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Bakunin TAC 2013 Asian 鶴 / Żubr | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 5900 days ago 707 posts - 1219 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 57 of 94 28 April 2013 at 12:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Congratulations on reaching 500 hours. That's a huge effort!
Such intensity must deliver satisfying results in your level of comprehension. Powodzenia. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bakunin Diglot Senior Member Switzerland outerkhmer.blogspot. Joined 4925 days ago 531 posts - 1126 votes Speaks: German*, Thai Studies: Khmer | Message 58 of 94 28 April 2013 at 5:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
Thanks :) Yes, the intensive exposure to Thai seems to lead to tangible improvements. But it's also a normal part of my (social) life and a lot of fun; it's certainly not just a matter of discipline and effort. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4663 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 59 of 94 28 April 2013 at 11:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
Seriously?! Cultural differences aside, that's pretty harsh. Have you seen that happen or is it just a weird rule in a schoolbook? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bakunin Diglot Senior Member Switzerland outerkhmer.blogspot. Joined 4925 days ago 531 posts - 1126 votes Speaks: German*, Thai Studies: Khmer | Message 60 of 94 29 April 2013 at 7:20am | IP Logged | |||||
I have never seen it happen. What I've observed is that kids (and to some extent adults) lower their heads when passing a sitting adult. I find all those rules crazy. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bakunin Diglot Senior Member Switzerland outerkhmer.blogspot. Joined 4925 days ago 531 posts - 1126 votes Speaks: German*, Thai Studies: Khmer | Message 61 of 94 03 May 2013 at 2:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Time for another update.
Listening: 158 (+5.7) Reading: 225 (+7.0) Speaking: 43 (+1.7) Writing: 24 (+1.7) Other: 70 (+4.0) Total: 520 Listening: I listened to the usual stuff: podcasts and some radio talk shows. I also watched a VRZO episode on youtube. Reading: Continued with the Adventure series. Speaking: Phone. I had a bit of an argument with a friend (nothing serious), and my Thai sucks big times when I'm angry. I have the impression I can't get my point across, and that makes me even angrier :) Writing: Lots of chatting on whatsapp. I also wrote a short letter to a student I support in Thailand and put it up on lang-8. The first two comments I got said everything was correct, and the third corrected two small things and a misspelled abbreviation. I was quite happy, I seem to make some progress. Other: My morning routine, typing: I'm currently working on the geography section of 'Society, Religion and Culture'. The last chapters were on maps, the solar system and the three seasons. There's some stuff on resources coming, and then it's time for a new subject. As I've said many times already, I find typing schoolbooks to be a very useful activity. It helps my spelling enormously, and I'm being introduced to a wide variety of topics, advanced vocabulary and culture. Polish: I really enjoy getting back to Polish. I finished 'Tomek w tarapatach' a few days ago and started to read 'Tomek w krajnie kangurów'. I'm amazed that I can actually read Polish books and get something out of it. Admitted, there are many things I don't understand. But I get enough of the story to enjoy it. I also notice that reading is getting easier and easier and that I've been learning many new words from context. I also try (and manage) to listen to some short podcasts every day. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bakunin Diglot Senior Member Switzerland outerkhmer.blogspot. Joined 4925 days ago 531 posts - 1126 votes Speaks: German*, Thai Studies: Khmer | Message 62 of 94 08 May 2013 at 10:05pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Time for another update. An overall pretty uneventful period apart from switching my Mac from English to Thai.
