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Stifa’s log (Spaß @ TAC2014)

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
198 messages over 25 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 18 ... 24 25 Next >>
BAnna
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4409 days ago

409 posts - 616 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish
Studies: Russian, Turkish

 
 Message 137 of 198
08 August 2013 at 5:13am | IP Logged 
Very sorry to hear your things were taken. You seem to have a very gracious attitude about it. I hope the rest of
your trip outweighs this bad experience.
1 person has voted this message useful



stifa
Triglot
Senior Member
Norway
lang-8.com/448715
Joined 4660 days ago

629 posts - 813 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, EnglishC2, German
Studies: Japanese, Spanish

 
 Message 138 of 198
13 August 2013 at 2:14pm | IP Logged 
The rest of the trip definitely outweighed that. Although my computer was stolen, I
don't regret going - at all. At least I learnt a lesson: always be 100% certain about
how the locks work; it was the first time I had to hear two clicks before it was
properly locked.

So yeah, I'm back in Norway again. It feels weird to not be surrounded by loads of
people every day, or not having to take the U-bahn for 15 minutes before breakfast
every day. ;p

I felt that I learned loads and got to practice my German a lot. GLS is definitely a
language school of high quality. However, I believe it is most suited for those who are
at least on a B1-level; 100% monolingual beginners' classes might not be suited for
everyone. (I has a mix of B2 standard classes (2x 90min per day) and B1 intensive
classes (1x 90min per day))
And the classes were 100% in German, and all feedback was given in German. Writing on
this forum or on lang-8 isn't the same, because you'll only get corrections, and if you
receive comments, they're usually in English.

I lived two blocks away from Brandenburger Tor, and the other touristy stuff wasn't too
far away. The only thing I really missed, was air conditioning and having a washing
mashine (I had to bring my laundry to school :/).

I spent the last night at a hotel close to the Schoenefeld airport, and I managed to do
the check-in/-out and ordering food there without a single word of English, even though
I forgot the meaning of the word "Anschrift". :p (Ausweis, Anschrift and Bankautomat
are words that I learnt through embarrasing situations, which is 100 times more
effective than Anki :p)



vvv Rant ahead vvv

The only thing I regret was flying from Schoenefeld. A pre-historic airport with the
least helpful staff you can ever meet. They showed no understanding when I walked into
the wrong terminal and asked at the information desk about where I could check in for
the Norwegian Air Shuttle flight to Trondheim... I ended up checking in 10 minutes
late, but luckily they didn't mind...
Also, the airport is really far away from the town compared to the other one.

Sorry for another messy, incoherent post. :p

Edited by stifa on 13 August 2013 at 2:15pm

1 person has voted this message useful



stifa
Triglot
Senior Member
Norway
lang-8.com/448715
Joined 4660 days ago

629 posts - 813 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, EnglishC2, German
Studies: Japanese, Spanish

 
 Message 139 of 198
23 August 2013 at 5:22pm | IP Logged 
So... I just deleted my Anki decks... and my Anki account. I've been considering it for
a few days now, mostly because I'm sort of jaded from adding new cards... 30 a day for
Japanese and 20 a day for German, which means 1.5 hours of adding and about 30 minutes
of reviewing every day.

I might regret it, but since I'm soon returning to uni for second year, I might spend
my "language time" doing more necessary practice, like listening comprehension
(Japanese) and production (both). Perhaps I should try some language exchanges, too.

It sort of feels funny...but I think I'll just have to live with it.

6250 Japanese sentence flashcards from 13 months of study, and nearly 2000 German
flashcards.

Recently, I also read through "Happy Birthday, Türke - Kayankayas erster Fall" by Jakob
Arjouni. It's the first book I've ever read in three days. Hurray for road trips! :p
2 persons have voted this message useful



stifa
Triglot
Senior Member
Norway
lang-8.com/448715
Joined 4660 days ago

629 posts - 813 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, EnglishC2, German
Studies: Japanese, Spanish

 
 Message 140 of 198
27 August 2013 at 9:01pm | IP Logged 
So, it's been a few days since I quit Anki, and I still don't miss it at all.

