does not sound foreign to me by any means. I have not reached the level where I can fully understand everything on the Filipino channel, however I can usually obtain the general meaning through the current knowledge that I have as well as what I see on the screen. Tagalog is a language that has a dearth in resources. Really, all you've got are beginner/intermediate courses that drill grammar and aren't really enjoyable to go through. The method that I've been using is Luca's Method, which is basically the translating and re-translating (L2 -> L1 -> L2) of articles, scripts, conversations, etc. I generally pick up articles on the internet, and can understand usually 90% of the words, however the words that I do not understand are usually the ones that attribute to the meaning of the sentence, requiring me to have to look up the words in the dictionary. Then, for the new words that I see, I load them in an Anki deck and I study them. The problem is, because there is just such a lack of resources, I'm having to basically teach myself the entire language without any help. When I translate, I do not know if I'm translating them correctly. Dictionary searches for words are generally helpful, but it can get sticky when it comes to trying to get the definition of a word depending on its context. Should I continue to keep doing what I'm doing? It just feels like such a burden to learn the language just because I feel like I'm completely alone and there are hardly any resources that are worth my time. I've been able to translate articles off of the internet with some difficulty, but nothing that's way too difficult. I know I'm not at the point where I can obtain words from the television, just because it's very hard to recognize words that I do not know and some speak way too quickly. Do you guys have any other methods you'd like to share with me? Thanks in advanced. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| viedums Hexaglot Senior Member Thailand Joined 4477 days ago 327 posts - 528 votes  Speaks: Latvian, English*, German, Mandarin, Thai, French Studies: Vietnamese | Message 2 of 4 16 April 2012 at 5:51pm | IP Logged |
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When you say you've grown up with the language, does that mean you have a family background? If not, I would suggest you find some native speakers and try to talk to them. There are Filipinos all over the world, although of course not all of them speak Tagalog, and the ones I've encountered were always friendly.
Reading your post, I think back to my experience of learning Mandarin. I did some on my own, but when I went to Taiwan to take a course, it turned out I was basically starting from zero. There is actually a rather large difference between passive and active knowledge - it sounds like you mainly work on passive skills, eg listening and reading. It's a lot different when you actually have to 'perform' the language, you know. I think this is especially true for languages in this part of the world - for Thai, the pragmatic aspect is paramount, for instance in choosing which pronoun to use in a given situation. It's great to see other people are learning Southeast Asian languages - I've dabbled in Indonesian, and I hope to take on Tagalog someday, most likely after I've had the chance to visit. So, best of luck! Edited by viedums on 16 April 2012 at 5:58pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Spiky Newbie United States Joined 5250 days ago 19 posts - 19 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 3 of 4 17 April 2012 at 12:51am | IP Logged |
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I don't think I'm ready to speak it though. I feel like I hit a wall each time I want to
say something. And I don't think I'm starting from zero--I've got a great grasp of the language, I just feel that I need more words. I'm just wondering if I'm doing what I should or if I should be looking more to speaking regardless of my inability to do it well. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| viedums Hexaglot Senior Member Thailand Joined 4477 days ago 327 posts - 528 votes Speaks: Latvian, English*, German, Mandarin, Thai, French Studies: Vietnamese | Message 4 of 4 17 April 2012 at 10:21am | IP Logged |
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I think it's a basic fact about language learning that if you can't speak the language, you don't know it. Language is all about communication, after all. Nothing beats taking a live course with a native speaker teacher - if I were you, I'd look into the possibilities at universities in your area. Or maybe there are other ways - I took an evening course in Indonesian with the Dept of Agriculture when I was living in the DC area. They have course offerings in many Asian languages. Just a suggestion.
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