Listening: 165 (+6.4) Reading: 233 (+8.3) Speaking: 43 (+0.5) Writing: 25 (+1.0) Other: 74 (+3.9) Total: 540 Listening: The usual stuff, plus some random radio shows including one call-in show on health. I also watched an old fukduk.tv video clip I had watched a few times early on when I got about 10 words in 10 minutes. Now I understand almost every word, it's a strikingly different experience. Reading: I finished another book of the Adventure series and decided to skip the remaining two. Kinda sick of Enid Blyton for the rest of my life. I've got another 50 books or so lying around, and at least ten I really want to read. I also brought about 20 or so books to the Bücher Brocki, the local bookstore accepting and reselling donations. Speaking: Very little and only on the phone. I should get back to working with my tutor to get speaking practice on a wider variety of topics, but I don't really want to commit to a fixed schedule in spring and summer. If the weather is good, I want to go mountain biking instead. Writing: I wrote a letter to two students I support in North-Eastern Thailand. I also chatted a bit on whatsapp. Other: Typing: started working on the subject 'Thai language'. There's lots of less useful stuff around actually learning to read, sounding out words etc., but there are many useful (and new) words for talking about words, spelling and pronunciation. Thai spelling is complex/conservative, so there are many chapters on the various features one encounters frequently. While I know most of those spellings more or less, it will be interesting to look at them systematically. There are also a few stories or chapters like 'How to ask politely for something' etc. which is quite useful as well. Polish: I enjoy reading Polish and seem to get better at it. I ordered a children's (or teenager's? I will see when it comes) encyclopedia to systematically work on my vocab. If the last order is anything to go by, it'll take about two to three weeks for the books to arrive. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bakunin Diglot Senior Member Switzerland outerkhmer.blogspot. Joined 4925 days ago 531 posts - 1126 votes Speaks: German*, Thai Studies: Khmer | Message 63 of 94 12 May 2013 at 9:49am | IP Logged | |||||
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Time for another update. It's a terribly rainy spring in Switzerland and instead of enjoying the outdoors I sit at home studying languages…
Listening: 169 (+4.5) Reading: 244 (+10.3) Speaking: 44 (+0.9) Writing: 25 (+0.5) Other: 78 (+3.9) Total: 560 Listening: News podcasts and some radio talk shows. Reading: I finished ฮอเรนโด กับ คำสาปแสนสุภาพ, a nice (but not easy) story involving pirates and treasure hunting, and started ส้มสีม่วง. I wanted to start with กระเบนยักษ์คู่อาฆาต, as far as I can tell a story about a group of boys from Southern Central Thailand fishing, but the first chapter was teeming with new words (mostly descriptive terms and words specific to fishing), so I decided to postpone reading it and to work on the first chapter intensively to get a foot in the door. It is often said that the first (few) chapter(s) of a book contain most of the vocabulary specific to the story; I hope that's true at least for this one. I've copied about 6 pages and read them intensively. This took an enormous amount of time because there were so many new words. Most of them were descriptive and not really necessary to follow the storyline, but I'm not used to seeing more than 2%-3% unknown words, and here I encounter rates of 10% or more. There were also a large number of words describing fishing gear and practice, most of which I had never seen before. Extensive reading works best when you know 98% of more of the words… I'll see whether I'm ready to tackle กระเบนยักษ์คู่อาฆาต after working on the first chapter. In contrast to that, ส้มสีม่วง, also by a Thai author, is an easy read with almost no unknown vocabulary. Speaking: Very little and only on the phone. I don't seem to be in 'output' mode this month... Writing: Chatting on whatsapp. Other: The Thai book introduces various spelling and pronunciation rules. I know most of them through examples but it's good to see them presented in a systematic fashion. Nothing too exciting, though, and still ten or more days to go. Polish: I finished 'Tomek w krainie kangurów' and started with 'Tomek na czarnym lądzie' by the same author (Alfred Szklarski). I still only understand half of what's going on, but I see improvements every day, either words I can guess from context and then confirm when reading on, or words I successfully remember from days long gone. I've decided to stick to the Tomek series for at least one more book because I feel I know the main character and most of the hunting/adventuring related vocabulary by now. But I also want to keep one or two of the series for later when I understand more. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 5900 days ago 707 posts - 1219 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 64 of 94 12 May 2013 at 2:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I know what you mean about starting a new book!
I agree about the length of time it takes to intensively read. And after all that time, you may only bother to learn a few new words - because the rest are exotic synonyms or highly specialised. I don't recognise 98% in my Polish reading yet, so even my extensive reading is slower than I'd like. But every page is getting easier. I asked one of my students to buy me a few books when she visits Poland next week, including Biały Kieł. I'm glad you are seeing daily improvements; it keeps us going forward! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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