I've started to spend more time listening to Japanese. Mostly 実況プレイ videos right
now because I find them entertaining and (relatively!) easy to understand.

If you're wondering what 実況プレイ means, just click here and find out:
http://japaneselevelup.com/%E5%AE%9F%E6%B3%81%E3%83%97%E3%83 %AC%E3%82%A4-live-play-
video-game-videos/
(They're known as "let's play ..." in English and German)

EDIT: Seems like the URL is too long, here's a tinyurl-link: http://tinyurl.com/ldqplr3



My alternative to anki, I do the following:

- Add unknown words to an excel sheet, along with definitons and translations
- (German) Test German<->Eng/Nor (also genders for nouns)
- (Japanese) Test Japanese -> kana + English and English -> kana
- (Kanji) Kana+English -> kanji

I'm not sure if it works as well as Anki yet, but time will tell. :)

I also finished 世界の終わりとハードボイルドワンダーラン ド by Murakami today. I'm
still
trying to figure out which one to read next... does anyone have any recommendations? My
favourite genres are crime, mistery, and messed up stuff like the aforementioned novel.

Edited by stifa on 27 August 2013 at 9:16pm

1 person has voted this message useful



BAnna
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4409 days ago

409 posts - 616 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish
Studies: Russian, Turkish

 
 Message 141 of 198
28 August 2013 at 12:40am | IP Logged 
Happy Birthday Türke was a fun read: lots of colorful language. Arjouni has some other good books too, but I think he died pretty young, maybe in the last year? Krimis are usually fairly easy to read, but also have some interesting vocabulary and the dialogue is informal so you pick up some slang. And they're usually not so long you get bored. All good stuff.

Don't know if there's a Japanese version, but you might like Schneller als Tod in German. (OK, the original version is in English, Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell but ...whatever) Murakami is good in English, must be incredible in Japanese. I'm envious, but not quite enough to begin studying Japanese yet.   Viel Spaß.


1 person has voted this message useful



yuhakko
Tetraglot
Senior Member
FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4419 days ago

414 posts - 582 votes 
Speaks: French*, EnglishB2, EnglishC2, Spanish, Japanese
Studies: Korean, Norwegian, Mandarin

 
 Message 142 of 198
29 August 2013 at 8:02pm | IP Logged 
Well if you like Murakami,There's always things like 海辺のカフカ! Difficult to read but
quite interesting!
1 person has voted this message useful



stifa
Triglot
Senior Member
Norway
lang-8.com/448715
Joined 4660 days ago

629 posts - 813 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, EnglishC2, German
Studies: Japanese, Spanish

 
 Message 143 of 198
29 August 2013 at 10:45pm | IP Logged 
I ended up picking up the second Kino no Tabi book. It seems to have the same load of
vocabulary, but the sentences are shorter, and it's not as mindf**king as the Murakami
book I just read.

Thanks for the recommendation though. I'll look for it after I'm done with the
kinonotabi book.
2 persons have voted this message useful



stifa
Triglot
Senior Member
Norway
lang-8.com/448715
Joined 4660 days ago

629 posts - 813 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, EnglishC2, German
Studies: Japanese, Spanish

 
 Message 144 of 198
14 September 2013 at 10:05am | IP Logged 
It's been a while since I posted anything in here.....

On the 1st September, I decided to give Kindle another try, and I simply love it! As
long as all the devices are online, you could just pick up the book on any of the
devices you use, which means that you don't have to drag around loads of books. :p

Another feature that I'm really fond of is that you can adjust the font size and some
other formatting settings which makes reading much easier than the alternative: reading
paper books with a magnifying glass. (I'm visually impaired; optimetrists' estimates
ranges from 20/100 to 20/200)

However, I'm not fond of how it handles Japanese books; you can only read them on
mobile devices, and the dictionary plugin is very bad; verbs, adjectives and so forth
have to be in the dictionary form or else you won't be able to look them up.


1 person has voted this message useful



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